College Degree?

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im still living the dream. this evening i will be attending a house party while thinking about a paper that i have due next week sometime. college is a blast and i sure as hell will miss it. :(
 
College rocks. Some are in it for the lifestyle, some to earn a piece of paper, some to learn more about the wold ... some a combination of all three. Mileage may vary, but I think most agree it's a very positive experience, and infinitely better than high school.
 
Aviator737 said:
College rocks. Some are in it for the lifestyle, some to earn a piece of paper, some to learn more about the wold ... some a combination of all three. Mileage may vary, but I think most agree it's a very positive experience, and infinitely better than high school.
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:yeahthat: fo sho
 
Cheechako said:
College isn't about grades and making it through Applied College Physics for Rocket Scientists, it's about learning the high standards of being a productive employee in today's corporate world.
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Mate I've met heaps of blokes out there with degrees who wouldn't know high standards of professionalism if it hit them between the eyes. No one has really made a strong argument to why a 4 year degree makes better/safer pilots, which IMHO doesn't. The general consensus seems to indicate that it's just a way of short-listing applicants in such a fiercly competative environment. For example, applicant A has identical quals and hours as applicant B, but applicant B has a degree.

A tertiary qualification seems to be the minimum requirement these days in most professions, as more and more people are going to universty to obtain the minimum quals, and thus the bar will be pushed higher and higher (upwards social mobility). I know a senior Qantas 74 captain who was signed up for the Qantas cadetship straight after high school in the late 60s. Now why is it that airline pilots back then didn't need degrees? Are pilots any better today because of their higher educational quals?

Now I'm not trying to tell anyone not to go to university, in fact I strongly suggest you DO go to university if you can. It's a good feeling when you know you have that degree, and more options are available to you, i.e employment at a major airline if it comes down to that factor. But I'm just questioning the reason WHY they require a degree, which mentioned above is mostly for dealing with the large number of applicants. BTw, if you do go to college, try not to see it as just a stepping stone, enjoy and value the experience of learning!

Cheers

T
 
If you want to fly for a "living" and never make more than 70k a year at a regional for the rest of your career, flying 4+ legs a day and getting Junior Manned like it's going out of style.....By all means skip College, miss out on the time of your life, and never fly at a "solid" airline. Less competition for me.

Heck (not to brag), but I can get a job at Continental, darn close to the mins if I want....If I have a degree. Even though its not "required", I'm sure I have no hope for a job there without "that peice of paper"
 
What about those who could not afford college? My parents made bad financial chocies, but since their salary is so high, we do not get any aid. There is no way I could afford UMASS or any state school really. Community college was even hard for me to pay for, especially after buying books. So instead I decided to get a full time job at Southwest. I bust my butt for 60 hours a week on the ramp, just to save money for flight training.

After 6 months I decided to try going to school, but it's not easy when you get mandatoried to stay late, or on your days off, then have to go to school with no sleep. I learned nothing, because I was so tired, so I dropped out of college. Although I sometimes think about going back, it's not going to work. I've tried twice already. I've thought about quitting, but I need full time work to afford to go and for my flight lessons. And now that I'm living on my own, I have bills to pay.

While I understand airlines want a "well rounded" individual, what makes me not well rounded? I've been working full time since the day I graduated high school to try and get somewhere in life. I am A+ certified and I like to read about history, especially the middle east. Infact, most people don't believe me when I tell them I don't go to school, I just work on the ramp.

I guess I'll end my rant, I realize if I ever go for an airline job, I'll be sticking to the regionals, but that's the way it is. I'm only 20, so I have time to get everything done, but I just don't see college in my future. If not, I guess I'll be a 30 year ERJ/CRJ/whatever pilot for life.

-Rob
 
dat hiher lernin bes fur suckerz. i aint need any dagree payper to tell me ims smrt.

i can make da plain do stuf that peple wit dagres cant do becuse they wastid all that time in collage insted of becomein a super pileot.
 
Tristan said:
Mate I've met heaps of blokes out there with degrees who wouldn't know high standards of professionalism if it hit them between the eyes. No one has really made a strong argument to why a 4 year degree makes better/safer pilots, which IMHO doesn't. The general consensus seems to indicate that it's just a way of short-listing applicants in such a fiercly competative environment. For example, applicant A has identical quals and hours as applicant B, but applicant B has a degree.

