Grumpyaviator

I know a number of pilots who got hired at DAL shortly after completing a degree at Thomas-Edison. In fact, a lot of people I know got hired at airlines not long after finishing school, even years later. The time issue is a factor more if it takes you 6 years to get a BS, for example.

GPA has become a factor at some places.

Mesabah

That's the way college used to be, today it is a joke. The university I went to, now has a decompress room, where students can escape to safety if they hear a viewpoint they don't like.

If college goes back to the way it was, I will change my view, but right now it is immoral to ask someone to take on that much debt for something of no value anymore.

Elliot

CBreezy

I looked into become an airline pilot during those silly job skills tests that I did in middle school. Even then, it said you needed a bachelor's degree. What I don't understand is, why so many people knowing that requirement, complain that it's not fair? Is it fair that military officers are required to have any bachelor's degree? Is it fair that I chose to work my tail off to meet the universally accepted requirements while others have taken shortcuts?

If the only requirement to get hired at a major airline was exceptional stick and rudder skills, then every single one would put you into a simulator and see how you reacted under adverse flying conditions. How many do that? What does that tell you about their perception on the importance of being a "good stick."

Grumpyaviator

Other than flow-throughs, etc, I have not heard of anyone getting hired without a degree this cycle. In fact, airlines have gone from merely requiring a degree to weighing GPA, time to completion, etc.

I was waiting it out and finally decided to finish school. Once I got started, and recently finished, I realize it has all been worth it. It's always much better to apply yourself and do well than wait for things to happen.

It's not easy setting aside the time with a job, check rides, family, other interests and charitable activities, but you can make it all work and in the end you'll be glad you did.

PS: I did it without debt, finding ways to pay as I went. I would do it all again.

CoolHands

I do think it is a bit ridiculous to use the length of time it took a candidate to finish their degree as a discriminator. It took me a lot longer than 5 years to finish mine while I worked full-time and supported a family. I do somewhat understand Delta's logic behind the requirement though. It is their show and they can run it any way they like. For those that want a job at a Major, earn the degree. For those like me that took a decade to earn the undergraduate, consider a Masters. They can be affordable and it's a great way to improve yourself and help your resume stand out! It's also a great way to kill time in a hotel room....just my worthless two cents.

John Carr

Sadly, ^^^ seems to be more and more prevelant. With today's "touchy-feely", combined with colleges trying to make their school
More like a resort to attract business, combined with college OPERATING MORE LIKE A BUSINESS.

The fewer and fewer upper tier institutions with difficult study disciplines are waning in comparison to all lower tier schools (factories). Exclusive of military academies.

For many, it simply means that they simply showed enough to
complete the course work (or simply copied someone else's without being caught) and the check cleared.

All you gotta do is talk to the younger aviators to prove this.

Even the pilots that attended somewhere like ERAU through the 70's, 80's, and early 90's are saddened by the LACK of quality in the program NOW as compared to then. As well as the lack in quality of the graduates being turned out.

Late 2013, early 2014 UAL dropped the requirement. However, spring 2014 they had yet to hire anyone without it, that's STRAIGHT from the system chief. That's changed.

I know for a FACT, a few have been hired without it. And it DOESNT need to be said, connections and resume items OUTSIDE of flying are what helped them. "It is what it is....."

Grumpyaviator

^^^THIS!!!^^^

CBreezy

No value? Nothing has value unless society assigns it a value. Currently college graduates earn almost $18,000 more a year than high school graduates. I would say that's more than no value.

Mesabah

Yeah, and the guy I flew with a few months ago, had $200K in college loans at 14% interest. His first $1.5 million in career earning are needed to pay that off. He would have been better off working for Taco Bell, and not going at all.

Also, that $18K figure is people who found jobs with a college degree. Add in people who couldn't find a job, and their career earnings are no more than a HS grad.