I apologize if it appears as though I speak with authority. I was only passing on information from a guy who does the interviews. It was his words that said "It was a flag on my app to have 6 years to complete my degree." When you have 8,000 applications and they all have degrees and TPIC time and perfect work records and high GPA's their isn't much to screen an applicant so this just happens to be one of the things they look at. It is not an absolute and plenty of people have been hired with 6 years or more to complete their app. I was only speaking of my app when I said it was a flag. I have never had a day of unemployment in over 20 years and have even had two jobs at times but for him all he cared about was the 6 years to get my degree. I even have a failed checkride and he said he didn't care about that as much as he cared about the 6 years to get my degree. Now he did tell me he does the interviews and not the screening so he is probably not the best source in determining how your app looks.

Honestly I think getting your degree in 6 years should not be an issue and is kinda crazy that it does cause a flag. No one was hiring 5 years ago so why would anyone hurry and get a degree. I guarantee that most kids in flight school today are getting their degrees in 4 years because their is a reward waiting if they choose to hurry, 5 years ago their was no reward so no hurry. They will ask you in the interview, why you took so long and as long as you have a answer worth while they won't care. The problem is you don't have the ability to explain why it took so long on your application.

It's the whole picture they look at!

Disclaimer; I have no authority on the matter and just share what has been shared with me.