A tertiary qualification seems to be the minimum requirement these days in most professions, as more and more people are going to universty to obtain the minimum quals, and thus the bar will be pushed higher and higher (upwards social mobility). I know a senior Qantas 74 captain who was signed up for the Qantas cadetship straight after high school in the late 60s. Now why is it that airline pilots back then didn't need degrees? Are pilots any better today because of their higher educational quals?

Now I'm not trying to tell anyone not to go to university, in fact I strongly suggest you DO go to university if you can. It's a good feeling when you know you have that degree, and more options are available to you, i.e employment at a major airline if it comes down to that factor. But I'm just questioning the reason WHY they require a degree, which mentioned above is mostly for dealing with the large number of applicants. BTw, if you do go to college, try not to see it as just a stepping stone, enjoy and value the experience of learning!

Cheers

T
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College in the states and college where you are at are two completely different animals, as is the job market and secondary education for that matter.
 
Timbuff10 said:
dat hiher lernin bes fur suckerz. i aint need any dagree payper to tell me ims smrt.

i can make da plain do stuf that peple wit dagres cant do becuse they wastid all that time in collage insted of becomein a super pileot.
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Tim, I love you man.
 
Hey Rob, I don't mean any hard feelings toward you. You are smart and know it. You realize that at some point that degree is something worth having and you have made an attempt at getting it. Props to you, man.

What irks me is attitdes like Killtron's that he is "above" getting that degree and it means jack crap in life. Well there is no sense in beating an old horse. Killtron, I am loving college, and you are doing yourself a dis-service by not going. In the end you are only hurting yourself, and none of us, well except maybe OUR profession.
 
OldTownPilot said:
Hey Rob, I don't mean any hard feelings toward you. You are smart and know it. You realize that at some point that degree is something worth having and you have made an attempt at getting it. Props to you, man.

What irks me is attitdes like Killtron's that he is "above" getting that degree and it means jack crap in life. Well there is no sense in beating an old horse. Killtron, I am loving college, and you are doing yourself a dis-service by not going. In the end you are only hurting yourself, and none of us, well except maybe OUR profession.
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Are you implying that I'm a lousy pilot because I don't have a degree?

BTW it's spelled attitudes.
 
RobS said:
While I understand airlines want a "well rounded" individual, what makes me not well rounded?
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I'm sure airlines used to want 4 year degrees because it meant they were hiring a well rounded person. They still want a well rounded person but the degree is all about weeding people out. When they've got a stack of several hundred applicants who are all qualified and meet the minimum hiring requirements they've got to narrow the applicant pool somehow.
 
I couldn't imagine trying to tackle this industry without a college degree. Sometimes I feel like I am the sucker for not going on to get a master's like my wife did.

After we graduated from college she got her MBA and I went to flight training. Guess who spent more on their post college education. I nearly doubled her up on that. Guess who gets more of a return from their post college education. I won't even get into that.

Flying is fun and all but there is no way I would give up one second of my college years for any airplane experience I have had.

For you guys that want to skip out on college, what is your fall back when you lose your medical for some reason?
 
I hated HS, too. Why? The social aspects sucked, the classes weren't challenging and I didn't feel any of the "knowledge" I acquired would help me in real life. Really, does it help that I know how to conjugate a sentence?

College was/is totally different. The social aspect was TOTALLY different, I could set my own difficulty level in the classes to challenge myself and I picked classes (and continue to do so) that interest me. Plus, many aspects of my degree (pointed out earlier in this thread) not only aid in my life but in my job. I can't say the same for the things I learned in Mrs. Stephenson's English class other then The Red Badge of Courage is a good way to get some quick sleep on a reduced rest overnight.....
 
Killtron2000 said:
Are you implying that I'm a lousy pilot because I don't have a degree?
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I'm not saying you are a "lousy pilot".

But it would be one heck of a boring 4-day flying with you when the only thing you have known your entire life is flying. I'm not expecting all the people I fly with to be able to dicuss venturi flow metering, but I wold expect a level of conversation above "well 3 weeks ago in RIC there was a 15 kt x-wind....."

Well at least if you don't go to college I'd only be at the same place as you for a coulple of years, until I got the better job and you are stuck fighting your fellow pilots to keep your job flying an undersized taco rocket.
 
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