Completely uniformed question

ozziecat35

ozziecat35

4 out of 5 great lakes prefer Michigan.
So, I'm coming from the flying side, but with the Post 9-11 GI Bill issues, finding a school to finish my flying is going to be difficult. I want to stay in the industry, and ATC has always intrigued me. I figure if I can get ATC qualified and all that, I could work on flying on my own dime down the road...My question to the more informed folks is this.

How important is a University based education to getting accepted to OKC? I'm looking at Lewis University in Joliet, IL. They have 2 year AS degree, and everything would be pretty much covered from the $$$ end.

Would I be throwing "free" money away at an unneccesary training program since OKC would train me anyways?

Any other info on getting started would be really helpful too!

Thanks JC ATC Crew!
 
Well, I couldn't resist the urge to give a smart-ass reply, but I also wanted to include something that might be useful. There have been several threads that have discussed things related to your question including this one. I hope others will start responding with more stuff that is useful to you.

With that said, here's the smart-ass reply:

Chicks dig questions in uniform.
 
Ha, I knew I was inviting trouble...Really, I appreciate the link, I just don't know where to begin with all of this.
 
Thanks for the link...it sounds like I'm throwing money away by doing a Collegiate course as there's no guarantee I'd be accepted to OKC anyways....and I just realized I misspelled un-informed....I'm a jackass.
 
ozziecat35 said:
Thanks for the link...it sounds like I'm throwing money away by doing a Collegiate course as there's no guarantee I'd be accepted to OKC anyways....and I just realized I misspelled un-informed....I'm a jackass.
Click to expand...

you might want to re think the CTI route, i was at a Chicago Center retirement party for a good friend who finally excaped the stupity and the talk was that starting in 2013 and 2014 that there was going to be about 40 MANDATORY RETIREMENTS (age 56 folks being shown the door) each year and thats not encluding those that may retire on there own.there was also talk that there MAY be no hires at ZAU for fiscal 2012 due to the budget problems .so if Uncle Suger is goinna pay your way what do you have to lose? i mean the worst the can happen is you get hired at Sheetcargo Center and spend the next 25 years working with the dumbest group of retarded dont know there ass from a hole in the ground traffic dodging managers.but youll make some good coin!

oh and true story, back when i was still at ZAU as a controller, i and a few friends were on break sitting at one of the tables out side enjoying the day when we saw one of the managers pullup in his car for work. said manager was cutting across the grass for the front door instead of using the sidewalk.so being the evil bastard that i am i grabbed a shovel and dug a hole across the path of the manager was taking.when the manager got to the hole he stoped at the hole and looked at it with a very confused look on his face.after a few minutes of staring at the hole the manager said " hay whats my ass doing down there", he stood there for another 10 minutes just staring at the hole and scratching his head.well my break was over so i went in side, but i beliveto this day the manager it still there staring at that hole.

OG
 
Yes and no. It all depends on which announcement you use for your application. If you apply as an Off-the-Street (OTS) candidate, you only need a high school diploma and three years of progressive work experience, though I could see a college degree as beneficial. If you apply as a CTI graduate, you will already have part of the training completed (what the OGs at my facility call "knowing what a propeller is"). Getting an AS won't improve your chances of getting hired, but it would improve your chances of transferring to another facility on a bid once you're in the Agency, as that is done on a points system. Your flight ratings will also come in handy, but for the initial hiring, they don't necessarily give you a leg up on the competition.

As was mentioned, consider the CTI school route if you're serious about the school thing. Not only will you get an ATC related degree that gets you past the initial "Basics" course in OKC if accepted, but you have an additional application possibility that we OTS folks didn't have. I lucked out so incredibly well when I applied as an OTS candidate three years ago, because they were doing a big push to hire people, including those of us with no experience. Keep in mind, the FAA is not currently hiring OTS candidates that are not already in the hiring pool from previous applications, so the CTI or military vet route are probably your only shots at getting in as an ATC at this point.
 
Thanks for the thoughts guys...at this point I'm waiting on a few other things to come down regarding the flight training...but I may just end up going to Lewis and doing the ATC program and use the BAH to pay for flying on the side.

Is it just a total crapshoot as to where you'll be "stationed?" Further, can you request a tower job versus enroute?
 
In the application process, we were asked to list two states in which we would be okay with working, which were called "geo prefs" (for geographical preferences). Within those two states, the Agency determines the need for facilities and then places you. You do have some control over where you end up, though ultimately it comes down to need versus availability. I picked Tennessee and Missouri because 1) I am from Tennessee, and 2) my wife is from Missouri. On the list of states, there was a comment box that let you request specific cities for states that had multiple regions. For instance, if you were to select California, you could request NorCal or SoCal, and that will help narrow down where you might end up. I requested the St. Louis area, knowing that there are also two airports and a Center in Kansas City, and I ended up with one of the little regional airports in St. Louis.

During our application process, the question was also asked if we preferred En Route, Terminal, or both. If you just want in, you would select "both"; however, I didn't really want to go to a Center, so I selected "Terminal Only" -- which can be a bad thing, because you also just knocked yourself out of the running for any of the Center positions, but it got me what I wanted. The Terminal option includes both Tower and TRACON, and you can be selected for either one if you're selected for the Terminal option.
 
Thanks for the tips. Still trying to figure out if this is a road I want to go...I just turned 28, so I'm pushing the age 30 barrier already.
 
If you're looking at a 2 year degree and you're 28, that means you'l be 30 at graduation and have a year to get hired. Not to be a jerk, but you don't have a snowballs chance in... well some very hot mythological place. If an applicant is lucky they get hired 2 years after application, 3 years if they aren't. Getting hired in one year doesn't happen anymore. Contract and DOD ATC isn't really an option for you either. If the flying side of the house isn't your thing have you thought about airport ops? I did that for a while. The pay is pretty good and it was probably the most eventful/exciting year and a half of my life.
 
The flying side is still my end goal, I was looking at ATC as a backup per se. I've done Ramp stuff for the airlines for over 5 years (Just got out of it when I moved) and loved that, the OPs guys at PHX always seemed to be doing something cool.
 
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