North Dakota University
 

I'm deciding to go for my BA in aviation science after completing my community college, and choosing University of ND. Now, is it a good state for young adult like me to move to? patries? attractive females???? I know nothing about that state, and dont want to spend 2-3 additional years in complete misery of boredrom.

PS i hate fishing

I'm sure they know how to have a good time. Huge D1 school+middle of nowhere=heavy boozing

It's really cold this time of year.

I'd imagine it's like every other rural college campus. There is nothing to do on the weekend but get drunk. If that's your thing you may be right at home.

Veeeery cold. But good program (I graduated in 2000). If you like hockey it's a fun place. (Although I hear things have toned down a lot since I started in 96... I guess the students aren't as wild as we used to be).

A good number of good looking girls, but you won't see much of them between October and April since everybody is buried under layers. Of course the plus is there's the positive of using body heat to keep each other warm...

ND is a good place to learn to fly. You'll be able to handle any sort of crosswind after 4 years of flying there, and the summer gets hot and you learn to deal with thunderstorms too...

I can say that there were certainly days when I rolled out of bed at 5am for a 6am flight in the winter when it was minus 20F and the sun doesnt rise till around 8, and I wondered why the hell I didn't go to Daytona (Especially when the kind people at the weather channel would inform me it was 60F there). But, if I had to do it over again, I'd still go to UND...

if you guys are worried about hot women, texas is the place for you.

FlyerJosh,
where you able to find job right away after you graduated, or were you going typical way through CFI? My friend told me that with good GPA (>3.6) some airline representatives hire you right away, with minimum hours.. just wondering :)

First off, realize that "minimum hours" is a relative term. Even though I personally was hired with relatively low time, I do think that a graduate of any program should have more time than 300 hrs and a CRJ type rating to get hired by an airline...

In my case, I taught in GFK (outside of UND) during my senior year. I was interviewed by ACA (which became the now defunct Independence Air) in the spring of 2000 and offered a position as an intern.

After graduation, I moved back to VA, and spent the summer teaching and flying as a contract/corporate first officer. In the fall I started the internship and was hired by ACA as a CRJ first officer in December 2000.

I think it is realistic to expect lower minimums if you are a UND grad with a high GPA. However I don't think it's realistic to believe that you will be hired right after graduation with an airline that is flying regional jets. Plan on teaching/flying until you have roughly 600-800TT and 100ME.

I ended up just renting a seminole over the summer of 2000 and flying about 45 hours with a friend to get the required ME time to be hired.

Flyer Josh hit the nail on the head, as Junior at UND not a lot has changed in the last several years.
UND is 13k I would hardly consider that huge. We are D1 in hockey only. Grand Forks is 45k, not sure how you come up with that being in the middle on where.

It can get cold for sure I remember -35 my freshman year, but usually on those days theres lots on blue sky and sunshine. There are plenty of women and partys for you if you so desire. Don't expect to get hired upon graduating, you'll have to build time, how much depends where you want to go. Skyways just hired 11 outta here last week with fairly low time. Horizon is here this week doing interviews they are firm at 750TT 50MT. Internships are really helpful and from the way it sounds, being a student at UND really puts you in the drivers seat for them. Your making a wise choice coming here-the school is great, tuition and cost of living is low, the aviaiton program is second to none.

UND is a great school, even with the addition of the BS CRJ sim program. All kinds of weather to experience and get used to. Very good equipement and all and all not too spendy if you do the work and do everything at or near the course mins.

Piece of advice, minor in professional flight (you get all your ratings, through CFII, I think) and major in something else. Have something you can do outside of aviation in case of furlough or any other unforseen thing. No one (ie airlines) will care that you don't have the Aeronautical Degree from UND, just that you have a degree.

You don't have to go through freezing hell in the middle of no where and spend thousands and thousands dollars, can't remember how much UND school and flight programs costs but I remember it was expensive, just so you have lowered times to go into American Eagle or Horizon Air. It's not worth it. Go through your college and get your ratings at your local FBO cheap and become a CFI. As a Skywest pilot recruiting rep told me in an e-mail, they don't care where you got your ratings or flying experience, they care about your personality and the interview. There are many flying jobs out there available to anybody not just to UND students.

