Originally Posted by
juxtapilot
First of all, I am a senior in high school, and I am planning on going to UND starting in the fall of 2007. I plan on majoring in "Commercial Aviation." The reason I want to do this is because I love nearly all aspects of aviation, and I want to focus on it throughout college. I chose UND because there are lots of students there who aren't in any aviation program, so I wouldn't always be around aviation "geeks," like myself... That could be really lame.
I just have a few concerns about majoring in Commercial Aviation. 1) Would this major have any negative effects on finding a good airline job in the future? 2) If you are a UND grad, is the program worth the money? And is it fun?
Thanks for any input you might have on this! I appreciate it so much!
-Jake
Jake-
Let me begin by telling you I'm a senior at UND. 80% of those in the aviation program are hardcore prop heads (geeks). So you will be around these type in all your aviation classes, but as you said the remaining 10,000 on campus aren't in aviation.
Now to answer you questions:
1) All the airlines are looking for is a four year degree. Having an aviation degree will not have a negative effect on finding a good aviation job.
2) This is a bit trickier to answer. It really sucks to have a lot of debt coming out of school only to live near the poverty line as a flight instructor or first officer at a regional. My advice is this - if you are in the financial position where you will be able to make it through the program (figure on at least 40k for flight costs alone) with very little debt (less than 5k), life will be a lot easier. If not you might reconsider your post high school plans.
In all honesty, commercial aviation is a complete bull**** degree. It's not challenging and useless other than for filling a line on an application. You would be doing yourself a real favor getting a non aviation degree. If you are interested in flying get an aerospace engineering degree.
It has been my observation that many right out of high school believe that they must get all their tickets as soon as they can at any cost. If I had to do it all over again I would not go to school with the intention of flying while there. Instead, focus on getting your non aviation degree and paying for the certs and ratings as you can. Even if you don't get a job a regional until you're 30, you can still make captain at a major by 50 (or sooner). PM if you have any questions, and seriously think things over, coming out of school 40k in debt to go to a job paying you 20k if you're lucky is just plain stupid.