College Experience at the major league

[CX880]

What kind of college experience do pilots have. What kind of majors? Do many have Masters? When you guys fly, does the topic of college and whether it's benefitial if flying doesn't workout come up? Do you guys talk about the famous hypothetical question "If something does happen and you can't pass your medical, what will you do?" Everybody says that you need a back up, but most pilots I know that failed usually end up working jobs that require no skills, like salesmen or retail. I never hear about a pilot that actually used his "back up" degree to do something else. Do you have any stories?

 

[pilotyip]

Fall back value of degree over rated

You have to decide on what you want to be a college graduate or a pilot. If is a pilot, you fly airplanes and build resume stuff. It will take approximately 10 years to get to a career position in aviation. You have to commit to the time frame to make it. If you elect after 5 years to get out of flyign to pursue your major in college, you will be five years behind that year's college grads. To not fly and get a degree may be fun but it does nothing for your flying career. Now to get a degree on the side while you are flying, nothing wrong with that. However, the fallback value of a degree is greatly over rated. I have a BS and a Master's in Management, but at age 53, I was making $250/wk loading cargo. After Zantop pretended to go out of went out of business in 1997, I had been a temporary High School Chemistry Teacher up until two weeks before the cargo job came along. However, they do not teach school in the summer so I had to take the cargo job. The value of an unused degree is highly over rated. 53 year old unemployed airline pilots are not eagerly greeted in any industry that I know of, even of having a couple degrees. Of course, I did not apply for many of the "College degree preferred jobs" such as apt manager, telephone direct sales, and plumbing floor manager at Home Depot, etc. If you get a college degree you have to use, the knowledge gained in college to develop a career or the degree is useless. After getting a degree, flying an airplane is not a knowledge expanding experience; it is skill development experience. Anyone care to chime in and share their experiences on entering the non-aviation job market after being out of college 20-30 years?

 

[CX880]

I guess you can always work as an FA right

 

[ATRCAPT]

The short answer to the age old college degree question is...it depends. If you're trying to get a job with a major carrier today then you should probably get the degree. If you want to work for a non-sked, the degree isn't as important. That is in no way a slam to the non-sked folks. Heck, I'm a non-sked guy! All I'm saying is the state of the industry dictates hoe important the 4-year is. Back in '99 guys were gettng on everywhere with two-years degree and in some cases none at all.

 

[K-Mart]

If you have a good personality, integrity, and have some knowledge on real estate, selling houses is a pretty good side gig or backup. The real estate licencse requires some college credit. It's a great side gig for someone who is willing to hustle, enjoys the rush of a sell, and likes talking to different people. Frankly it is in some ways a lot more appealing than this flying stuff. Good luck!

PS: I wouldn't compare the major airlines to the major leagues. Not even close.

 

[bubbers44]

Real Estate is no longer what it has been the last 8 years. The college degree isn't going to do it either. I wouldn't waste my time getting a degree just to maybe get on with a major airline. If you want it, go ahead, but it probably won't match you up with someone who has aquired experience flying commuter or airline equipment.

 

[K-Mart]

Real Estate is no longer what it has been the last 8 years. The college degree isn't going to do it either. I wouldn't waste my time getting a degree just to maybe get on with a major airline. If you want it, go ahead, but it probably won't match you up with someone who has aquired experience flying commuter or airline equipment.

Not what I have seen from some folks. It does depend on where you live but given the right personality it can be a real money maker.

 

[vetrider]

I have a BA in Economics, useless as tits on a boar hog. College just shows that you have discipline and an ability to learn, thats it, period, end of story. For a college degree to mean anything it would have to be followed up on to the same level as ones aviation endeavors. Darn near an impossibility in most cases.
But I believe a professional pilot, if need be, has the ability to succeed one way or another, by hook or crook if his or her career evaporates.

 

[pilotyip]

Vetrider: "College just shows that you have discipline and an ability to learn, that’s it, period, end of story" That may be true, but there are others ways to prove you have discipline and the ability to learn. The military is another way, look at the high school to flt school pilots. They are almost all-fantastic workers. Completing an apprentice program for a trade is another way to learn and demonstrate the ability to learn. BTW isn't that what learning to fly is an apprentice program in a trade?

 

[Whistlin' Dan]

College just shows that you have discipline and an ability to learn, thats it, period, end of story.

A college degree used to be a certificate of achievement. Now, it's a certificate of attendence. When was the last time you heard of anybody actually busting out of college because they couldn't hack it academically?

Unfortunately, it's a certificate that is required by most of the better employers, both in aviation and in other fields as well.

I don't recall the subject of where we got our education or how it would help us outside the cockpit ever coming up while flying. To be honest, unless you have an advanced degree, most baccalaureates alone won't qualify you for much beyond securing an interview. Faced with the prospect of earning an income independant of flying, and the choice between a B.S. and a well-equipped toolbox (and the knowledge required to use it), I would take the latter in a heartbeat.

 

[labbats]

A college degree used to be a certificate of achievement. Now, it's a certificate of attendence. When was the last time you heard of anybody actually busting out of college because they couldn't hack it academically?

Granted I graduated in 1998, but almost half the people I knew washed out the first year. Maybe if you're going to some no-name college in the sticks, but for a Big 10, 12, Pac 10 school, you'll hit the books or you'll hit the road.

 

[pilotyip]

labbats: there are a lot of pay your fee get your B places out there offering majors in anthing you want to call a major. They don't lead to jobs, but they check the box I went to college on the application. Certificate of attendnece.

 

[big_al]

work experience is the only way to get discipline and an ability to learn. college means nothing. it is a totally different environment

 

[Ty Webb]

Alright, no one has said it yet, so I'm going to.

Don't bother with flight school. Marry a female pilot. Let her sweat out all this crap- training, dues-paying, interviews, training, IOE, reserve, upgrade, working holidays, weekends, etc. You . . . . you, my friend, get to hang out on the weekends and holidays, spending her money, and keeping her friends company . . . . . Now, THAT'S smart.

But if you don't want to take my advice, if you still have to be the pilot in the family, then minor in Aviation Flight, but major in something you could use in the future, be it Accounting, Business, Computer Science, Engineering, etc. That way, you get the basics (regs, meteorology, aerodynamics) and you can get grants and loans, but if you graduate in a "down cycle" you should be able to make a decent living until things recover.

 

[vetrider]

Vetrider: "College just shows that you have discipline and an ability to learn, that’s it, period, end of story" That may be true, but there are others ways to prove you have discipline and the ability to learn. The military is another way, look at the high school to flt school pilots. They are almost all-fantastic workers. Completing an apprentice program for a trade is another way to learn and demonstrate the ability to learn. BTW isn't that what learning to fly is an apprentice program in a trade?

You are right, college is just one of many ways to demonstrate an ability to learn. The reason I made that statement is that I believe there are precious few degrees out there that are directly related to what a graduate ends up doing in life.

 

[vetrider]

work experience is the only way to get discipline and an ability to learn. college means nothing. it is a totally different environment

College is a totally different environment than work, very true. But I believe that the skillset you develop for study and application are transferable to anything you do later.

 

[AA717driver]

I believe a college degree is a must in aviation. For instance, I have a degree in Journalism. Without having that degree, I would be one of the thousands of pilots who don't know the proper usage of "they're", "their" and "there".

So, their! TC

P.S.--What's a "major"?

 

[pilotyip]

AA717, boy that will sure save your butt on a low fuel dark and stomry night. Did I spell OK?

 

[Ty Webb]

If a college degree was important in aviation, they would have laid out the MCDU keyboard QWERTY style, and given us a question mark, too.

heh-heh