Originally Posted by
sargeanb
I spent a good amount of my 20s at Riddle. I had no clue what I was getting into...I knew no one in the industry, and had no family in it. Got my Bachelors there, all of my ratings, and I instructed there for 3 years. As a full-time employee, they paid for my MBA, as well as my wife's, though neither of us have had an opportunity to use it. I will say the training and equipment was top-notch. I started a lot of life-long friendships there, and a lot of my friends and colleagues that I met there helped my career progression later.
That being said, if I had a chance to do it over again, I'd say get to your first 121 job with the least amount of debt possible. Period. That most likely means get a useful degree at a state school, and get your ratings at a mom and pop school, a flying club, or even planeshare with some others looking to do the same thing. I enjoyed my time at Riddle, but it just wasn't worth the first few years of crushing debt while trying to get this career started.
This post was a good one. I also went to Riddle and didn't know any better. Looking back I would have gone to a state school, majored in a non aviation major and done my flying at the local airport. Would have been much cheaper and that non flying degree might have been useful when I got furloughed. The contacts you meet at Riddle are going through the same path as you, which means you're all trudging around in the same mud. The contacts you would meet at a local school would be people who own planes there or move on to corporate / charter etc, get a local job fueling planes and network network network.
Don't listen to all the negative comments about Riddle and whatnot online though... I have NEVER once had anyone treat me different after learning I went to Riddle and honestly 90% of the people I've flown with you don't even ask where or how they got into aviation. It just doesn't matter.
Good luck and enjoy it
