Doing some serious thinking...

T

tripleseven

Well-Known Member
Several days ago I got a call from my parents back home that I recieved my TWO Associates degrees (Liberal Arts and Transfer Studies), from the community college I attended back home, before I transfered to where Im at today. I was so excited and so were my parents. However I have been contemplating my current route for my Bachelors degree.

Currently I attend Riddle and like and dislike certain things about it. For one, my professors are great. I really enjoy the academic side of everything. I especially enjoy my flight physiology and meteorology classes. On the other hand I keep getting a wierd feeling about the flight line side of the school. I love the flying and the sims are cool but...its just too expensive. I've voiced my concerns about expense to my parents but they told me not to worry about it and that they have things "covered". Another thing about the flight line is that sometimes I just want to separate flying from the academic side of things...if that makes sense. Meaning I just want to focus on the academics and fly on the side and not have the two coalesce. Basically I liked it when I was back at the community college...go to school, after school go to work, then on the weekend off to fly (and occasionaly a flight during the week)

Now as the spring semester is coming close to an end, I've got some important decisions to make. Do I continue on for fall semseter or transfer back to a cheaper...much cheaper...college back in California? I know only I can answer that question but Im just looking for a little input. I think my parents want me to stay but I do have other interests besides aviation. However, I still want fly professionally (airlines, corporate, military...wherever it takes me).

Anyway, before I applied and got accepted to Riddle I also applied to some schools in So. Cal and the bay area, for Fall semester '06, and currently awating notification from them. So I do have a plan B. Again any input is greatly appreciated...I'm pretty sure I know the answer to my question but would just like an objective opinion. Thank you.
 
tripleseven said:
I keep getting a wierd feeling about the flight line side of the school. I love the flying and the sims are cool but...its just too expensive. I've voiced my concerns about expense to my parents but they told me not to worry about it and that they have things "covered".
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I don't know what your family's financial situation is like. Maybe your parents are just saying that because they want the best for you no matter what the financial strain. Or maybe they really do have plenty of money and aren't concerned about the cost at all. Either way, if it's a significant concern for you, you ought to talk to your parents about it. Get the issue out in the open and find out what they really think, more than just having it "covered."

tripleseven said:
Another thing about the flight line is that sometimes I just want to separate flying from the academic side of things...if that makes sense. Meaning I just want to focus on the academics and fly on the side and not have the two coalesce. Basically I liked it when I was back at the community college...go to school, after school go to work, then on the weekend off to fly (and occasionaly a flight during the week)
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I totally understand what you're saying. I'm the same way. If it were up to me, I'd fly/train hard during the summers and study hard at traditional academics during the school year. I don't like mixing the two. Unfortunately, mixing the two is the way it works at collegiate aviation programs.

I say this: Do what makes you happiest. If you are happy at Riddle, then stay there. Just remember though that you don't need Riddle to have a successful career in aviation. If you'd be happier going to a school in California that has equally good academics, then training at an FBO, or ATP schools, or wherever, then go for it.
 
Thank you for your reply.

The financial situation is good. My parents have already told me flat out not to worry about money. They were so proud of me in that I paid for my community college education and half of my private license all while working at SkyWest (Im proud of myself too!). I feel so proud that I can say I earned and paid for my two AA degrees myself. Anyway, my parents said they would cover my Riddle education. I thank and love them for that. But when I see the recipt everytime I pay for a flight or an oral activity I cringe.

Besides the financial situation, I dont like the mixing of flight and academics. I agree with what you said. For me, I love going to class, coming back to my dorm and putting my face in a book for a while then relaxing. But when I have to wake up at 5am for a 6:00 flight, then go to class for the rest of the day, its somewhat exhausting at the end of the day. I feel that I dont adequately devote enough time for each. I know, some may say thats what flying the line is like but, I want to devote a majority of my time to my academics.

Again thank you for your reply...keep 'em coming...please.
 
If you are in college, you should be having the time of your life. If you are unsure of things, go with what you seem to think you will be happy with. I’m familiar with Riddle and I understand where you are coming from. You don’t want to see yourself get burnt out with flying. I did and ended up not flying for about 6 months. It sucked. I did what you used to do, school and flying totally separate and that’s when it is the best. It gave me something to look forward to, not something I was doing everyday. I guess wait till you hear from the other schools and go from there. From the sounds of it, personally I think Cali is where you want go. It’s not good if you are debating on it. If there is a strong enough feeling that got you this far, there is a reason why you want get out of here. Best of Luck.
 
I would say go with your gut instinct on it. You'll only be happy doing what you think is right. To give you an example, I went to a jr college for 3 years(I know I was a slacker) then transfered to UC Irvine and was there for 2 years. During my last yr in JC I started flying and continued throughout college all the time working 30 hours per week. The flight school where I trained at had only 10 airplanes and no twins.

Your degree doesn't have to be from Riddle and any aviation school to be hired at an airline. You probably already know that. While I went to JC I got pell grants and never took out loans. When I went to UCI I took out about 14K in loans and was able to pay for all of my flight training by working at my job. My good friend went to riddle and would tell me about how much it would cost to fly there. I thought he was nuts at the time.

But do what you think is right. Your gonna have almost a guaranteed interview at Skywest when you have your times. Plus, chicks dig california dudes!
 
Thanks Omar. I really value and appreciate your advice, along with everyone here.

