Controversial Question - College

[Joshrk22]

Okay, I'm tired of hearing people say to go to college or not to go to college after high school. What is the best way?

Just fly after high school and go part-time later? You wouldn't be stuck with the student loans, you'd be flight instructing and making a little money, but you'd probably be living at home with your parents for another 2-3 years.

Go right after high school and fly part-time. Probably not the best way to log hours and flight instruct.

Go to a community college and live at home. Keeps the cost down and you'd probably be able to fly full-time.

Obviously the first way is the best way to log the hours, but I don't want to have to re-learn everything 5 years later when I go back. Also, would my AP credits still count?

Opinions please....

 

[flyf15]

Go to college, have fun, and enjoy life. Get your ratings, do as much flying as time (and life) permit, and go hardcore into flying once you're done with college.

I'm sure others will disagree, but its good to be balanced. Its what I did... I really enjoyed it. I graduated in December and am starting ground school at an airline next month.

 

[DorkProp]

If you fly now and tell yourself you'll hit college later, you'll find yourself at a regional (maybe) at age 21 and then be stuck. I know several guys like that. Just try getting a degree when you're on the road 20 days a month. Go to college now. You can still fly and get all your ratings by the time you graduate.

 

[Magic1872]

I would suggest you go to college and get a 4 year degree while your working on your ratings. The 4 year degree will open doors for you in the future. Usually, you'll find that peopel who don't have degrees tell you not to get one because they don't have one. Granted you don't need a degree to fly...but just think how much better you'll look with one.


Flyf15: Did you get on at Scenic? If so, email me at [email protected] I have some question for you, thinking about applying there myself, and know a guy who used to work there.

 

[kf4amu]

Get a full time job at the university you want to attend. MOST will pay your tuition for classes, you get paid, you can fly on the side and that full time work experience combined with the flight time you get will speak volumes about your reliability and maturity. Besides the fact that you graduate debt free. The extra time it takes to get your degree is money saved not having to pay back student loans.

 

[hydroflyer]

You don't get younger, just older. Could have an effect as to how your college experience is.

 

[mpflies2]

Go to college. I too graduated this past December after 3 and a half years to get a 4 year degree. Better yet, do like I did and go to an aviation affiliated school that has some sort of program. My degree is in Aerospace Management with a concentration in Flight Operations. Simply meaning I got all my ratings (except CFI) while remaining a full time college student, and holding a part time job. College was the best time of my life. Can't replace the friends and networking contacts I made for anything. Have fun, do it now while your young.....certainly glad I did.

Marc

 

[pilotyip]

Only 4 airlines of 176 hiring make the college degree a showstopper. At the other 172 airlines flight time, experience, check airman status will get you the job. Going to college puts you four years behind reaching those milestones. You can not go to college full time and build meaningful flight time. However you if you are disciplined you can fly full time and go to college on the side. Also you have to decide what you want to be, a pilot with a college graduate with a degree you are not going to use, or pursue a career outside of the cockpit. The fall back value of an unused degree is greatly overrated, and it is going to take you 10 years on average to get to a career flying position. If you drop out after five years to use your degree, you are five years behind your contemporaries who used their degree right out of college. If you because you like to fly, then you are on the right track with or without a degree. This is not a "I will try it out for a little while to see if I like it" career.

 

[NoahWerka]

The one thing we never think about in our misspent youth is the fact that we are not immortal. It never occurs to us that we could develop a medically disqualifying disease or become disabled. No more flying for a living. What will you do then. Get that college degree while you are young. You will have an alternative means of earning an income. You won't regret it.

 

[mpflies2]

The one thing we never think about in our misspent youth is the fact that we are not immortal. It never occurs to us that we could develop a medically disqualifying disease or become disabled. No more flying for a living. What will you do then. Get that college degree while you are young. You will have an alternative means of earning an income. You won't regret it.

EXACTLY what I was about to say!

And another thing about that.....yes 172 airlines may hire you without one, but lets say theres me and you going for a job. We are equally qualified in virtually every aspect. But wait I have a college degree. If you don't think that looks good than you'd be mistaken. If nothing else, a degree shows you started something and finished it, which is a good indication that you will be a reliable employee that is more likely to stay with them for a longer haul.

Get the degree!

 

[Dubya]

In the spirit of yip's signature...go to college because you want to, not because someone tells you you need it or don't need it. Go to college to educate yourself and meet people and learn about things other than airplanes (read: girls). I went back to school at 29 with no aviation experience. Who cares if you spend a few years figuring things out...and it IS most certainly something you can get into and decide it's not for you. Become a person with many talents and interests..you will be much happier and much more interesting.

W

 

[GVFlyer]

Ours is a credential oriented society. A college degree is the key to many doors. I have never flown for an organization that did not require a four year degree, nor have I hired anyone who did not have one. For me it is a demonstration of your work ethic - the ability to start something, stick to it and finish it. It also proves that you are educable and will not have an issue with learning new skills and new technology.

GV

 

[AcroChik]

It's Not Only About The Credential ~ But It Helps.

While in high school, I was very much of the mind that "I just wanna get out there and fly," but I went ~ to one of those elite, leftie Northeastern joints ~ because it was assumed that I always would.

