That pretty much sums it up. My degree has done nothing but allow me to check a box on the application, but it is a box that they expected me to be able to check. The HR people selecting pilots to interview and those conducting the actual interviews all have degrees and think that they’re important. It’s also something that they use to thin out the stack of applications that they have to review. Some of the pilots involved in the interview process that I have flown with seem to think that not having a degree shows that you think that the rules don’t apply to you. We all know that a degree is highly recommended (practically required), yet some decide not to have one. Things may change in the future, but for right now, someone without a degree should expect to watch others get hired and start building seniority while they wait for the airlines to change their tune. At the rate that the legacies are hiring, that could be thousands of seniority numbers and a ton of money.