Crossroads: Law School vs Flying Career

Dugie8 said:
Bshahahaha!!!!!!


Oh god, I'm crying here. Good one!
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I'm sorry, I didn't realize that computer programming was illogical. If you understand logic, you understand the building blocks of programming. Do you disagree?

Notice the last part about formal logic below. (Quoted from Wikipedia)

The purpose of programming is to find a sequence of instructions that will automate performing a specific task or solve a given problem. The process of programming thus often requires expertise in many different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms and formal logic.
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Dugie8 said:
Still just can't chain myself to a desk/cubicle for the next 25+ years.
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See, I'm the exact opposite. My desk is anchored in the same spot a mile from my house every day. I leave that desk and come home to sit in my own family room and sleep in my own bed. Even if it paid 25% less than flying, it would still be worth it. I've spent hundreds of nights in hotel rooms. I don't care for anymore.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
See, I'm the exact opposite. My desk is anchored in the same spot a mile from my house every day. I leave that desk and come home to sit in my own family room and sleep in my own bed. Even if it paid 25% less than flying, it would still be worth it. I've spent hundreds of nights in hotel rooms. I don't care for anymore.
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Exactly why I love my new job. The only real travelling is going to sim in Miami or the odd charter.
 
PhilosopherPilot said:
I'm sorry, I didn't realize that computer programming was illogical. If you understand logic, you understand the building blocks of programming. Do you disagree?

Notice the last part about formal logic below. (Quoted from Wikipedia)
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I guess if you want to be all serious and not have an ounce of fun, you're right.

Carry on.
 
PhilosopherPilot said:
I studied on my own and learned SQL, SQL server and VB Script. That was good enough to get the job. I intentionally studied logic when I was majoring in philosophy because if you understand logic you understand computer programming. (And I've always been a computer need.)

At any rate, if you can think, you can learn most any job. I would hire a well rounded educated person over a narrowly educated person any day.
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True. But for some things, you must have the qualification. For example, I would not have gotten my engineering job unless I had specifically: a mechanical, aerospace, or naval engineering degree.
 
I just discussed this thread with my wife, and she said:

When my dad was a VP at CitiCorp he would hire philosophy majors preferentially because they thought logically and knew how to think. He would avoid business majors because they had never been taught how to think.
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I just thought that was an interesting anecdote.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
True. But for some things, you must have the qualification. For example, I would not have gotten my engineering job unless I had specifically: a mechanical, aerospace, or naval engineering degree.
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Right. If you go back to my earlier post I said by all means major in engineering if you want to be an engineer. :)
 
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USMCmech said:
Med schools may be "considering" a few non-science majors with stellar GPAs, high MCAT scores, and health care work experience. However, the vast majority of applicants are still science majors.

FYI, my wife majored in genetics with a 3.74 GPA, scored in the 60th percentile in the MCAT and was a licensed EMT during college.
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Being in the minority does not necessarily mean a disadvantage. As long as you show you can hang with the science crowd - strong MCAT score (generally considered>30, not necessarily any better than a science major) and good science GPA - a non-science major discipline is not a liability and may even be an asset. As far as health care experience (volunteering, shadowing, EMT etc.) science majors have to do just as much as a non-science major. A major in science does not relieve an applicant of the need to demonstrate commitment to medicine.

Here is some data: https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/2013factstable18.pdf

I'm not going to analyze it point by point here but if you look I think you will see it supports what I'm saying.
 
PhilosopherPilot said:
I just discussed this thread with my wife, and she said:



I just thought that was an interesting anecdote.
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Doesn't surprise me. My dad worked for larger computer company and he said they would hire graduates with various degrees including philosophy majors and believe it or not music majors for System Engineers and programmers.
I doubt that happens much anymore. It seems that most IT job openings have a laundry list of certification and specific requirements for majors and degrees. I think more and more students and corporations treat colleges and universities more as a trade school than they used to.
 
flyinguitar said:
The trend is emphasizing the human side of medicine over cold science, not a shift in the applicant pool. The majority of med school applicants are still science majors.
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Just to couch this in reality: its pretty hard to get to O-chem and advanced biology as a humanities major and just doing those classes as electives.
 
hook_dupin said:
Just to couch this in reality: its pretty hard to get to O-chem and advanced biology as a humanities major and just doing those classes as electives.
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No it's not. Just take a year of gen chem and you're ready for O-chem. And most med schools do not require advanced biology.
 
Wow, did this thread blow up or what? Very interesting read.

If flying is your passion and what you want to do with your life, but the pay and job stability is your main concern, what else do you want to do? Take another talent, hobby, passion, whatever you're good at, and figure out how to make money off of it in a way you could stand doing for many hours a week. That way, you always have a stable back up and income that won't get in the way of doing what you want to do in your flying career, with a little luck of course. If flying is the only thing that interests you, I suggest you be more well-rounded. :)
 
Posting here was definitely worthwhile – I really appreciate the assortment of advice, philosophizing, and general thoughts that this thread generated, as well as ATN_Pilot and TyphoonPilot's circular "glass half full/glass half empty" debate.

As it stands, I am going to see my current position through to January and reassess my options at that point. In the meantime I'll be looking to see how I can monetize some of my skills to potentially complement flying, and stay focused on my drafting and legal research.
 
flyinguitar said:
While I might believe a mild trend, I would never believe that a person's major defines their capacity for thinking.
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Certainly it doesn't define capacity, but field of study certainly shapes and molds the way in which a person thinks. People who study philosophy think in a very distinct way. It's not that all business majors are stupid, but rather philosophy students think in a predictable way that was useful for my father-in-law.

But he himself was a PhD mathematician not a business guy, so I'm sure he had a very unique outlook with his hiring practices.
 
If you look at an average over a large enough pool of people you will find, 'Career QOL + Career Pay' is directly proportional to how much work you do to prepare for your job.

Philosophy requires very little work in College compared to Engineering and you can expect very little pay and/or QOL compared to an Engineer. If a Philosopher goes to Law School, he will probably come close to the amount of work an Engineer put into school, as a result he can expect an average 'Career QOL + Career Pay' similar to an Engineer.

Sure, there will be some in both categories that are outliers, but the average will be true. It is simple, more work = better pay + better QOL. I am also assuming the same effort is put forth after entering the workforce.
 
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On the topic of medical school and undergrad majors;

I have two sisters who are ER doctors. The eldest (31) has a bachelors in French, and makes 350k a year.

The younger (29) actually doesn't even have an undergrad degree, she got into medical school after 3 years at University. She is receiving similar offers in regards to compensation.

I have no idea what their scores or grades were. Very good I assume. They are both osteopathic doctors, as opposed to medical doctors.
 
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