Embry Riddle- well Im here

eRiCdWoNg

New Member
OK I'm posting this from Daytona Beach I came down here this weekend to visit Embry-Riddle cause I'm thinking about coming here. This wouldnt be my first time in FL for school, I went to Univ. of Miami about 4 years ago. Anyway I went to the school today to just walk around and see. Being sunday there wasnt much around. I walked past the airfield and I saw a ton of planes there. But my impressions, it looked really small at first but after walking around its a decent sized campus. While theres no sororities, fewer girls, no football team etc like Miami that might be a better thing for me to try to concentrate (although the beach is right there). And also everybody here has something to do with aeronautics so its a much more specialized school. From what I have saw so far I think I will like the other students.

Tomorow I meet with an advisor/counselor to see what transfers, how my curriculum would go, admissions, financial aid etc. I know I shoulda posted this last week but I forgot. Ive heard of some of you getting screwed. So basically- give me the rundown good bad and ugly. Excluding the engineering department, how "difficult" is this school? I know its expensive but in this field how is this school considered? Any other experiences would be great. Thanks.
 
I know that admissions is pretty easy. They have a high acceptance %. The only other thing i know is that it is private and damn expensive!
 
Alright Eric. Here is the deal. Im about to graduate ERAU prescott. Riddle is a great school. Dont worry about any negative opinions that . people express to you. At Riddle, the academics are INCREDIBLE. I have learned more about aviation and the physics and theory behind it than I ever thought I would. The academics are definately the strong point. The flight program is good, but not stellar. Nothing more than you would get anywhere else. HONESTLY!! You will get as much out of it, as you put into it. The other thing is the money. I hope you know what you are getting yourself into financially. Cause it is not cheap. How does the industry view the degree? Well, the answer is twofold. If you want to fly for the airlines, I can assure you that a degree from Riddle looks good. It will definately help you. But, as I was informed from a Corporate GURU from this very website, corporate flight departments would rather have someone with a degree in buisness, or IT, or something along those lines. So you would be valuable when you were NOT FLYING as well. Regardless. You wont regret going to school at ERAU. Good luck!
 
Take if from someone who graduated from Riddle in Daytona in August, DO NOT go to Riddle. Save your money and go somewhere else. Yes the academics and teachers are incredible and you will learn more than any FBO will ever teach you about flight theory and flying large planes, but it's not worth the expense. Trust me after getting my loan papers this month and seeing how much my payments are going to be for the next 20-30 years, I wish I had gone elsewhere. You will put up with so much crap from the flight line and the "wonderful" administrators that will make you wonder what the priority of the school is, money or students. I figured out the hard way that it is money, they could care less about you. But if you want to go there don't let me talk you out of it. Just thought I'd put my 2 cents in.

By the way anyone want to hire a flight instructor? I could use a job.
 
Being Debt free and with a degree is a big PLUS! I suggest getting your degree as cheaply as you can. All that Gee Wiz stuff youll most likely flush away.
 
Eric. Like I said. Be prepared financially. If you dont know what you are getting yourself into, DONT DO IT. But I dont know your financial situation. Personally, I went to community college for a year. Im not graduating too far in the hole at all! But that is not the case for everyone, as is evidenced by others in this thread.
 
Great input. Anyway, a little more on me- I have a A.S. degree in business from my local community college back home. I have some engineering classes also from the community college as well as from my previous school at univ. of

My other option was Univ. of Md Eastern shore. I saw that the other day too, it is cheaper but some parts of it I didnt like too much- the airport was far away and the flight dept looks very small.

My parents (not trying to show off or anything at all) told me they are willing to be financially supportive if I do well. Knowin them they'd foot alot of the bill. If not then I'd have to pay the bill. They are the from the train of thought that the better the school- the better chances you would have down the road, and thats worth it no matter what the costs.

But yes I'm still keeping all my options open- moving far far away for college (and an expensive one at that) is no easy decision.
 
Since you already have an associates in Business why not just finish up a bachelors in business at the 4 year college of your choice and work on your ratings at an FBO while you are finishing up you bachelors.

There is no way you could go wrong with a business degree!

Or you could finish up your 4 year then go to one of the academies after that (Flight Safety, ATP, Ari-Ben, etc....).

thats my .02
 
How do I say this nicely...

