DCA and ERAU are apples and oranges. DUC is a flight school. ERAU is an academic univeristy.

 

I believe my opinion holds some value do to the fact that I did BOTH.

Both give fairly quality flight training. However, I know for a fact there are quality instructors outside of both institutions. Don't limit yourself.

If you feel like you have to do one or the other, there are some major attitude differences. ERAU is an academic university, but sorely lacking the fun and diveristy of a large female presence. The school did make a large push at diversifying their student body but I have no idea how thats worked out for them. If you are going to go to school, you should be there learn. You should also have fun. You CAN do both. If you are academicaly inclined, go to UF or UCF if you want to live in Central Florida. Engineering is a great complimentary degree to go with aviation. The positive for ERAU is that their ROTC program may be well suited for you, if you go the engineering route. Despite some of the Riddle bashing I have heard, that bashing does not apply to their ROTC/Engineering students. They are a seperate breed.

DCA is a pure academy. You will go there and spend less time getting your ratings, but not less money. Oh, and they will sell you on wearing uniforms and stuff, but its all bull******. Just more money out of your pocket.

Flying really is fun. The crux of the job is, all the companies you work for are sleezy. You might enjoy flying, but will probably not enjoy the fact you are giving your time and effort into an organization that is a blackhole for money and could care less about you as an individual.

On a seperate note, I heard a lot of unwarranted Riddle bashing at DCA, all the while they were shoving kool-aid down your throat. It was hypocrisy to the extreme. If you asked someone at Riddle about "What do you think about DCA?" the response probably would be "I don't think about it."

Oh yeah, if it wasn't clear from my post...don't go to DCA. And that is not coming from someone who "couldn't hack it/didn't make it."

If you go to Riddle, the ROTC/Engineering route is the only defensible route. Make sure the money isn't being paid from your pocket.

 

My question to you is first: Are you a citizen of the US? Based on your post, it doesn't sound as though you are. So,if I'm not mistaken....ROTC is out.

Being that you're of the late teen early 20 something years, this is what I would advise:

* Go to a state university and get your 4 yr degree.
* Become a naturalized citizen or attain a working visa
* Do your research for a cost effective flight school (inc. magnitude of training)
* You've got tons of time. Use it wisely.



atp

 

Boeing...I appreciate your honesty. I've been racking my brain on what to do for the longest. I pretty much had my mind made up until about a week ago. My parents were on vacation and they ran into a pilot who suggested I check out this website. I had spoken to many pilots about DCA, but none of them had referred me to this website. After reading some of the comments here I was shocked. I mean seriously....no one really has anything good to say about the school. I've come across the occasional..."You get a great education" ...but that is always followed by a complaint with the school. As a Business Major at first I just attributed the negative reviews to "The Negative Word of Mouth Theory." Which essentially just means that you are alot more inclined to hear about the negative things that a business or coporation does rather than just the average or good things they do. I mean seriously...when is the last time you heard someone tell you that they had the "Best Average" steak at a restaurant? Probably Never. But if that same person ordered that steak well done and it came out still "mooing" you probably heard about. Because people like telling other people about there bad experiences. But since I've come across almost nothing but negative reviews about the school I can only assume that the place must be tainted. I've read comments from actual alumni of the school...I've read comments from current FO that've worked with people from the school, and I've read comments from pilots that seem to know alot more about aviaiton than me, and all of them have essentially nothing good to say. I really believe the best option for me at this point is to abdandon the idea of going to DCA and just bust my tail at a local FBO because I still have dreams of being a corporate or commercial pilot.

 

Goods and bads about each and every flight school, college, government, corporation in the world since the beginning of time, but do not I say again, do not base a decision solely on word of mouth without at least experiencing a place like ERAU or DCA, who knows that kind of atmosphere may be you, who knows and really cares besides yourself.