Realtalk

I know most legacy carriers require a 4 year degree. Delta/united/aa etc. However are they partial to certain schools or type of degrees? What about if someone 4 years, didnt complete, then finished it up online years later? I know that shows unwillingness to complete something, but once the degree requirement how much of that is weighed?

Mesabah

While you are put above anyone without a degree, you are put below anyone who finished in a timely matter. Delta looks at GPA, program of study, the university you went to, and the time it took you to complete your degree.

I think it is ridiculous, but whatever....

satpak77

ANY degree from an accredited, state certified school, is better than no degree.

Many online degrees are offered by legit colleges with physical campus, and the degree is the same, just "method of delivery of instruction" is different.

Get your degree

DENpilot

While I haven't seen it yet in this thread, guys on here will readily defend the degree requirement. Yet these same guys will ***** about pay for training programs and who is working for what regional and so on. Spending thousands upon thousands of dollars, wasting time writing papers, and studying a bunch of worthless material that will have zero bearing on your flying abilities is pointless. Even WN's 737 type requirement had more merit than a requirement for a degree and they have gotten rid of that.

Guys are being hired without degrees. Evaluate your ROI on time and money and see if it is really worth doing.

CheapTrick

Delta scores the application and looks hard at education. Often people complain that so & so got and interview, but I didn't even though our resumes are identical. What's being overlooked by the complainant is the education factor.

Applicants score more for a difficult degree (engineering, math, science), from a prestigious school, earned in four years. And 3.5 from Penn State is going to score better than a 2.3 from Penn State. A Masters degree adds points as does a PE,Test Pilot School,etc.

On line degrees, 6 years to finish, community college, easy degrees, poor gpa - score neutrally or are negatives.

Earning a degree while working your way through school is also recognized as a character marker and doesn't count against you if you take 5 years.

The DAL personnel scoring these resumes (DAL Captains former/active) are super serious about getting the very best candidates. Education means a lot to them (I've heard the brief).

BenderRodriguez

Really? While some degrees might be a waste of ROI (like you assert), being able to demonstrate that you are trainable is basically the reason for a degree requirement. At this point in time it is a qualifier, and if you don't meet the standard, guess what? Actually, not having a degree in something OTHER than aviation is a really stupid thing to do if you pay any attention to the history of the industry. (Ask anyone that has ever been furloughed)

If you are right though, I wonder why it takes multiple advanced degrees to be an astronaut? After all, they get trained in Houston to do the job they need to do, right?

iaflyer

For Realtalk, don't put much weight in what this guy is saying. Yes, I'm sure there is some person without a degree who was hired at American or United, but 99% DO have a degree. Also, the 1% that were hired without a degree have some serious connection - like they worked for the company for 20 years, or they were the legacy of a CP or something.

I know people without degrees in this business, but they are at Virgin America, Spirit, Allegient or freight carriers. I'm sure they are happy where they are, but I've been at several freight carriers that didn't require a degree - life is much nicer, better benefits and better pay at places that require a degree.

A degree is much more than just a piece of paper. It shows perseverance, ability to see other viewpoints than your own, some level of integrity, etc. All that of course can be developed in the real world without a degree, but a college degree does it in 4 years with an generally accepted manner. It is what it is.

Sliceback

"Spending thousands upon thousands of dollars, wasting time writing papers, and studying a bunch of worthless material that will have zero bearing on your flying abilities is pointless."

Guys will **** and moan about the requirement to have a degrees while ignoring the statements by the airlines saying that it matters.

John Carr

However, the app itself doesn't really give one a proper medium to explain such.

As in, one has a buddy do the internal Deltanet to get the app scored. Human eyes review app, notice 5+ years to get a degree as well as being employed that entire time DOESNT automatically trigger the "oh, they must have been working to put themselves through, hence the 5+ years".

At a job fair, sure, one COULD explain the situation.

Olario

For Pete's sake. Enough with this degree/no degree crap.
You want to work at ABC airline, look at their requirement. If its required, go get it. If its not, then dont.
I have a bachelors and an MBA (finish my bachelors and got the MBA while flying for a regional).
I was recently hired at a Legacy.
And while Im enjoying my new airline, its nice to know that if something happens to me and I can no longer fly, I have something to fall back to and still provide adequately to my family.
Personally I dont know how guys spend hours on this debate. Who cares? The big question is what you are going to do if you can no longer be in aviation and all you have to fall back to is a HS diploma.
Those that depend on you deserve your best efforts.
Enough with my rant....Carry on with the pointless complaint how life is unfair....