amen to that

how about flying imc in the mountains in mexico at night in a 310 or dropping off real passengers at leadville, co. Did you do anything like that at riddle, oh i forgot, you guys have an rj simulator so must be good. Have you ever actually gone missed because the runway wasn't in sight? Experience can't be bought. period.

The above goes with this.

MARK: You said it all wrong dude. You have to say it like Julia " Big mistake, Big, Huge, I have to shopping now. "..................:rolleyes:

I made a whole post defending UND but for some reason it didn't post! well the point was its not that bad and I had fun. Also you don't have to instruct at the same place you go to school at so it doesn't mean you'll be instructing for years.

Hey, nobody mentioned W. Mich... another Div. 1 school with a male/female ratio of 45/55 (actually more chicks than dudes... at least when I went there). But it was in-state tuition for me, so in comparison to the other colleges I could've gone to, I got a steal. :)

That's funny. I had a great time in college too. So what NoDak has less than a million residents? Grand Forks was cold (duh), but it was certainly a college town.

I too had plenty of adventures- enjoying the great outdoors, rivers, lakes, large cities (within a reasonable distance). I also made time to get out skiing at least 2 times a year. Not too difficult with Montana a day's drive away.

College is what you make of it. UND has a normal campus setting, with more than just aviation/aerospace. (with 10000+ on campus or affiliated with the U, it isn't exactly a small specialized "college"). Plus if you like hockey, there's few schools that can match.

There's more to school than drinking and parties (although I can say that I did plenty of both in my 4 years at UND)...

its not about the systems or the technical flying, its about building some experience in an airplane, (granted not a real big airplane) but none the less you learn so much from flight instructing. And the reason most people fail out of 121 training is lack of IFR skills, and teaching instruments really make your instrument skills better, beeing able to talk through an instrument approach while your looking outside and talking your student through his scan really helps. At least it did for me, but hey, i didnt get a chance to fly a crj sim in college, but I made it through training fine and i guarantee you my student loan payments are 1/3 of any UND grad or Purduebee. So yess, I believe flight instructing for a year, is MORE valuable than one hour of training in a CRJ sim before your ready to fly something like that anyways.

I flew on the side by taking a different degree that allowed more flexibility. I flew turbo-props on the side and graduated with 1500 TT 1200 ME turbine. Granted my story isn't typical, but anywhere you go you have to rise to the top.

That statement is very dangerous. If you don't seek contacts you won't get them, but my university had internships with all 6 legacy carriers not to mention an 8 month program with FedEx and internships with almost every other airline, including SWA, Alaska, etc. Just recently quite a few corporate internships have come about.

All those stories you guys tell sound fun. I'm not argueing that you will get laid more at an aviation university. Just that like any school that specializes it will offer more oppurtunities for advancement. Obviously the regionals are hiring, but if you want to go to a major/Cargo/good corporate gig and your father doesn't fly there already, an internship can help.

Bottom line:

Who cares how the guy next to you got where he is, if you're happy with what you did then why bust on him?

I will say that one big benefit to going to a major aviation program is the network within aviation that you have the potential to build (far greater than if you do your training at a local FBO or "pilot factory" like ATP/American Flyers.

Heck, I know 5 UND grads/classmates that live in my little town here in SW VA, simply because there's an airline base here (Piedmont). Everywhere that I overnight, I have somebody that I can call to have a beer. Not a lot of FBO students can say that.

Those networks can land you a job.