Originally Posted by
jpilot97
Hello,
I am an FO for one of the AA wholly owned regionals, and my goal is to get to Southwest. I am working on upgrading as quick as I can to start building TPIC time, I am also going to become a cadet mentor as well and do some volunteer work outside of the airlines. My biggest worry now is I don’t have a college degree. I have heard that has become a big deal again and am worried I won’t be able to get in because of that. I have looked at the possibility of working on getting one online, however, it’s a good bit of cash and will take me a while to complete. Is it worth getting a degree or should I just focus on building time, volunteer work, etc?
The degree is an easy discriminator for the airlines. When times are competitive I think its almost always going to be "preferred", or effectively required. I would look at the cost/benefit question. You do it online, and get an aviation degree, which all your ratings will give you a lot of credit for already. So roughly, you're looking at 2-2.5 years of school for a Bachelor's. What's the cost of that vs the benefit of a multi-million dollar career at Southwest (since you posted in this forum) or any other major? I'd say do the degree in addition to all the other stuff you're doing. Get into the training department too, if you can. You never know how many people are more competitive than you. Your best bet is to make yourself undeniable on paper and then sell yourself in the interview. With all that said, there is going to be a lot of hiring next year.