First, are you seriously implying that college loans are the source of the current recession? Nobody said you had to go to Harvard or Princeton and drop $50,000/year. Go to a state school in your local area, go part time, just go!

Interviewer: "So why did you not go to college?"

Applicant: "Money, plain and simple"

Interviewer's internal monologue" "But he has $60,000 to drop on flight training"

Interviewer: "Well thanks for stopping by today"

Hey, I got a great idea! Why don't we just outlaw college all together. College obviously has no benefit, and look, it's ruining the economy. Maybe we can all live in communes and grow vegetables. We can use them to barter and trade with the local natives for raw materials to make our own clothes. Awesome!!

This whole thread IMO, is really all about a few people who want everything reduced to the lowest common denominator. All so they can do as little as possible, while at the same time taking advantage of benefits afforded to those who do more. This, IMO, is the real problem we face in this country today. Everyone wants to reap the benefits with out doing the work.

You know, it's hard to not be slightly offended, when you got one guy saying college is a waste of time and another saying it's a waste of money. Fortunately for me the "proof is in the pudding" so I will overlook this slight offense.

 

I've gotten that feeling in other threads as well. Personally, I went to one of the best aviation university's STRICTLY to put myself in the "exclusive" stack of paperwork.

Even though that work and time will never be reduced to anywhere near meaningless as some would like it to be, it makes me mad to see the management tactic of being able to hire.......well, a lot of what they hire over the past few years.

FWIW, before you ask or say, "What, you think you're better than me because you went to ____________?!?"

Well, Yes and No. Not a better person but a better, and more qualified, pilot candidate.

 

FWIW, there was a United B767 captain in one of my classes a few years back. He was there to fulfill a life long dream of achieving his bachelors degree.

 

Get off your high horse, you don't need an aviation degree to press direct enter enter. You must have drank all the coolaid over there listening to the speeches that you will all be aviation leaders someday because you spent 100K at an aviation college. First of all what the degree is doesn't matter to the airlines because you're just labor. What's more important is if it's useful or not.

 

Wow, in this climate Im happy to see someone else who realizes, that the only thing that matters at an interview is your Attitude, and what you convey to the interviewer. I tend to try to look for the positives in life and I have one that I would like to put out there for others to consider.

Sometimes life gives us lemons, and quite frankly its what we do with them that determine who we are at the core. I know a lot of us are on the street struggling in a bad economy, but why not do something positive with it, apply for a pell grant and if you qualify which most should if your out of work, then use the time and the grant to cover part of the cost of bettering yourself and earn that degree. Do it online, it doesnt have to be ERAU, there are aviation schools for much less and here's the kicker, most will give you a ton of credit towards that degree, because you already have all your ratings, yes they are still worth something, even when your not flying...Its all in the choices you make in your career. Use the oppurtunity and time off to better yourself, rather than sit at home wasting away.

 

Your statement is worthless nonsense. You went to an aviation ivy league school (at least in your opinion) in the hope that your interviewer is an alum that gets a chubby when he sees the same school on your resume. Sort of a foolish reason to incur a debt north of $100,000 or spend that much of Mommy and Daddy's money.

I will stack the quality of my experience, flying skills, and smarts against yours anytime you wish.

The Dash Whisperer

 

Amen, brother.

 

No high horse here. Just the facts. When I started flight training, probably before you cracked your first smile, a college degree was mandatory at EVERY major. It wasn't whether I thought college was a good idea or investment but rather WHERE would be the best place I could get that experience and education that would place me in that, ever so desirable, "other" stack.

It's ok, no offense taken.

On one hand, it's absolutely amazing to me how many of you devalue the college curriculum and experience as a waste of time and / or money and think people should just be impressed by your ability to play "X-Box" for 9 sim lessons. On the other hand, I realize that's all you have to rest your past performance on so you would want to "argue" that it's good enough.

I'm sorry but 300 hours of Metal Gear Solid, or whatever the flavor of the week is, does not let you "test out" of time, pressure or crisis management skills you get while gaining the mental apptitude required for success for 4 years at a major university. There is no argument for that. Your opinion does not superseed fact.

You're right, a degree is not "required".......today. It certainly used to be...and for those of us that were around to remember that time, it was for a damn good reason.

So tell me, which engineer do want designing your airframe, software or instruments. The one's that have years of proving mental capability and success in a designed curriculam or the ones barely meeting the minimums as "required" by the FAA and reading a few books on the basics.


Don't bother.....it's rhetorical as there is only one obvious option.

Again, not a better person.....a better PILOT CANDIDATE.

How anyone can say that a person that went through a four year program specifically designed for one specialized field, aviation or not, of study does not have obvious advantages is blind, stupid or both.

AND, btw, at all 3 of my aviation related jobs that I've had in my adult life, EVERY ONE of the interviewers asked about my experiences at my university, why I chose to go there and what it meant to me.

 

Your point of view has no relevent substance, sorry.

I paid my own way through college with two jobs AND athletic responsibilities. Thank you, though.

I'll just let your last statement, based on nothing by the way, speak for your personal arrogance and psychological deficiancies.

I bet that there's a good chance a dedicated college experience would have caught that for ya!

 

Nobody said going to college was a bad idea. You said going to aviation school makes you a better more qualified pilot. It doesn't.