Thoughts on graduating early..

youngflyer

Well-Known Member
I am in a position to graduate at the end of my junior and I was wondering if it would be a good idea for my career? I will get all my certificates including all my instructor certs in what would be my senior year while working 40 hours a week at my FBO/Flight School so I would really come out of training with not debt. I would then flight instruct at my school while going to a State college getting a degree in Accounting for a backup. I would see if I could get on with a part 135 operator once I reach 135 minimums(Probably much higher) while still going to college part time(maybe online if it requires it). From then I will graduate college and see what will happen then... I really would not care about missing senior year if I could be getting a head start with my career. Did anyone on here graduate early to get a head start on their career?
 
You've got the rest of your life to do all that stuff and in the grand scheme of things that one year won't make a lick of difference. I'm not quite sure you understand the commitment required to do "all your certs" in a year in addition to having a full time job. I think you're more likely to overwhelm and burn yourself out.


You're only a senior once, enjoy it.
 
I am in a position to graduate at the end of my junior and I was wondering if it would be a good idea for my career? I will get all my certificates including all my instructor certs in what would be my senior year while working 40 hours a week at my FBO/Flight School so I would really come out of training with not debt. I would then flight instruct at my school while going to a State college getting a degree in Accounting for a backup. I would see if I could get on with a part 135 operator once I reach 135 minimums(Probably much higher) while still going to college part time(maybe online if it requires it). From then I will graduate college and see what will happen then... I really would not care about missing senior year if I could be getting a head start with my career. Did anyone on here graduate early to get a head start on their career?


No debt = really really good. I completely understand the dilemma, however, it is a lot of work to fly and go to school. I fly about 25hrs per week right now and go to school at about 17credits, so be advised, its difficult. If you can afford it I'd say don't rush things, but if you can't, then rally on.
 
Thanks for the responses so far. Perhaps I could wait for school until the end of the year when all of my ratings are complete?
 
You're WAY ahead of the curve as far as making flying a career, so I'd say enjoy your senior your of high school and then head off to a school and have fun (and learn some stuff) for four years while you finish up your ratings while working part time and start instructing. 4 years is a long time and even if you don't go crazy during that time frame, by the time you graduate you'll be competitive for what ever might be hiring then.
 
Enjoy your senior year of HS? You can still enjoy it by graduating early, and hanging out with your friends when they are OUTSIDE the classroom.

Graduate Early.


Proof?

My dad graduated early, and did his undergraduate at Northwestern & Tulsa. Successful attorney.
My uncle graduated early and did his undergraduate at the University of Illinois. Successful board certified general suregon.
My aunt graduated early and did her undergraduate at the University of Illinois. Successful registered nurse.

You don't need to go to college to be a pilot.


Me personally, too lazy, and maybe showed for 1/4 of my senior year, and did the minimum require pretty much all of high school. No way in hell was I graduating early.
 
I will get all my certificates including all my instructor certs in what would be my senior year while working 40 hours a week at my FBO/Flight School so I would really come out of training with not debt.

Have you done the math on this? Without knowing what kind of gig you're getting at this FBO, I worked part time during my senior year at the local FBO for only $5 / hour. While I'd only put in about 25-30 hours per week in addition to school, it was still only enough to fly a couple of hours per week and didn't even cover the entire cost of my instrument rating. Presumably you'd be working much more than that, but with the cost of flight training these days I'm inclined to say the total cost of "all your certificates/ratings" will likely exceed whatever you can pull in with an entry-level job at the airport. Certainly you can put a large dent into whatever debt you'd accrue, but hopefully you've run the numbers before declaring you'll come out of this debt free.

As for gratuating early, I can say that I had sufficient credits to graduate early had I really wanted to. I elected to stick around and enjoy my senior year, but now that it's 10 years later there's not really anything I can say I truly miss about high school. That being said, I definitely cherish my four years in college, so I wouldn't have shortchanged myself on that experience. But man, if you're ready to move on beyond high school and you can graduate early, by all means do it. I'd discuss the matter with your family, but unless you guys feel like you need another year taking classes you don't need to graduate in order to develop the maturity to enter the real world/college, I don't see the purpose of wasting more time in high school. Just my two cents.
 
