Not so fast. Riddle offers degrees in Applied Physics, Mathematics, Meteorology, Aeronautical Engineering, Air Traffic Control, Aviation Maintenance, Maintenance Management, and Airport Management just to name a few.

I hardly call that being surrounding by pilot dorks!!!


atp

 

ElBow,

You have great opportunity ahead of you, but be very careful and choose wisely. It is good that you have a passion for flying, be very selective as to how to go about attaining your goal. Since you asked for some help, I'll offer up my advice to you.

Education:

First and foremost, let's discuss your collegiate choices and route. I think it is a very unwise decision to pursue a degree in aviation and I'll share my sentiments with you.

A degree is preferred in most cases, but a particular degree is not. With that being said, if you are going to pursue a degree I think it wise to diversify and choose a field of study that has absolutely nothing to do with aviation. Why limit your options?

If it were me, I would pursue a degree in accounting or finance. Why? Because the knowledge from an education such as those will be beneficial in helping you to manage money and to earn lots of it. Learn the market, learn how to invest, and use those tools to build wealth.

As a pilot, you will more than likely have ample spare time to pursue other interests. Use that time to pursue something that will not only earn you an income, but possibly make it so that you are not completely dependent on an airline for your income. Again, diversification of your skill level being the key.

As a pilot, you may face one or more possibilities of a furlough during your career. What are your options with a degree in aviation if nobody is hiring pilots? Home Depot, bagging groceries, flying a twin-Cessna full of canceled checks through an ice storm for minimum wage. In other words, have a plan B in place for that situation. It won't cost you any more time studying since you are planning to go to college anyway.

Flight Training:

Find a good flight school at a local airport and pursue your certificates and ratings there. The airlines do not care where you did your training. You pass your exams and obtain your tickets. When it comes time to apply to an airline, all they are concerned about with regards to your tickets is that you have the appropriate ones and your flight time is commensurate with their current qualifications.

I hope this info is helpful to you.

 

I am just going to put a plug for University of Illinois here. It does have the state school feeling where you are still in college but the institute of aviation still has a good flight program and you get great training. While it is part 141 and generally I prefer part 61, it is good if you need a structured and forced environment. If you are like me and are much better studying on your own, then part 141 in general may not be the way to go. I got my Private and Instrument part 61 and prefer part 61 way more than part 141.

But go Illini!

 

Hopefully not North Dakota State. Dirty Bison.

 

Led Zep,

I appreciate your advice and honestly after every flight I go on, I always go and talk to the pilots and ask for advice. Almost everyone universally says get another degree and personally I'd love to get a double major in computer science. I have been a computer techie all my life and love web design. Personally, it is my plan to do both so that on off days or even after a day of flying, I could hop on a laptop and work from there. Some people say its extremely hard to double major but I think I'll be ok. I'm salutorian at my school so I'm a pretty studious and hard working guy. (Also cpu sci is a degree through UND's College of Aviation).



Thanks again to everyone for the advice but I'm still really curious about something. That is the total ammount of flight hours from each school. This number is really important to me because I'd rather goto a university that offers me a lot of flight hours or has a good chance of becoming an instructor there as well. Thanks!

 

If flight time is whats important then I would suggest skipping the aviation college altogether. Too much competition for scheduling the aircraft. Plan on coming out of college with minimal hours. You'll be ready to instruct or go to a bottom feeder regional.

 

you also have to look into the degree your getting outside of aviation, some degrees will have you exhausted and only focused on that and if your taking flight lessons while your earning your degree it can be that much harder on you...

 

Once again, I went to Louisiana Tech University, finished a year early, anyone who wants to be an instructor can be, the amount of hours you get is based on how much you want to work, I did one and a half years will still an undergrad in school and got over 260 before my CFI, 600 dual given, more then 100 glass, and over 50 multi. Many small jobs are in the area for interested people (c-210,be-55,be-200,c-172,and A-36 beech). School is great, alumni (over 50 of them from all walks of life) come back to school once a year for a meet-and-greet with new students, SIM/Airplanes are top notch, and it is CHEAP (compared to other flt schools)! Plus, as mentioned already, cajun girls rock, I picked up one while attending school there, wife/possible first ex-wife (AIDS, Aviation induced divorce syndrome).

 

So is that vote for UND or Riddle?

Elbow -

Tons of schools out there and you're getting good advice. Riddle seems to be 26% higher in costs at the "special good deal" price which IS significant. If your goal is to fly jets, choose the path that will keep you out of debt....your gonna need it.

Good luck!

 

I'm wrapping up my degree and on hindsight I wish I would have done a degree in something else. Granted, it's been pretty easy for my degree in Aviation Science, I think I would benefit by something else. But, choices have been made and I'll do the best with them.

I think whoever said State U, just meant a general State university.... correct me if I'm wrong.

Either way, find something in ADDITION to aviation that you can study. You'll have plenty of time to bury your head in the FAR/AIM.