Majors

[Counselair]

I graduated in '90, I was in the AFROTC program as a Government and Politics major. I got a slot but was R.I.F.'d while waiting to report to UPT. About half the pilot candidates were Engineers and half not. The only real difference I could tell was that non-tech guys didn't get scholarships.

Counselair

 

[skyward80]

Graduated with a degree in Aviation Management and Flight Operations. Basically, it's a business/management degree with emphasis placed on the aviation industry. Graduated a year early in May 01 to get in what was a booming industry... 4 months 6 days later the world was turned upside down. I got the degree with the intent of eventually getting my master's in business management and moving from operations into more of a management role as my career progresses.

Lata!
Skyward80

 

[Leo R.]

Thanks

Thanks so much for all of your feedback. Pretty interesting stuff. So basically, the AF doesn't care what you major in, right? It sounds like the key is to find some sort of medium; find something that isn't super super hard, but find something that will give you a cushy job if for one reason or another you can't fly.

I know this is a little off topic, but do you guys consider Civil or Environmental Engineering a "Bust your butt" or super difficult major? Once again, thanks alot!

Very Respectfully,
Leo R.

 

[HueyPilot]

Re

I got a degree in geology. It's not a normal degree you see in the mil aviation community, but it was something I was interested in and therefore made a good non-aviation degree. People are often very suprised at how technical geology actually is...it's not an easy major. We'd often get ex-engineering students who thought it would be easy, but by the time they hit the 2nd year syllabus of optical mineralogy and petrology (both involve lots of chemistry), most quit at that point. 3rd year you're doing things like physical geology and geophysics, as well as hydrogeology (lots of calc).

Anyways, I got the degree because if my health ever fails me and I find myself out of the aviation industry, I want a decent educational background in something interesting. And I suggest to any of you to consider the same....aviation degrees are nice, if you can guarantee yourself that you won't lose your medical.

I agree about the ENJJPT vs UPT thing. I liked both the B-1/A-10 and the C-130/C-21...I couldn't make up my mind, and didn't want to be railroaded into one career choice. I ultimately decided that the T-38 track just wasn't what I wanted to do in life, and I feel anyone else who simply doesn't know what they wanna do should just pass on ENJJPT and go to UPT.

Oh, and the 100 hours or so you'll log in either the T-37 or the T-6 won't matter much later down the road.

 

[Falconjet]

Majored in graduating!

I was a management major. My Dad told me (nagged actually) to be an engineer my whole time in school and in the CG, but I just didn't listen. An engineering degree probably would have helped me get selected for an aviation engineering officer slot in the CG (which I tried for twice but wasn't selected) but otherwise didn't effect my flying career much.

(edited for spelling)

 

[Eagleflip]

Econ/Business Management, for what its worth.

That happened in 1981...back when we stretched dinosaur skin over bones to make wings.

 

[AxisVDP]

Has anyone here ever majored in electrical engineering or physics? I need to choose one pretty soon. As of now I'm a senior in high school in AP Physics, AP Statistics, with a 5 on the AP Calc AB exam. So I'm not bad at math, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be up every night during college working my ass off for a major that you need at least a masters in to have a nice job if I don't make it into the Air Force. I'd like a technical major to keep my options open down the road and give me a better chance at an AFROTC scholarship. I considered a business degree for a while because a friend of mine's dad was a 15 pilot with a degree in business, but I'm not so sure that would be in my best interest. Oh, and what's a good respectable college with a nice atmosphere to get work done while still having a social life? I was looking at the USAFA (yea I know about the social life), VMI, the Citadel, or possibly a state college like UT or Auburn. I live in Tennessee by the way.

Thanks for the replies

 

[firstthird]

I was Aero Engineering but had roommates that did physics and EE. I'd go with what you are interested in. My take was that both are pretty darned hard but people get degrees in them every year and it sounds like you have the prereq's to succeed if you are interested. EE has more of a future if you got out and wanted to work doing that kind of stuff, seems like everything from cell phones to CPUs to cars needs a few EEs to help design it, can't say the same for physics though. Be advised too that a major in physics is very different than the Newtonian stuff you did in high schoool &/or AP physics. I always thought that kind of stuff is pretty fun, mass/acceleration/etc, real stuff. I think that around junior year in college you'll be into the 'black magic' part of physics, lots of equations, no numbers, yuck. Of course, aero and EE are similar, once you get past the basic sophmore type courses, most engineering majors get very heavy into math, not surprising, but of little value when it comes to flying a plane.

So, go for a major do what interests you/you'd enjoy; don't necessarily go business or something just because it seems easier or someone said to, if you are studying what you really care about, it will be better in the long run. That being said, don't get into one of the harder majors (EE/physics, for example) if you don't think you can pull pretty decent grades. A 2.0 in EE will still put you near the bottom of your class, you'll have learned a bunch but may have trouble service selecting what you want.

About schools, I'd throw USNA into the mix (I went to canoe U myself so I'm biased) but I figured I could fly out of either USAFA or USNA and I decided I'd rather sail than ski most of the time, thus, annapolis. Plus if the flying didn't work out for some reason (eyes the most likely) I could have gone Subs, Surface or USMC, whereas at AF, I'd think you're off to a missile silo or some other equally tempting desk type job.

About VMI/Citadel, I'm of the opinion if you are gonna go get abused for 4 years, at least get the gov't to pay for it. VMI/Citadel have great reputations in their geographic regions when it comes to producing businessmen, i.e. great networking if you do 4 years in the service then go join some regional company, otherwise, I'd say go to the source, USNA/USAFA. Just an opinion, I'm sure some Citadel/VMI guys will jump on about how wonderful it is to pay 12k a year for all the 'fun.' if you pick up a ROTC scholarship, i guess it will still be free, but still, if you want 4 years of military, I'd vote USAFA/USNA.

State college could be very good too. Much more fun while you're there, more distractions if you choose a hard major though, and unlike at USAFA, there will be plenty of people that could care less about their class rank/service selection that will be tugging you to go party when you might be better served keeping your grades up. There are tons of military pilots from all the places, you mention, it really boils down to what you want? academy, military school, or rotc at civilian? all will get you to the same place in roughly the same shape, but you'll have different experiences along the way.

And I'm sure you know, and maybe have already applied, but if not, I thin, time is getting short for USNA/USAFA/ROTC. Back in the day they did a rolling admission starting in January or thereabouts, but there is a bunch of stuff extra you have to do for academies, so if you haven't already, get that stuff working.