No one has ever said that there were jobs only for UND grads and UND will cost you no more than going to a local FBO AND you get a college degree at the same time.

Your going to spend 'thousands and thousands of dollars' to earn your certificates and ratings no matter where you do your training. As already stated it is no more expensive to do so at UND then 'at your local FBO cheap'. I'd be more then happy to compare the numbers and refresh your memory. Why do you think the regionals (It's not only Horizon and American Eagle) lower their minimums for UND grads? Evidently those airlines think 'it's worth it.' That Skywest recruiter you talked to via email was probably the same one I talked to in person when they were here this last spring and fall. I'm well aware that to get a job in the industry your degree can be in anything you want and your flight training from anywhere. In fact as it has already been pointed out, one would be best off to major in something other then a strictly aviation degree. Get your facts straight and quit being so naive.

JMT21, it takes about 45k from Private to Multi Instrument CFI at UND, plus school. It takes about 20K for all the ratings at my FBO excluding the additional hours I have to fly to reach the commercial license requirement of 250 hours. I was accepted into the program for this year but decided not to go when I found that past flight experience and hours do not count toward the UND flight training.
Now that I think back, I am so glad that I didn't go to UND. Can't beat the SOCAL weather, the nice mountains and elevation changes, flying is never boring here.

"Can't beat the SOCAL weather, the nice mountains and elevation changes, flying is never boring here."

AirWillie where in SoCal are you in? I would give anything to be flying there. I took my private at Sunrise and paid a fortune, so i dont know how you are doing it under 20k.

edik

If you are going to throw numbers around, compare apples to apples. I paid 36K for ALL of my training through CFII, 198 hours. You are quoting 20K for all your ratings through commercial, but not including the cost of getting to 250 hours AND not earning your CFI and CFII which are the money makers for yourself.

I did all the courses at min times (not bragging just saying, the private course was 40 hours, I took my checkride at 39 hours), it can be done and the atmosphere of flying every day, the resources available (free of course) made it easy to do all this at min times.

I'm sure most of us at/from UND are glad you didn't come. People like you who whine about the price and weather are usually the ones who think just because you showed up for the lesson that it should be complete and whenever you bust a checkride it is because the stage pilot was too tough on you. Grand Forks ND is head and shoulders above SOCAL a better place to be and live.

Past hours do transfer into UND, if you have your tickets already. Otherwise, if you already have 25 or so hours towards your private you should sail through the first course and still be able to complete it close to course mins. It's not UND's rule on the hours not transferring it's 141 rule, and if you had done any research you would know that, or did you expect UND to bend the rules just for you?

Amen to that. Couldn't have said it better myself. Avbug-you still at UND or have you made the big time at last?

Graduated UND about 5 years ago, instructed for 3 and now flying all over the world. Wouldn't call it the big time, it is all a matter of perspective. I love my job, love the airplane I fly, the crews and the destinations. I am happy, and thats all that matters. To top it off I can honestly say the discipline and "extra" aviation type knowledge I got from UND has really helped in getting to this point.

Fly safe, and if you run into a couple of instructors (SOLV and KNUD) smack em and tell them its from their best instructor they ever had!

I always enjoy hearing back from UND grads (especially when it's positive things which it usually is) and seeing where they are in the industry. Who do you fly for and what do you fly? (if you don't mind saying) Also, did you do the prof. flight minor, if so what were your major(s)? I kinda which I would have looked more closely at that (I'm commercial and avit management now and considering law school) but I would hate to miss out on a lot of the upper level aviation courses. KNUD plays poker over here about once a week, good guy, I'll give him a smack for you. I heard through the grapevine that SOLV just got hired last week by Horizon to fly the CRJ. Thanks for the quick response and your absolutely right, as long as your happy thats all that matters. I can only hope to find myself in your seat 5 years after graduating.

AVBUG,

You made some good points, but this
"Grand Forks ND is head and shoulders above SOCAL a better place to be and live."

Is 100%BS, come on man, who are you kidding? Have you lived in SOCAL (not visited, lived)? I have been in GF for two years, and I have not found one thing better here then SOCAL (except I don’t have to worry about hitting a mountain when I flying).

