without a degree you're not qualified to apply to just about every major airline and some regionals because of your decision. Sounds like a sweet gamble..:eek:

you're trying very hard to justify your decision no to get a degree but the fact is that the lower the requirements the lower the pay. The more people that are qualified the easier it is for mgmt to justify lower pay. A degree isnt a "hoop" to jump through, its part of being a professional. How many higher paying careers require a degree? Do they consider it a "Hoop" or a requirement? Could you imagine a doctor using your argument?

A 4 year degree will make a person academically robust, and "analytically mature". Both these things are critical in a career where lives can be lost because of your actions. A degree is also a great and quick method to check if a person has these attributes, or at least has the propensity to have these attributes. Can you still obtain these attributes via a long work history and experience? Yes.

Passion for what you love doing is most important, and passion is perhaps the best teacher. When you are both a fan and practitioner of your craft, it is easy to become a master of this craft. Often, a person becomes an expert.

One of the things about college (I started college later in life, but worked in my industry for about 12 years), is that I learned things like communications (written/verbal), how to properly research and present ideas, for example; organizational management, systems engineering and analysis, and things like discrete math, which I still use for systems logic. These are things I would have never learned by simply loving my craft, learning all that I could learn about it, and only it.

There is value in a 4-year degree, although passion and long work experience can and should develop similar attributes in a person. My preference is that pilots get a 4 year degree and significant experience behind the stick.

Does having a 4-year degree make you a better pilot... probably not....but if its the price of admission... you have to pay it.

So the gamble I made paid off big time, considering I work for a very stable company, live where I want to live and earn a respectable wage. If I had finished college I would have graduated last summer, and been completely unable to be this far in my career or be making what I make. It's a gamble, and it's my choice to make, so that's the Catch 22: degree or experience. You will not be able to convince me that I needed to get the degree to sweat my butt off in a 172 for the next few years until hiring picks up and upgraded to a CRJ working for poverty wages at that point, it just doesn't make a lick of sense to put oneself through that.

How many doctors do you know that had to get a degree in an unrelated field in order to practice medicine? We require doctors to go to medical school, lawyers to law school, etc. By your logic we should require doctors to get training in a 2nd field before they can become doctors just so we can be really sure they can finish what they started and that they're well rounded. Actually, let's make every profession like that. Not only do you have to learn to do what you want to do for a career, but pick something else (anything really, because what the degree is in makes no difference, right?), and then maybe you'll get a job that almost covers your monthly expenses.

I'm not knocking anyone who has a degree. I think that's great. Education is a good thing. I'm not against taking classes to have better understanding of a subject. I'm not even denying that a degree makes you look better to a potential employer. I believe it does. What I AM saying is that in reality it's just a blanket way of weeding people out that has no bearing on the reality of the quality of employees with whom said employer will end up. There's more to being a professional than just checking the 'Bachelor's Degree" box on a resume.

That sounds great, but you still can't apply at most the majors though. SWA you are competing against Mil MBA types. Good luck with that.

I don't get it, why does everyone assume that everyone else wants to work at SWA? That's not everybody's end goal for their career.

Good for you if you made it where you wanted without a degree. But you'd have to admit that you're an exception.


doctors do take multiple courses that dont relate to being a doctor, thats all part of getting a degree. Also you're making it out like i said you have to get a degree in something unrelated. Fact is that a large number of professional pilots have degrees in aviation and some have other degrees. Point is that that a degree is a degree. All degrees have basic requirements but when you move on to your decided major you then switch to other courses. A degree is another box to fill on the many requirements it takes to get into this profession.

I could do commercial maneuvers before i had a commercial ticket so why do i need a commercial license? I mean i can do all thats required, how dare they say i need to pass a checkride!! ;) Is that just another "hoop" to jump through or is tha a legit REQUIREMENT? how does that differ from a degree?

Again, getting a degree is everyones choice but those without a degree who "make it" in the airlines are a very small minority. I wouldnt be at NWA/DAL without my degree so i'd say it paid off. To each their own

Ok, how about any other Major airline? Most major corporations require a degree. Not all but most

Again... what's with the assumptions? I don't want to fly for a major, nor do I fly for a major, and by choosing not to finish college and, instead, gaining valuable flight experience I am now in a Boeing before most people (by age) are in an RJ (excluding the 19 year old "no experience" wonders, who, on a side note, don't belong there). My point is that by no means should the degree be an FAR requirement to hold the ATP (as some have been trying to make), purely that companies are and should be allowed to set their hiring requirements as they choose, recent legislation pushing for the ATP to fly in a 121 environment is a push in the right direction in terms of the sorts of requirements we need... my personal preference, however, is that these requirements be structured around something that weeds out poor pilots and poor decision makers, not wipes out a group of people based on largely unrelated formalities.