"How does the industry view the degree? Well, the answer is twofold. If you want to fly for the airlines, I can assure you that a degree from Riddle looks good. It will definately help you"

Well...I can assure you, after going through many interviews with airlines at both the regional and major level, that a degree from Riddle is no better than a degree from anywhere else. You get to check the "I have a degree" box on the application. Now, that's a very important box to be able to check and Riddle is a fine school....but to say that a degree from Riddle will "definately help you"...ummm....well....that just hasn't been my experience. It wasn't my experience when I graduated there in 1983, nor was it my experience when I interviewed at UPS in 1990. In fact, and I'm not kidding, myself and several ERAU grads in my class were given a bad time during the interview that we didn't go to a REAL college. No doubt part of the intimidation process during the interview to see how you'll react...but someone pretty high up had/has some strong feelings about it.

I'm not telling anyone to not go to Riddle if your heart is set on it....just don't expect "the industry" to give a hoot....
 
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Since you already have an associates in Business why not just finish up a bachelors in business at the 4 year college of your choice and work on your ratings at an FBO while you are finishing up you bachelors.

There is no way you could go wrong with a business degree!

Or you could finish up your 4 year then go to one of the academies after that (Flight Safety, ATP, Ari-Ben, etc....).

thats my .02

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I am heavily considering this option as well. Finish my 4 year business degree at a university. This would take 2 years. In the mean time I could do the flight training at the local FBO for private, instrument, commercial, all the way thru multi engine and CFI. And I bet all that flight training would still be cheaper then one year alone at ERAU. Ontop of that, I'd have my BS in business as well, and could keep working part time at my current job. If I really wanted to save $ I'd still live at home instead of a dorm but thats another waxball to deal with....

Although my parents are willing to pay for ERAU, they are by no means "well off". For the cost of tuition, shipping my car, room and board, meals, gettin screwed by the flight dept, etc it will be very very expensive. Oh well I'll still go to the appointment tomorow to see what they have to say.
 
I have to put in my two cents here. Some of this I agree with, some I disagree.

Yes, ERAU is very expensive. This year alone, I have loans upwards of $40,000. That's the breaks. If you CAN afford it, the ERAU seal on your degree will be worth it.

Secondly, I take a bit of offense when people talk about "getting screwed" by the flight program. I'm currently finishing up FA304 (Commercial Flight Ops IV, or multiengine instrument) at ERAU Prescott. This is my third year in the flight program, and while it does have its pros and cons (just like any program), my overall impression is a positive one. From personal experience, most of the people I see who are bitter towards the program do not realize the sort of dedication it takes to make it here. The flight program is intense, no doubt. The instructors and staff here will push you to 110% during training, the checkrides are demanding and many (trust me...I just passed my 8th checkride here), and the washout rate proves that.

So by all means, if you can hack it, I don't think you'll come out of it bitter. Just don't bash it because it's not a "sit on santa's lap and get your ratings" program.

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This has nothing to do with ego, Prince Albert Fredrick the Third of Casablanca.

And no, I'm not suggesting that every program OTHER than Riddle is a "sit on santa's lap one," before I get flamed.
 
Okay, how about this one...

Where do you stand with your flight ratings? Right now I am sticking with my current flight school here in Orlando. I WAS going to go to Riddle in Daytona, but since my car took a dive and decided to explode on the highway (well, not in the BOOOM since, but it was 10 years old and paid for....) that plan is kinda not gonna happen. I have three years from Mississippi State (of which EVERY class transferred to Riddle), so my main expense would have been the flight portion. Now I am still getting a degree from Riddle, but from the Distance Learning dept. This way I still get the degree, but I pay less for my flight lessons. Even better, whenever I get a new rating, I send them a copy with a letter of authenticity, and they give me credits for it.
 
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"If you CAN afford it, the ERAU seal on your degree will be worth it."

Why?

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I'm with Don here. I'm about to graduate from Purdue University, which is a very good university, but I'm not guaranteed a job anywhere in an airline. In fact, I'm looking at taking a customer service job because that's all my diploma will afford me right now (in this job market anyhow).

It's great that you're enjoying your school, but tone down the rehtoric a little. ERAU isn't as great a school as you (RiddlePilot) make it out to be, they've got a lot of problems there they need to fix.
 
While I'm sure Riddle is a fine school like many, it's certainly not the mecca of the aviation world, nor are it's graduates anointed in any way with superior skills or knowledge. It's simply a college with an over priced aviation program, IMHO.

