Edit to add: Don't want to sound bitter, pretty happy where I am at, just think the principle is too exclusive.

Yeah, this was a couple of years ago and I am getting older fast, but you are definitely right that getting a quick 4 year to check the box is the right thing to do (shoulda, coulda, didn't...)

Hi Sebastian,

We still hire a very small percentage of pilots without the degree. The numbers I've seen are in the neighborhood of 2%.

So, that should tell you two things:

Apply now, network like heck and get as many LOR's as you can. Do everything possible to enhance your professional quals. Facilitate anything they'll let you. Become an LCA. You know the drill. You might get lucky and get called.

But while you're doing that stuff, get your degree finished. Most motivated folks can knock out the Utah Valley BA in less than two years without killing yourself.

Just do it. But don't wait to apply either.

There are pilots here without the degree.

Good luck!

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

if you are currently apart of ALPA, you can get a significant discount as well as many credits for your pilot certificates through Thomas Edison State University.

https://www.tesu.edu/alpa

Calcoast.edu It’s self-paced and you can knock it out in under a year. They give you a ton of credit for your existing licenses. Good people to work with. It took me two years, but if I would have taken a couple of months off at a time, I could’ve easily finished in under a year.

I do wish United and would equate a term of enlistment in the military to having a degree. I’ll take a guy who has been an infantry squad leader over someone who has a liberal arts degree from ‘Party U.’ Just another point of view.

There are a lot of things I’d change about the way this company hires if I were King. A long time ago when I was moaning about the seemingly arbitrary and unfair hurdles between me and my dream job, Winston Sr. told me about The Golden Rule:

“If you want their gold, you’ve got to play by their rules.”

Exactly. Why doesn’t the Air Force or Navy just let interested infantry men go to flight school? If the military industrial complex won’t change their processes, why would you expect civilian airlines to do so?

I think the point was missed. For those applicants who have all of the qualifications, a term of enlistment should be equal to a degree. I know we have to play by the rules set by the King. I was enlisted, I have a degree and fly for United. From my experience the time in the military was far more valuable than the degree. I’ll take the experience of a former NCO over the newly minted Thomas Edison grad.