I am currently a freshmen in college, majoring in agricultural business as my backup career path if being an airline pilot doesn't work out. I go to college in San Luis Obispo, California and also take flight lesson at the nearby airport KSBP. I am wrapping up my private pilot license and should be done by the time summer starts. My plan for the summer is to work on getting IFR certified. Which means by the beginning of my second year of college I will have PPL and IFR. My question is where should I go from there whilst I am still in college? Is it possible to do ANG or something along those lines while in college? Or would earning my CFI and flight instructing for the rest of my time in college be the best bet? Any others ideas, suggestions, or opportunities would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

If you are open to the military, I would definitely go that route. I have them pay for all your flight training. Talk to the local ANG, see if you can apply for a UPT slot, or if they're even looking.

I also recommend the USMC OCS program. You can do it in two six week summer sessions, and nothing else during college. Much better than ROTC in my opinion. They will also guarantee you a slot in flight school, it's up to you to graduate.

 

Guard / Reserve is an excellent path to a professional flying career, allowing you to serve a good cause, get paid, learn a lot, and have your flight training provided.

Joining an active duty service branch is a major time commitment (ten years) and I would only recommend that if you think you might be interested in an active-duty military career, with more staff/ground jobs than flying.

You will need a degree to be considered for ANG/USAFR pilot slots. You could get into the army guard as a helo pilot without completing the degree, but joining a fixed-wing unit would be the best bet if you're interested in airlines.

You could also enlist in a guard/reserve unit if you wanted to get started now, and then hope to pick up a flight slot as an internal hire (assuming you do a good job as enlisted, better odds than off-the-street applicants). This would involve at least some number of months for training, which would delay your civilian flight training.