I still remember the day you showed me around the cockpit of the Bro during the turn at SMX. You told me I didnt have to go here :)...anyway thanks for you reply.
 
tripleseven said:
Thanks Omar. I really value and appreciate your advice, along with everyone here.

I still remember the day you showed me around the cockpit of the Bro during the turn at SMX. You told me I didnt have to go here :)...anyway thanks for you reply.
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Here is the million dollar question you should ask yourself. If I was paying for the flight training myself, would I continue to pay for the training at the rates it is costing, or would I leave because I feel the rates are too high? This question is in play because you stated that you cringe everytime you see a receipt for the flight training. I feel you cringe because you feel quilty that your parents are paying for your training, and you have no control over the rates.

If you can say for certain that you would stay where you are if you were paying for it yourself, then I would stay.
 
I feel your pain! When I attended Riddle, it was tough to retain the enthusiasm for flying when you were handling the academics at the same time. Not to mention if you are working as well. For me, I really didn't have a choice, because I never stayed in AZ during the summer (except one summer), so all my flying was done during the school year. But I struggled with enjoying my flying experience because of the workload, and thats not the way it should be.

Whether you are at Riddle, or any other school that offers both flight training and academics, its no comparison to flying on the weekends or the summer when academics aren't as much of an issue. A lot less stressful to do the latter.

As for the cost, you probably won't find any other flight school as expensive as Riddle. I'll probably be paying back student loans for the next 10 years because of it (hopefully not that long). I knew a few guys (not Air Science majors) that did flight training at the FBO across the airport at Love Field in Prescott. That worked out great for them, but I'm not sure if they still require the flight training as part of the curriculum for the Air Science major. They try to layout a prediction on the costs for each program, but it always seemed to exceed them in the end. This may not be the case for everyone, just speaking from my own experience.

I think the other posts here are good pieces of advice. Its tough though, because you will still get good flight training with Riddle, but its more what YOU try to get out of it, than what the school is providing. In that case, most any FBO (with a good CFI) should work well for you, and the cost probably won't be as harsh.

By the time I was finishing my commercial, I enjoyed the flight experience (in retrospect at least), and I did notice a slight difference in my approach to flying compared to others, but that may not relate to Riddle at all. It was good training, but I did shell out an awful lot of $$$$ for it.

Hope this helps. PM me anytime if you have any other questions!

-ColM
 
As some know I'm another college student that is re-thinking their current situation with regards to how/where I do my training at. In a nutshell the current community college I am at has pissed me off more times than once. The first time they did I stopped taking classes in their aviation program such as AV weather and Aerophysics because I did not feel they were worth the money I was paying for them. And that says alot since I'm only at a community college and they are relatively cheap.

As of this date, I have not flown since the end of January, and I will not fly again until the start of April. So there's another mark against the school.

Because of all this, I am trying to decide what I want to do this summer. If I stick with the school, I'll be working on my CFI/II/MEI, if I leave I'll start training again at an FBO over the summer on my schedule working on my CFI/II/MEI while making better money with a side job. Either way I plan on getting a B.S.

So that's where I'm at, not that you're in the exact same shoes, but it'll at least let you do some cross-analysis.
 
Check it.

I went to Western Michigan University, which has a fairly large flight program. I thought for years and years that I'd just get a degree in flight because that's the only thing I was interested in. I went to Western because it was in state and had a good flight program. In fact it was the only school I applied to.

I thought collegiate aviation was going to be an intense experience! A bunch of people that are into airplanes, hanging out, studying a ton, having fun, etc. etc. That's not what I found. I found that I was getting all A's in my classes, not studying at all, and generally not being challanged by my courses. And why should I be? Western wasn't flying people until their junior year so with me already having my private pilots license, I was like 3 years ahead of the game.

So I switched to aviation managment. Long story short, I hated it. I couldn't stand the business college and the folks that hung out there. So I decided I was going to have to major in something else. I know! Political science! I love politics! That was cool, and I had a blast with it and ended up getting a minor in it (mind you a minor was 20 credit hours and if I had stuck around for another semester I would have had the double major done).

But what did I end up finally majoring in? Philosophy. I majored in it on accident to tell you the truth, and if you asked me when I started college what I would major in, philosophy would be THE LAST area that I thought I'd ever do. But I took an intro class and got sucked in.

Moral of the story? Get someplace where you can study more than just aviation, take a bunch of survey courses and find something that you're interested in. I found philosophy on accident, but I think it's the best thing that happened to me. I wouldn't even worry about studying something useful. Most people will tell you philosophy is useless, but philosophy majors do better than almost any other major in law school. English is another real good major if you want to do graduate work.
 
As a Riddle student i re think what im going to do with my life every day. I suggest fly at an FBO (lot cheap and better than Riddle) and goto ERAUs online degrees. 6000 a year vs 24000
 
John Herreshoff said:
...Get someplace where you can study more than just aviation, take a bunch of survey courses and find something that you're interested in...
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I think I've found that something. During my time at the junior college I took many classes. 80 units of general ed courses at a final GPA of 3.23.
I loved all of the classes from pol. sci, to logic, to computer science, to american history. But there was one subject that I just fell in love with...it was Geography. I ended up taking all three courses (Human Geography, World Regional Geography, and my favorite Physical Geography) and got an A in all of them. My professors in each of them said I really should pursue the subject at when I transfer. So in the end I believe I have found that subject that I love outside of aviation.
 
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