FlyGuy

Hello, I'm 17 and I am almost done with my private pilots license and plan on going on to an airline career someday. I'm just about to start my senior year in high school and plan on attending junior college for two years after that. After junior college I would like to go to either San Jose State or Central Washington University. Has anyone attended one of these colleges or heard anything about their aviation programs? I currently live in California and really like Washington and really want to move up there, so I'm leaning towards Central Washington University. But should I try to get all my licenses in California from a local flight school while I'm junior college or wait until I get to college and do the licenses through the college? From what I heard CWU has connections with Horizon Air and can help get an interview. Also I have a color vision restriction on my medical that I'm currently working on getting rid of. Once the restriction is gone will it give me any trouble in the future? Possibly when I'm applying for an airline? Any advice or recommendations would be very helpful! Thanks!

Typhoonpilot

I went to the SJSU Aeronautics program in the 1980s and really enjoyed it. It is a good combination of normal University slash Aviation school programs that is fairly well balanced. Half of my courses were on the main campus, while the other half were on the airport campus. In that respect it gives you a wider range of people to meet, not just aviation oriented people. It also gives you a much larger choice of elective courses or minors.

When I enrolled I had already done 1.5 years of Junior College and had all my ratings up through CFI, CFII, and Multi. That allowed me to work part time as an instructor for the three years I was there. In fact, I arranged a couple of semesters with classes only on Tuesday and Thursday ( mind you it was from 0800 to 2100 ) and spent the rest of the time working. I didn't get into the college social life, but I did graduate with an ATP, 2000 hours total time, and a lot of contacts. I was hired by a regional the month after I graduated thanks to one of those contacts.

SJSU, as you probably know, doesn't have an official flight program due to California State law. There are many flying clubs and FBOs where you can work in the area. There is also a lot of GA flying in the area so it shouldn't be too hard to get some good opportunities. I did a fair amount of traffic watch, but mostly instructing. I don't know what internships they have now, but those could be a good opportunity as well.

Giving advice like this is rather difficult without knowing your exact situation. I can say that it worked out fine for me to get all my ratings while attending Junior College and then going on to SJSU. Mind you, I was a five year plan University grad. It takes a fair amount of time and effort to get all your ratings. I had to work full time to make the money to pay for it all so I couldn't go to JC full time. It was very good to have all my ratings at SJSU though because I was able to fly a lot while I was there. My counselor at SJSU allowed some of my JC classes to become senior electives at SJSU so I was able to get some good credit for my JC time ( Voyage Into Space and Marine Naviagation ). I was also able to challenge two courses in the aviation program since I was already a CFI.

Make sure you get a good look at SJSU's general education course requirements and try to get those classes taken care of at the Junior College. I really had to scramble my last couple of semesters just to tick all the boxes for the degree. If I had payed attention to the requirements while at JC and taken more courses that would transfer it would have been much easier.

Good luck and GO SPARTANS !!!!


Typhoonpilot

FlyGuy

Thanks Typhoonpilot for all your advice and im sorry for taking so long to respond! Im pretty sure junior college is what im going to do, but still not sure on what university to aim for. Also should i get my degree in an aviation field or non aviation related field? Thanks again!

LAfrequentflyer

Get your degree in a non-aviation field...Business , Engineering, etc...I even picked up a Certified financial planner qualification and a CCNA (cisco certified network associate - entry level cisco cettification for networking LANs/WANS/programming routers/switches...) to back-up my BA Business Admin/IT management...

-LA

Ratherbeflyen

I went to Big Bend. It's a junior college about 60nm east of Central Wash U. We kinda thumbed our noses at centrals flight school. We finished in two years what they do in 3+. A lot of the guys i went to school with were going to transfer to central, get their multi and cfi from central. Then try to instruct there while cranking out the 4 year. The problem with that was they, central, said we were already ahead of their flight students so we wouldnt even be allowed to work on any rating for the first year much less instruct there.

Central is a fun school lots of parties there. I wouldnt say its a bad school just slow paced. If you like that area go Big Bend for 2 years then instruct while you finish your 4 year on line or at a distance learning center. ERAU's set up to do just that. With the exception of getting my cfi in the fall of 01 that route worked well for me. Then in 4 years you'll have your hours, your degree and youll be ready for your covted airline job at 22. You'll probably be 24 if you go the central route.

FlyGuy

Ya ive also thought about big bend too, they had a write up about them in last moths AOPA Flight Training. But im also maybe thinking about doing my flight training with ATP and then transferring to central with all my licenses as a junior. Im not sure if they would allow that though because they only want you to have a private and instrument as a transfer. Has anyone been through ATPs Airline Career Pilot Program? Im curious how that program is even though its pretty expensive.

Kill Bill

i second this advice. you never know when you may have to fall back on your degree field.