FBO, Flight School, Change to College?

[meyers9163]

Being a Junior this next year and after semester I I will have 84 of 124 credits completed on my psychology degree I am unsure what to do about pursing my goal/dream of becoming an commercial airline pilot. Anyone out there have advice on how to go about this. I've looked into completing this next semester, taking one off and going to skymates and get trained. After that become an instructor and while doing that take classes to finish the final 40 hours? Any one else out there have any advice on how they went about it or would go about this? Also is there any truth to needing all the aviation classes that colleges offer in order to get on with a regional and later with a major? Or is my degree in Psychology along with ratings and liscense good enough? Thoughts please.....

 

[Ralgha]

I've looked into completing this next semester, taking one off and going to skymates and get trained. After that become an instructor and while doing that take classes to finish the final 40 hours?

Don't do that.

Also is there any truth to needing all the aviation classes that colleges offer in order to get on with a regional and later with a major?

There is more truth in what a politician says to get TV ratings.

Or is my degree in Psychology along with ratings and liscense good enough?

Good enough? It's better than.

Aviation degrees are worthless. Nobody cares about them. Airlines do not care if you have an aviation degree or not.

You do not need RJ sims, type ratings, FMS training, etc. to get a job at an airline. You need two things: meet their minimum time so you are eligable for an interview, and get noticed. Once you have the interview, your time and training is crap. It's all about your personality, and a little bit about flying a sim and answering a few questions.

Finish school now, not later. It is much harder to return to school after taking a break from it. Get your ratings as a good part 61 school. You'll save a ton of money and end up with the same certificates and ratings as someone who dropped $100k at an academy. Build your time instructing, traffic watch, banner tow, jump pilot, line patrol, etc. You can get enough time for an interview with an airline in the same amount of time as an academy, and save a lot of money doing it.

 

[say again]

Aviation degrees are worthless. Nobody cares about them. Airlines do not care if you have an aviation degree or not.

Thats true. As said before, getting a degree not associated with aviation will certaintly help you to fall back on, just in case.

That being said, I also have a degree in Psychology. I found it to be quite useless after my furlough. I was offered jobs making a whopping $9 hr., at most. After this experience, I decided to invest more time and money to gain my Masters, and hopefully on day, my PhD. I not trying to deter you from finishing your degree, this should be your main focus now. I'm just passing on my own experience with the difficulties I had finding a decent job.

Good luck to you and finish the degree NOW!!

 

[swcom]

I (again) am inclined to agree with Ralgha. Ony 30% of Americans are actually working in the field of their college degree. Of course, Tera Patrick is has a degree in marine biology, so you never know. . .

 

[cforst513]

i just graduated in may with a B.S. in biology and a minor in chem, and then i moved to florida and am doing my flight training right now. if i was you i would take a lesson every night or every other night while still doing the college thing. it helps if your college is located near a bunch of small schools. my college was paid for with scholarships so i can afford to take out a massive loan to live off of while i'm training. but dude, do NOT interrupt your real education. you'll regret it for the rest of your life. get your degree!!! regardless of what the naysayers, um... say, you should have a degree. it makes you more marketable.

 

[C425Driver]

I agree with everyone else - stay in school and get your psych degree. Keep going with it and get your Masters and possibly even your PhD. Leave yourself with something useful to fall back on because more than likely your airline career will be a disappointment like it is to so many other people. I recently walked away from the airlines and I'm much happier now. Many of the people that I worked with wished they had something else to do because they were burnt out on the airlines - it's not all that it's cracked up to be.

I earned my BS in aviation 13 years ago and I now wish I had a psych degree and got my ratings at an FBO - my BS in aviation management is worthless, but it looks cool on the wall. I'm not trying to be a smart a$$, I truly wish that I had a psych degree. Human factors is a huge element in aviation safety and I now wish I had the psych background. It's an area that truly interests me.

I'm not trying to deter you from pursuing your goal of being an airline pilot. I had a goal of being and airline pilot. I achieved my goal and more and I'm proud of myself but I'm also relieved that I'm doing something else now. However, if I didn't go after my dream I'd be kicking myself in the outflow valve right now. I'm hoping to impress upon you that you need to have other options for when you (pick one or more of the following): get furloughed, lose your medical, bust a checkride, make a mistake and lose your license/job, work for an airline that goes out of business...

Good luck to you in what ever you choose, but please stay the course that you're on now and worry about flying later!

C425Driver

 

[skydan]

Buy a 150

Buy a 150 - find an instructor - get all your licenses - get student and fly the 150 to get a 1000 hrs - sell the 150 - Go get a job.