College completion options leading to flight school

[incubus852]

this question has been asked forever and will be asked forever, for good reason...ultimately you have to ask and decide for yourself...BUT

the biggest thing i learned about majors is STUDY SOMETHING YOU LIKE or truly think will benefit you in the future greatly... i.e. do not study aero engineering or some related field because you think it will give you an advantage come flight school. the consensus is it probably wont...everyone catches up pretty quick and the nature of the material in flight school is taught in a manner accessible to any reasonable SMART person... not just engineers.

...most people drop the eng majors a semester in, very few stay in and fail (worst situation) and even fewer make it through to probably regret it and the rest succeed and like it. i did engineering for several reasons, and am happy i did:
1) wanted/ want to go to test pilot school; need an eng degree
2) like technical stuff
3) wanted a degree that isnt worthless...sorry international relations, econ, languages etc...you know and i know that those degrees don't mean squat. even business is a dime a dozen these days.

had i thought i wanted to do my navy time and just go commercial from the beginning of college, i wouldve studied classics or international relations...probably a lot more interesting than a lot of engineering.

the GPA multiplier talked about above... if you get a 3.0 in whatever non technical major but only pull a 2.5 in engineering... then it cancels out... get it? what i mean is you have to bust your ass for the multiplier to work.

would someone from a respected university be preferred over a community college... the simplest and most logical answer would be yes. reputation and credibility are important, but im not completely sure on this.

explore your programs. i did ROTC, every person who applied for pilot since ive been here has gotten it... from 4.0 engineers to 2.3 psych majors.

go somewhere to study AND go to college...college isnt all about studying. rush a frat. have a beer. hook up with a fat chick. er wait dont do that.

and aero nautical science sounds like retard engineering... .

 

[skim]

hook up with a fat chick. er wait dont do that.

Good advice since manatees will dump on your carpet

 

[llnick2001]

Aero Sci degree = Biggest waste of money ever.

Sure it's fun but you can't do anything with it.

Get a business degree in case you poke your eye out or somthing.

That's retarded.

 

[Brett1]

Any advantage you could gain (there really isn't one) will be far outweighed by your misery at ERAU.

Run away.

LOL, how true!!

 

[SkywardET]

Though I haven't been through the process, I know that any type of degree can get your foot in the door, but some types of degrees have a chance to affect you later on. One JO I know of was moved across departments because her degree was electrical engineering related, while yet another JO I know of was in a technical warfare billet with a degree in Women's History. This anecdotal evidence does not necessarily apply to the pilot community and probably has less applicability to selection processes.

However, I know that for the STA-21 package in general, the instruction emphasizes repeatedly the preferred degree for applicants is a technical degree because the Navy is so technically-oriented, and it has Aerospace Engineering at the top of the list of example degrees (admittedly because it's an alpha' list).

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Aero Sci degree = Biggest waste of money ever.

Sure it's fun but you can't do anything with it.

Get a business degree in case you poke your eye out or something.

Not necessarily. Get a degree you WANT to have, something you'll have fun with. DO NOT get an undesired degree that you believe will help you advance in the Navy.

 

[eddie]

Get a degree in what you want. If you are hard working and capable, it shouldn't matter what your degree is in the long run, barring entry to certain specific fields (at least that is the wisdom I've come across most).

Put it this way. I arrived at college wanting to be and International Relations major, Japanese minor; wanted to work in E. Asian defense policy after the Navy. Then I discovered geology and have been hooked ever since, and now I'm majoring in that.

Way I figured things was, if I wanted to work in policy, I could probably have a good shot at that with a geology degree. If I ever wanted to go drilling in Indonesia, or map the tectonics of the Rift Valley, I couldn't do that with my IR degree.

It's college. Do what you like (within certain limits ).

 

[BlackBearHockey]

3) wanted a degree that isnt worthless...sorry international relations, econ, languages etc...you know and i know that those degrees don't mean squat. even business is a dime a dozen these days.

A lot of degrees don't mean anything outside of the guidelines you're using them for. There have been a lot of socially inept engineers and a lot of utopian liberal arts majors, put either out of there element and they'll fail equally. I'm the sole English major living with three engineers, and frankly it's bull that they think their shit hot because they can do mathematics. Get over yourself. I would take an intellectually diverse person over a single-minded number cruncher any day. Also, Depending on your engineering focus and time in the service, a number of lessons could be outdated by the time you get out, essentially nullifying your education.

Especially anymore, your masters degree will determine what you do with your life. I chose my major because I think it will teach me to think more critically, pay more attention to detail, and a lot of other intangibles that a liberal arts education offers. Also, it doesn't hurt to have if you want a JD at some point.

I got off-topic and hopefully not too far from it, but pull away from mine and everyone elses good insight that choose something that will enable you to turn into someone you want to be. If you want to work with numbers and tangible things, then be an engineer. If you prefer developing yourself a little more abstractly, then choose something else. Use college to develop as a person as much or more than using it to learn a new skill.

 

[Flash]

I thought it was ironic that the engineering majors in my squadrons who talked up their degrees were generally ridiculed.

 

[Cobra Commander]

Yeah you're right, flying for an airline is nothing.

Since when do you need an aero sci degree to fly for an airline? It doesn't even help you to have one. The only thing airlines care about is hours, and having a good interview.
And what if you loose your medical? What if you can't stay in the military? Then what? You'd be hard pressed to find a decent job with an aero sci degree and no business experience.

