Have I ruined my chances?

K

KDFW17R

New Member
I'm a student at an aviation university right now, very close to finishing my CFI. I'll be graduating with my B.S. in aeronautics shortly and plan to instruct to build flight hours. My flying side is going great, but I had a hiccup in my academics. I had a 3.1 GPA in high school and currently have a 3.6 thus far at my university. Will that hurt my chances of getting to a legacy carrier like UAL, AAL, or DAL? On top of that, I failed my college algebra class twice (pretty lame, I know). Will these legacies look at my transcript and see that? Or are you in the clear as long as you have the diploma? I know I made those mistakes, I worked my hardest to fix them, and I learned from them and became a better person from that. However, I don't know if airlines will look at it like that.
Thanks in advance for any opinions and advice.
 
Math is hard. I failed calculus twice in college and I’m a 747 captain now. I know it’s not a legacy carrier, but even if it does matter (it doesn’t) you’ll be ok.

At this point, all you can do is be prepared to talk about any of the negatives on your application. Be honest, don’t hide anything, tell them what you learned from it all.
 
KDFW17R said:
I'm a student at an aviation university right now, very close to finishing my CFI. I'll be graduating with my B.S. in aeronautics shortly and plan to instruct to build flight hours. My flying side is going great, but I had a hiccup in my academics. I had a 3.1 GPA in high school and currently have a 3.6 thus far at my university. Will that hurt my chances of getting to a legacy carrier like UAL, AAL, or DAL? On top of that, I failed my college algebra class twice (pretty lame, I know). Will these legacies look at my transcript and see that? Or are you in the clear as long as you have the diploma? I know I made those mistakes, I worked my hardest to fix them, and I learned from them and became a better person from that. However, I don't know if airlines will look at it like that.
Thanks in advance for any opinions and advice.
Click to expand...

You have a 3.6 GPA out of a 4.0 and you're worried if that'll affect your hiring chances? Seriously? Geez, you sound like a waaaay overachiever! Short answer is "NO". long answer is 'Hell NO".

Let me explain something to all the up and coming young future airline pilots...

I know college can seem like an all consuming worldly bubble and be your whole universe for 4 (or more) years, but nobody really cares where you went to school other than for bragging rights once you're out. Oh, and to able to tell you how bad your football team sucks. Nobody cares what your GPA was or what sorority or fraternity you were in or what their secret handshake is. They don't care what kind of car you drive or what your mommy and daddy do or did for a living. They only care that you have checked the box of having some sort of a college degree and many are even getting away from that requirement too.

High GPA doesn't tell me if you can fly an airplane...just tells me you can read a book. I'd be more concerned about any failures while attempting to get your ratings than your Algebra scores. I wouldn't even be that concerned at the GA level as I would be with failures at the 121 carrier level where you're suppose to have some idea what you're doing.

I can tell you I had no where near a 3.6! I mean, if the mins weren't good enough.......they wouldn't be called the mins, right?

You have nothing....and I mean *NOTHING* to worry about..k? You're doing fine!:)

Oh, I think my highest math level was something like 'Fun with numbers" or some horses**t like that and I did ok.....
 
KDFW17R said:
I'm a student at an aviation university right now, very close to finishing my CFI. I'll be graduating with my B.S. in aeronautics shortly and plan to instruct to build flight hours. My flying side is going great, but I had a hiccup in my academics. I had a 3.1 GPA in high school and currently have a 3.6 thus far at my university. Will that hurt my chances of getting to a legacy carrier like UAL, AAL, or DAL? On top of that, I failed my college algebra class twice (pretty lame, I know). Will these legacies look at my transcript and see that? Or are you in the clear as long as you have the diploma? I know I made those mistakes, I worked my hardest to fix them, and I learned from them and became a better person from that. However, I don't know if airlines will look at it like that.
Thanks in advance for any opinions and advice.
Click to expand...

I failed a couple classes and graduated with a 2.6. Still got 2 legacy interviews and got hired at one of them. Don’t sweat it.
 
KDFW17R said:
I'm a student at an aviation university right now, very close to finishing my CFI. I'll be graduating with my B.S. in aeronautics shortly and plan to instruct to build flight hours. My flying side is going great, but I had a hiccup in my academics. I had a 3.1 GPA in high school and currently have a 3.6 thus far at my university. Will that hurt my chances of getting to a legacy carrier like UAL, AAL, or DAL? On top of that, I failed my college algebra class twice (pretty lame, I know). Will these legacies look at my transcript and see that? Or are you in the clear as long as you have the diploma? I know I made those mistakes, I worked my hardest to fix them, and I learned from them and became a better person from that. However, I don't know if airlines will look at it like that.
Thanks in advance for any opinions and advice.
Click to expand...

You have impeccable credentials. Don't worry about anything you've mentioned. You'll be a star candidate anywhere.

Do you have any interest in the Envoy cadet program?
 
Screaming_Emu said:
Math is hard. I failed calculus twice in college and I’m a 747 captain now. I know it’s not a legacy carrier, but even if it does matter (it doesn’t) you’ll be ok.

At this point, all you can do is be prepared to talk about any of the negatives on your application. Be honest, don’t hide anything, tell them what you learned from it all.
Click to expand...
Hey, Kimo..... What's calculus?

A0E05C99-CC61-45B7-A125-E98DC8A92B55.jpeg
 
A friend of mine was getting a second degree because he was worried about his bad GPA on his original one. Before he finished he was in new hire at United.
 
I went through three different collegiate programs, failed out of two, finally passed a third after 13 years, 2.9 GPA, and am at a legacy carrier.

Focus on flying safely, flying professionally, honing leadership and teamwork soft skills, and networking. Everything will fall into place.
 
To the OP: I think the important thing is actually that you *finish* the degree. Your GPA is fine, and as others have said, is a very small (if at all) contributor in the grand scheme of things.
Do your best effort at school and try to keep a good professional record.... and if stuff happens, dont hide it and own up to it.
Best of luck!
 
This thread feels like fodder for some turd-ass like David Yanofsky to "report" more dreck on. Man that guy sucked.
 
Let’s try this…

If you’re a JC member reading this and are currently at a legacy with a sub 3.5, raise your hand…

Im willing to bet the majority had less than a 3.5 and some who had difficult degrees graduated with less than a 3.0. No one will care, Delta may ask you about it but it is how you react to being asked about prior challenges, let it humble you, not worry you. If things don’t go perfect and you stress that much about it, this will be a long career of stressful situations for you, both in and out of the flight deck.

Disclaimer : I don’t have a degree nor do I fly at a Major, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Kept the points too ;)
 
I had to take calc twice because I got a C- and then a C in it. (My associates degree was in business and they required a C minimum for calc.) Same thing happened both times: fine for the first 2/3 of the course and then got hit with concepts all of a sudden I completely didn't understand and even with tutoring I couldn't really get past it. At UAL now, and I never use calc. Keep calm and carry on!
 
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