Do yourself, and your wallet a favor and go to a cheaper 4 year school and get a degree in something other than aviation. Think about a plan "B", something to fall back on and would enjoy doing if you couldn't fly for a living.

The only privilege given to being a ERAU graduate is the ability to mark an "X" in the degree box on the airline application. I've flown with, and have come across many ERAU grads and not one of them has thought Riddle gave them a leg up on the competition and most have regretted spending all that money.

Unless your resume reads, "Yale", "Harvard", "MIT", "Stanford" or one of the military academies, where you went to college probably wouldn't even raise an eyebrow during the interview. BTW, They also really don't care about what "frat" you were in, that you lettered in a high school sport, were teacher's pet or were part of an accelerated reading program in the 3rd grade. They want a known product and a proven aviation history. They want quality time. They want to see a lot of PIC multi-engine turbine in a 121/135 scheduled operation. They want a clean flying and driving record. They want someone who gets along with others and is easy to get along with.

Remember, the interviewer, in the back of their head, is always thinking, "Do I really want to spend 3-4 days a week with this person while on the job and in a close cockpit?".
 
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Secondly, I take a bit of offense when people talk about "getting screwed" by the flight program

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It's good to hear that you aren't having any problems with the flight department at Prescott, but it is a very common occurance at the Daytona campus. The costs for the planes and instructors skyrocketed while I was there. When I started a C172 went for about $85 per hour and the instructors were around $30, by the time I left a 172 was over $105 per hour with instruction costing $50 per hour.

I have nothing good to say about scheduling for the flight department. It was always fun to get the schedule at 5pm only to find out that you had a flight at 6am the next morning and had to check in by 530 or pay $100 no-show fee. They actually took giving no-shows out of the instructors hands and the computer would just automatically no-show you if you didn't check-in at least 30 min prior to your flight. It was even better when I would get out of work at 12 and check the schedule and find out I had to be up in less than 5 hours. At least at an FBO I would have had some advance notice of my flight and would have had some say in when my flights were scheduled. At least 2 times scheduling put me on the schedule for a checkride during a time that wasn't in my flight block. Just out of nowhere they would schedule the flight during one of my classes. When I did my DE checkride for my commercial, they gave me and the examiner different times to show up. They told me the first flight would be at 10 and told her it would be at 9. So I was planning a cross country thinking I had another hour left when my name got called to show up at the flight desk cause the DE was there.

And it was always nice having to wait at least a month to get your temporary certificate after completing a checkride. There was always that long period of time where you couldn't fly because they had taken your old certificate and hadn't yet issued your new temporary.

These are just some of the "wonderful" experiences I had with the flight department. Many of my friends from Riddle share similar or worse experiences.

Definately give Riddle a long hard look and talk to some more Riddle students before you even consider going there. Hopefully the flight department has improved since I last flew there a few months ago but I doubt it.
 
I can echo pretty much everything Mikek123 said about the DAB flight department. When I was there, I was working on my instrument rating and making very little progress whatsoever through no fault of my own (it was scheduling...or lack of it). It took me 6 months to finally get signed off for my instrument ride. Scheduling put it for 6am the day before the whole campus closed for Christmas. I got to the checkride all ready to go. We sit down to do the oral, and the check pilot looks up from my logbook and says, "we're done here." I'm sitting there thinking, "what the hell, you haven't even asked me a question yet"!!!! Turns out that my instructor did not date my endorsement, and had already fled home for the holidays leaving me high and dry, and royally pissed. After all that crap, plus a few other issues, I decided to do my flight training at FSI, and go back to Riddle later on under a different degree program.

P.S.- I'll be graduating within a year, probably with or before the guys I started with, and while they all have/will have 350 hours and fresh CFI's, I'll have the same degree from the same place, for $50k less, and five or six times as much flight time in my logbook (earned, not bought either). That should tell you something about their flight department.

P.P.S.- If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't go anywhere near Riddle. Cheap state school for Psychology degree and FSI (or FBO) would be my choice.

Just my $.03. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
 
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. From personal experience, most of the people I see who are bitter towards the program do not realize the sort of dedication it takes to make it here.

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I've got my bitterness towards Riddle's flight department and I went through that place when you were still probably graduating 6th grade.

ERAU intern, RiddlePilot, you guys trying out for the coveted Riddle IP jobs?
 
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