Some help with my search!
 

Hello,
This is my first post on this Forum. I am just out of high school and have always had a really big interest in flying, so big thats what i want to do! I just graduated top 10% from my high school and gave up the chance to go to a great engineering school in WI. I want to do something that is fun, and flying would be a fun and enjoyable career for me. I have been looking into Embry Riddle for their BS to become a professional pilot. Is this a good way to go? I will be completely honest. I know NOTHING about flying, and if anyone knows a really good and reliable website that i can go to that will show me everything I need to know to get started. I have done a lot of research on my own, and this is the place i ended up. I have picked up a few things here, but I still need to look around a bit. If anyone has any advice I would be happy to hear it! Thank you all for taking the time out to read and post comments! :D

I'll be the first to throw out, but I'll bet I'm not the last.

1. Flying can be a fun and rewarding career, but there is a lot of negativity around, and you'll see that quickly. Remember to stay positive if you go through with it.
2. That being said, reconsider engineering.
3. If you still decide to go through flight, do NOT major in aviation. Take it from someone who did. It is all but useless. Get a major in a backup field that you could do if the aviation industry is not doing so hot. Accounting, Management work great.
4. Embry-Riddle is very expensive. Most aviation universities are. I would find a public university (in-state) preferably, get a degree in anything other than aviation, and fly at a good part 61 FBO next door. You do NOT need a college aviation degree to succeed. I've got one, but I regret it.
5. Have some fun in college and the rest of the way in your career. Life's short, live it up. Party your balls (or ovaries) off, but don't get in trouble with the law, and especially not a DUI.
6. Get your Certified Flight Instructor rating. Its always a backup plan if nothing else.

Most importantly, enjoy the ride.

Good luck!

"if anyone knows a really good and reliable website that i can go to that will show me everything I need to know to get started."

Jetcareers.com - Welcome

I'd stick with the engineering degree and fly on the side. I went to Riddle and it's one of the few things I'd do different if I had it to do over.

Hi Jordon,
Despite getting furloughed twice, having my pension frozen and a 40% paycut, I still am a huge fan of anyone wanting to become a professional pilot.
When the people that I fly with, who didn't go through nearly anything I have gone through the past 7 years I find that they started this flying career because it was something to do. It wasn't in their heart. I also remind them that my dad was a nuclear engineer. General Electrical treated the employees so badly that my Mom bought a ranch and they became self employed.
Any industry can have a downturn. How do you think the newly laid off engineers at Ford, GM, Chrysler feel about their career right now?
Those that went into their career because their heart was in it, usually fare better. So if aviation is in your heart, go for it!
One other thing to remember. You don't have to be an airline pilot to have a satisfying career. There are a ton of various segments of this profession that you can get into. Corporate, freight, Alaska bush pilot, etc.
Good luck. I don't know which are the good schools but I went to Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, got my two year in Aviation Tech and then went on to get my four year degree in business. You could do the same thing and flight instruct while finishing up your four year degree. I flew freight while finishing up my degree in business.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Tim

Thanks guys! I am not sure 100% whats in my heart, but airplanes have been there the longest! I cant even say i would LOVE to become an engineer for that matter. I do understand that Riddle is very expensive, but wouldnt becoming a pilot pay for itself? The school i got accepted to.. Milwaukee School of Engineering.. is about the same price as ERAU is.. so i think its a horse apiece. I would love to fly, and what i was really thinking was flying for some rich people that wouldnt mind paying me six digits to fly them around anywhere. What standards would i have to meet for that? Back to Embry Riddle: They have a BS in Aeuronautical Sciences and from what i have read it is to be the best around! What are your opinions on that? Is it something to consider? Once again.. thanks for your time!

"but wouldnt becoming a pilot pay for itself?"

What do you think pilots make?

"flying for some rich people that wouldnt mind paying me six digits to fly them around"

Making six digits, in this biz, often takes 10 year post-grad. Sometimes more, rarely less.

You've got a few people here, all more experienced than me, saying DO NOT get an aviation degree. It doesn't matter how good the program is... the degree is not as marketable as engineering.

I've only been in the biz a few years, and I wish I would have had that kind of advice before I started.

One question that I'm wondering, have you flown an anything smaller than an airline? Have you held the controls and really felt an airplane? If the answer is no, then go buy a Discovery flight, anywhere from $70-$100 for a 30 minute ride, let them know your intentions, and they should let you do most of the flying once airborn.

Then go with the rest of the advice of this thread if you decide to continue.

I went to a normal state university and majored in aviation and got a minor in geography. If i could do it agian i would major in something else and just do the flight training on my own. Not to say it wasnt fun i enjoyed it alot it just seems that to make it a major means lots of repeated classes. They change the names of classes but its all the same. Example: Systems I- private pilot systems(C-512). Systems II-commercial (Piper Arrow stuff). Systems III turbo prop (king air). They get old really fast