I am Air Science Class of 1978. While there, I was on the Dean's List every semester of my Junior and Senior Year. I lived in the dorm for four years so I could take advantage of every opportunity on campus. There were no distractions. I guess this puts me in the 'not a slacker' category. When I graduated I went on to obtain ATP and CFI-everything but helicopter. I flew professionally for 15 years after graduation and continuously applied to the majors for employment. I never got there (a blessing in disguise!). The sad fact is that fifteen of my friends never made it that far either - they were involved in fatal accidents during that time period. One per year in charter, instruction, night freight or just screwing around and WHAM.
I eventually became disgusted enough to give up flying, went back to school and got a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Like they say in kid-dom, I got to take a 'do-over'. It was the best financial decision I have ever made. Trust me on this-- engineering pays a HE** of a lot more than flying planes ever did and the employment is stable and there is a retirement account waiting for you at the end. I did pay off the $32,000 in 1978 tuition that I had to borrow. I have no idea how a 2007 grad could ever pay off $180K. That is the most insane thing I have heard in a long time. He**- a law degree won't cost you that much.
I know that there are a lot of actively flying Riddle grads out there who will say "Hey, there are no guarantees and a Riddle education is what you make of it." Truth be told, I gave the aviation gods 100% of everything I had and only got back 20% in return. One of these days these fellow graduates will realize that their fly-boy party is over. They will look around and see all the comfortable lifestyles that could have been theirs in other career paths and they will want that too. Unfortunately, there is no way they will attain that.
If you intend to go to Riddle, you need to be asking them this question: "How many graduates of the Aeronautical Science program from the last twenty years are still in the aviation business?"
The dropout rate is extremely high due to the huge loan burden combined with the low salaries you can expect for the first 10 years of your career. When you graduate from Riddle, you can expect to be thrown to the wolves, literally. You will have nowhere near the experience needed for airline employment and you will have to accept any crappy job that will get you the flight time. General Aviation is the only option (unless your dad has connections) and trust me- general aviation is full of con artists, horrible managers, stale coffee, shi**y hours and deadly equipment. Very few of my fellow graduates from 1978 (approx 25%) can be found in the FAA Airman Database still holding active pilots licenses and an even smaller percentage (5%) can be found with heavy type ratings that would indicate airline employment. Most are flying for Delta, United, USAir. After a heck of a lot of hard work, they did make to the majors BUT their retirement account contributions from each company have been suspended under Chapter 11. They basically have zero retirement to look forwards to. When they leave aviation at age 65, you will see their pictures in the real-estate section of the local paper. Selling homes is about the only job they will qualify for and the real-estate business is full of ex-airline pilots.
If you want to have a comfortable life, wife, kids, two cars, house in the suburbs, gifts under the Christmas tree, all the trimmings, etc. all I can say is get into a real profession as soon as you can. For anyone wanting to fly for a living, my advice is to run as fast as you can away from any office that has wings attached to it.
I eventually became disgusted enough to give up flying, went back to school and got a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Like they say in kid-dom, I got to take a 'do-over'. It was the best financial decision I have ever made. Trust me on this-- engineering pays a HE** of a lot more than flying planes ever did and the employment is stable and there is a retirement account waiting for you at the end. I did pay off the $32,000 in 1978 tuition that I had to borrow. I have no idea how a 2007 grad could ever pay off $180K. That is the most insane thing I have heard in a long time. He**- a law degree won't cost you that much.
I know that there are a lot of actively flying Riddle grads out there who will say "Hey, there are no guarantees and a Riddle education is what you make of it." Truth be told, I gave the aviation gods 100% of everything I had and only got back 20% in return. One of these days these fellow graduates will realize that their fly-boy party is over. They will look around and see all the comfortable lifestyles that could have been theirs in other career paths and they will want that too. Unfortunately, there is no way they will attain that.
If you intend to go to Riddle, you need to be asking them this question: "How many graduates of the Aeronautical Science program from the last twenty years are still in the aviation business?"
The dropout rate is extremely high due to the huge loan burden combined with the low salaries you can expect for the first 10 years of your career. When you graduate from Riddle, you can expect to be thrown to the wolves, literally. You will have nowhere near the experience needed for airline employment and you will have to accept any crappy job that will get you the flight time. General Aviation is the only option (unless your dad has connections) and trust me- general aviation is full of con artists, horrible managers, stale coffee, shi**y hours and deadly equipment. Very few of my fellow graduates from 1978 (approx 25%) can be found in the FAA Airman Database still holding active pilots licenses and an even smaller percentage (5%) can be found with heavy type ratings that would indicate airline employment. Most are flying for Delta, United, USAir. After a heck of a lot of hard work, they did make to the majors BUT their retirement account contributions from each company have been suspended under Chapter 11. They basically have zero retirement to look forwards to. When they leave aviation at age 65, you will see their pictures in the real-estate section of the local paper. Selling homes is about the only job they will qualify for and the real-estate business is full of ex-airline pilots.
If you want to have a comfortable life, wife, kids, two cars, house in the suburbs, gifts under the Christmas tree, all the trimmings, etc. all I can say is get into a real profession as soon as you can. For anyone wanting to fly for a living, my advice is to run as fast as you can away from any office that has wings attached to it.