Wonderful things happened for me while I was there. I learned to hear great literature sing off the page as I read, rather than merely turning the pages. I learned to feel great music as it coursed through the air. I experienced the joy that comes when a brilliant teacher opens door after door as if revealing great secrets. I found connections between seemingly disparate things and so the world began to make more sense. I learned to be able to appreciate and also talk about a wide spectrum of what the world has to offer and so broadened my social life enormously.

Very importantly, I learned serious intellectual discipline, the ability to focus when massive amounts of sometimes highly technical work had to be done in finite time.

These things may seem trite to you, perhaps, but they happened and there's no question about the benefit to one's (or maybe just my own) QOL.

From the practical point of view, when I began instructing it was in an area of suburban NYC populated by rich professionals. More than one of my students was also a graduate of the same school. They were all very highly educated people: doctors, lawyers, etc. My university background helped create an underlying context and confidence between us that added much to our student / teacher relationship ~ not a small thing when the guy's 50 and I was less than half his age.

Though having the degree was non-essential to the task at hand, their comfort level and thus my credibility was increased, and so their enjoyment in learning to fly was also increased

From an even more practical point of view, flying's an uncertain career path these days, and having the degree in my pocket gave me options I might not otherwise have had when instruction hours were few ~ back when that was important.

And then... any job I've ever wanted to apply for and hoped to get required a 4-year degree, including the one I have now.

I know there are other valid points of view and real-life experiences. YIP is eloquent in expressing his point of view. He's a credible guy. All I can speak of with any credibility is my own experience.

Leaving the practical career-related aspects aside, I think my life is better for having had the university experience. And for me that's the side the bread's buttered on.

Good luck, have fun!

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Ours is a credential oriented society. A college degree is the key to many doors. I have never flown for an organization that did not require a four year degree, nor have I hired anyone who did not have one. For me it is a demonstration of your work ethic - the ability to start something, stick to it and finish it. It also proves that you are educable and will not have an issue with learning new skills and new technology.

GV

right on, 100%.

very very few good jobs today are gotten by pilots without 4yr degrees. You have a better chance of hitting the lottery.

I cant believe we still have this duscussion in the year 2006 --

"Should I go to college" -- WHAT?


The new 100K is 200K
The new high school diploma is the 4 yr (If not 6yr) degree.

Keep up or live substandard. your choice.

Looking at an otherwise impressive resume that has no (or little) college always leaves one wondering and seeking other accomplishments. Not that it says everything about a person -- but it leaves a blank there.

good luck.

 

[VAPOR]

get a degree...

...in a non-aviation field that makes a few bucks and you enjoy at least a little, in case the industry takes a(nother) downturn. With an engineering or accounting or computer science degree you can get a job in aviation, but with an aviation degree there aren't many alternatives.

 

[Tram]

Just curious what those 4 are?

FedEx and what other 3?

Only 4 airlines of 176 hiring make the college degree a showstopper.

 

[njcapt]

Go to a community college and live at home. Keeps the cost down and you'd probably be able to fly full-time.

Do this. Take it from a 42 year old, 24th year senior in college.

I went off to a four year university after high school without a clue of what I wanted to do. In my freshman year I started flying and found my calling. Unfortunately, I only cared about flying and totally blew off school. I managed to have a decent airline career, in spite of not having a degree, until recently. Now I'm two days from being furloughed from what was once my dream job, and am looking at painting houses or working at Starbucks to make bills and pay for health insurance. Options? FedEx? Gotta have the degree. UPS? Gotta have it. SWA? Good luck getting a call without it.

Looking back, I should have gone to junior college, worked a second shift job doing anything and flown my a$$ off in the few daily hours I had left. With an Associate Degree and a CFI under my belt I could have been a stud at Purdue, Lewis U, Southern Illinois, or U of I. I spent three scattered semesters at Morraine Valley Community College in suburban Chicago, and the education I received there was friggin' bulletproof. Now, I'm taking courses from ERAU and struggling to catch up. I ought to have the AS done by this summer and the BS by early next year. Hopefully, I can scare up a decent flying job by then.

Be warned. Dealing with course work while desperately looking for another job and hustling for cash to pay for COBRA insurance truly sucks.

I respect pilotyip's opinion, but not his advice. Of the top ten airlines to work for (I realize this is totally subjective), only AirTran and (maybe) jetBlue are willing to hire pilots without degrees. I just got back from a job fair where a Southwest rep came right out and said that only applicants with a degree were competitive. In the past, you could get an interview with a couple of great recommendations and wow them with your knowledge of SWA history and Dallas BBQ joints. No more. Now you have to generate an interview with your qualifications. I have 11500 hours TT, 1500 PIC large jet (mostly 737), and 4000 PIC turbine and I probably won't get a call.

Work your a$$ off studying, flying, and networking while you're young. It only gets harder when you gather responsibilities and comittments. Do NOT blow off the degree. You have been warned.

Good luck.

 

[pilotyip]

I don't know who the other three are, I would have to dig through the Air Inc newsletter.

 

[Nindiri]

There is more to life than flying from age 18 to 60. You'll have plenty of time to fly fulltime after college. Besides, if you skip college and start fulltime flying at 18, you'll just become cynical and whining 4 years earlier.

 

[Fugawe]

Do you want to work somewhere that requires no degree to be competitive for the job?

Do what's best, not what's easiest.


Fugawe