GF is a good flight experience, but I would not even consider comparing the two.

The 20k is for all the ratings, including CFI. And why would I expect UND to bend the rules for me? Why are you so hostile man, take it easy, I didn't attack you why are you trying to attack me.

You're right, I broke my own rule. GF is the place for ME! I spend a lot of time in LAX and I cannot stand SOCAL. The people are what break it for me. Sure NOV to FEB in GF is cold but the rest of the year is great, plenty to do outdoors (ie no stupid clubs to go to) and frankly it's the best place/area in the country to raise a family, good schools, safe enviroment, low cost of living coupled with plenty of high quality homes/apartments. How much of a house will 200K get you in SOCAL as compared to GFK? What's the student to teacher ratio at the average school? How far do you have to drive to go camping and not be able to see or hear the city?

SOCAL may have really nice weather and all but for me it's the family side of it, community and schools that matter.

avbug,

Once again you made some good points. I guess it is all about where you grow up. I have always lived in big cities (St. Petersburg and Orange County). Orange County is much different from LA, I can see why you dint like it there. Personally I have never lived in LA, just Orange County (that is still SOCAL though). Obviously you got to give some in order to get something back, for example you have the ocean which attracts a lot of people. Resulting in small amount of wild life (unless you want to drive 3-6hrs). I guess it is all about the environment you go up in.

Edik

I can understand someone coming from a big city to lil ole GFK and not liking it, thats fine, BUT the ones who whine and moan ALL THE TIME really spool me up.

When I was living in GFK (I was raised about 45 miles west of GFK) I actually hated it, too cold, not enough to do (clubs etc) but I spent some time in other parts of the country and realized what a great place ND and the whole upper midwest is and came flying back at mach 2.

It is all personnal pref, and you will rarely hear anyone from GFK bash someone else about where they are from, can you say the same for the opposite? I think that in itself speaks volumes.

ps

I live on the atlantic ocean for almost 2 years, and I can say I really really liked it, BUT the trade off was a **** poor community and no place to raise a family. I also have a deal with sharks, they stay out of the bars, I stay out of the ocean. I haven't seen any sharks in the bar yet!

I did my ROTC in GF and miss the place...Like you said - its a nice small town and I found no reason to complain about the women in GF or Fargo....:-)

-LA

Hey all of you UND grads....

I'm a UND grad myself with a business degree. I took a semester off after graduation and returned to UND and am currently doing only the flying classes as a part time student, pursuing a professional flight minor. I would like to go up to at least my CFII at UND and hopefully someday flight instruct at UND.
My question is, will the airlines look at me as a "UND GRAD" when it comes to lower mins like you guys have been talking about, because I have been throught the flight program at UND?
any advice is appreciated
thanks everyone!

ps
I was born and raised in north central North Dakota. To all of you thinking about coming to UND...the most important thing that you will take away from UND is a hard, midwestern work ethic, perseverance, and a great personality, which are the cornerstones for whatever kind of training or career that you pursue.

http://studentservices.aero.und.edu/...ight/index.php

Thats the current job postings page. Horizon, American Eagle, and Piedmont have all lowered their mins for UND grads. Skyways was here 2 weeks ago and took 11, I'm not sure if they lowered their mins or not. It looks like Air Wisconsin might have lowered their mins too-UND's site says they looking for a lot fewer hours then what APC is saying, I'm not positive on that one though.

Its funny on that web page i see Sunrise Aviation, that is where i got my private.

Gfk
 

Its funny that website says American Eagle takes only UND Alums with 500tt and 100ME, They hired 3 from Regional Airline Academy with those same numbers a few weeks ago. No way I'm waiting 8 years to upgrade. I also grew up around GFK, well Moorhead to be specific. Great place to live around, especially if you like hockey. I didn't want to go to a 4 year school right away otherwise UND would have been my choice. I also couldn't stand having to be around Sioux hockey fans all the time. The only real team is the Gophers, only kidding.

Avbug, I cannot agree more. I graduated in 2004 and have been in a certain west coast city. Not quite the same. The QOL in GFK was AOK. People who instruct at UND have it better than they realize. I make just enough right now to have nothing left each month to play with.