 

[incubus852]

A lot of degrees don't mean anything outside of the guidelines you're using them for. There have been a lot of socially inept engineers and a lot of utopian liberal arts majors, put either out of there element and they'll fail equally. I'm the sole English major living with three engineers, and frankly it's bull that they think their shit hot because they can do mathematics. Get over yourself. I would take an intellectually diverse person over a single-minded number cruncher any day. Also, Depending on your engineering focus and time in the service, a number of lessons could be outdated by the time you get out, essentially nullifying your education.

Especially anymore, your masters degree will determine what you do with your life. I chose my major because I think it will teach me to think more critically, pay more attention to detail, and a lot of other intangibles that a liberal arts education offers. Also, it doesn't hurt to have if you want a JD at some point.

I got off-topic and hopefully not too far from it, but pull away from mine and everyone elses good insight that choose something that will enable you to turn into someone you want to be. If you want to work with numbers and tangible things, then be an engineer. If you prefer developing yourself a little more abstractly, then choose something else. Use college to develop as a person as much or more than using it to learn a new skill.

relax man ... all i meant was currently, when it comes time for people to graduate from college and have to get employed based on their undergraduate degree solely, an engineering degree will get you employed faster and for a higher pay.

trust me, as ive spend over four years with socially retarded engineers, i would much rather hang out "intellectually diverse" people. and its true that in this day and age your masters degree is far more important...but that wasnt true 30 years ago and wont be true 30 years from now. by then, you'll need a PhD to set yourself apart from the crowd.

The point you miss about engineering is its not the actual material and lessons you learn that make the degree valuable. ive already forgotten most of the specifics. some over time, some because of alcohol and some on purpose. it is because engineering just simply teaches you to think in a more analytical/technical mindset than english for example. its not better or worse, just different.

and i tried to make it a point, like blackbear did... college isnt all about school, you develop a lot as a person.

 

[Tactical387]

yeah you said you're applying to colleges now? I wouldn't even really worry about my degree yet to be honest. I started out college as an engineering major because I was always under the hood of something, but I got to college and ran head first into the trainwreck that was my calc. class. I changed my major to english and have done really well ever since. In fact, I can't think of a single one of my friends that has the same major now that they started with.

besides all that you can pretty much major in whatever you are good at and can get a high gpa in during college, especially if you're going OCS.

-Its funny that you mention embry riddle--I had an instructor at my USNA foundation school that went to embry riddle to be a pilot in the marines and after 2 semesters he droped out and enlisted and got selected for force recon. Got some kind of diplomatic security job and is absolutely loaded now, but the point is he hated embry riddle and only did it for the reasons you're talking about. Do something you're happy with and everything else will usually kind of fall into place.

 

[getmeinaf18]

You also mentioned OCS. Why not ROTC?

Someone told me I couldn't participate in ROTC because I already completed 2 years of college. Is that really true? If I could, I would get into ROTC in a heartbeat. I was in JROTC from 7th to 9th grade and enjoyed it very much. Unfortunetly, I had to move to another state before 10th grade and my new high school didn't have a JROTC program. I was super bummed when I found that out. Has anyone ever transferred colleges and been able to jump into ROTC?

 

[FLY_USMC]

Since when do you need an aero sci degree to fly for an airline? It doesn't even help you to have one. The only thing airlines care about is hours, and having a good interview.
And what if you loose your medical? What if you can't stay in the military? Then what? You'd be hard pressed to find a decent job with an aero sci degree and no business experience.

Somewhere someone automatically started incorporating an Aero Science degree with the money hungry whore that is Embry Riddle. There are other schools out there that are much more affordable and don't suck you dry.

As for needing one for an airline, your right it doesn't help, but why the f()ck would you go to school and get some bullshiat poly sci degree when you can get one that's interesting. Lets be honest, how many liberal arts majors actually have a job doing what they majored in.

When you have the hours and you've had airline interviews, then please come back and tell me something I don't know.

Last but not least, losing your medical is for fat arses that don't take care of themselves. And while we're on the subject, the majority of "professional" pilots on civilian side have medical examiners who have seen them umpteen million times. At least this one did. It got to the point that I didn't even go see my medical examiner, I gave him BFR's and he gave me a medical, simple as that.

 

[Flash]

Somewhere someone automatically started incorporating an Aero Science degree with the money hungry whore that is Embry Riddle. There are other schools out there that are much more affordable and don't suck you dry.

As for needing one for an airline, your right it doesn't help, but why the f()ck would you go to school and get some bullshiat poly sci degree when you can get one that's interesting. Lets be honest, how many liberal arts majors actually have a job doing what they majored in.

When you have the hours and you've had airline interviews, then please come back and tell me something I don't know.

Last but not least, losing your medical is for fat arses that don't take care of themselves. And while we're on the subject, the majority of "professional" pilots on civilian side have medical examiners who have seen them umpteen million times. At least this one did. It got to the point that I didn't even go see my medical examiner, I gave him BFR's and he gave me a medical, simple as that.

Well.......some people actually find Poly Sci and/or other liberal arts degrees interesting instead of boring science and engineering degrees. Plus, the extra free time helps with the social life.

But hey, we can't all be tightwad engineer types.