Thanks for the responses! I forgot to mention that my parents will help me out a little with flight training if I graduate early. They will match what I make. I want to take advantage of this considering I usually have to pay for whatever I want myself. I figure I will make about $7 and hour with taxes at the FBO:
$7 X 40=280 x 2= $560
$560 x 40 weeks at least= $22400.
I will have my private and most of my instrument by then..
I would only have to take gym my senior year so it is almost 100% pointless considering I can skip gym if I graduate early.
 
Sounds like your plan is doable. With the matching funds you'll be making $14 / hr--shouldn't be a problem to get your PPL and instrument rating in that timeframe. To be honest, I don't really know how much all of your certificates and ratings cost these days (but I know it's alot more than what it cost me when I did it). But with over 22K per year (assuming it's going 100% toward your flight training), you'll probably be able to put a good dent in your commercial/multi rating. You'll have to research that total cost (and remember, what ever they quote you is probably a lowball figure based on minimums) based on your local market.

Another thing to consider. If you have the opportunity to take lots of AP classes and knock out your core college credits (for free in high school), I probably wouldn't pass up that opportunity. But, like you said, if it just comes down to showing up for gym class, don't waste your time. You can exercise on your own time.
 
Relax, you're way ahead of the game. 18-21 should be a vast wasteland of personal exploration. You'll have 45 years to go from Chicago to Tulsa over and over, enjoy your youth. By the way it's really hard to balance college with getting your ratings/instructing because often times you put more attention in flying.
 
I fisnished highschool 6 months early because we had the option of taking college courses which credit wise were worth more than the highschool classes. I did not start flight training, but I was sent off over seas to start college a the age of 17. Helps to start college right away, get all the general stuff out of the way and then work on your degree.
 
Thanks for the responses! I forgot to mention that my parents will help me out a little with flight training if I graduate early. They will match what I make. I want to take advantage of this considering I usually have to pay for whatever I want myself. I figure I will make about $7 and hour with taxes at the FBO:
$7 X 40=280 x 2= $560
$560 x 40 weeks at least= $22400.
I will have my private and most of my instrument by then..
I would only have to take gym my senior year so it is almost 100% pointless considering I can skip gym if I graduate early.

Personally, I LOVED my senior year of high school. I really cherish the memories. My brother and brother-in-law didn't and they both graduated early and worked. My brother had a job making $15/hour and worked about 50 hours a week. He was able to pay for flying, college and have savings. It worked great for him. My brother in law graduated early and worked on flying and he has a great career as a pilot now.

I would say that you need to decide if you like high school and if you want to be there another year. If you really could care less and you have the great offer from your parents, I would say take it. If you got the employee discount on flying and didn't spend most of your money playing but really spent it on flying, I would bet you could get up through instrument possibly some commercial in.

In the end, do what will make you happy. If you prefer to graduate and not have to deal with high school and its' drama and want to get into the workforce, do it. Just remember, once you enter the adult world there is never any going back. You will be working the rest of your life and you never get that "carefree senior year" again!

Best of luck in whatever you decide.
 
Y'know, I'm gonna go the opposite way here...

If you can get out early and do what you want to, get out early. I don't know if you're planning on college or not, but your plan sounds good. 5 years out of high school, I looked back and thought to myself that way too much weight was placed on both the "pleasant memories" and the "you're only a senior once" kinda thing. Me? I couldn't wait to get out.

And frankly, I wish my head had been on as straight as yours seems to be. If I was going to go back and do it over again, I'd probably do exactly what you're doing.
 
Enjoy your senior year of HS? You can still enjoy it by graduating early, and hanging out with your friends when they are OUTSIDE the classroom.

Graduate Early.


Proof?

My dad graduated early, and did his undergraduate at Northwestern & Tulsa. Successful attorney.
My uncle graduated early and did his undergraduate at the University of Illinois. Successful board certified general suregon.
My aunt graduated early and did her undergraduate at the University of Illinois. Successful registered nurse.

You don't need to go to college to be a pilot.


Me personally, too lazy, and maybe showed for 1/4 of my senior year, and did the minimum require pretty much all of high school. No way in hell was I graduating early.

Wait? Senior in HS? Not college, ohh, retract my previous point, graduate early, start on college because you can't really be a captain till your 23 anyway.
 
It depends, if you hate high school (like I did) get out of there. If you enjoy it stay. I enjoyed college so much that I spent 5 years getting my degree.
 
I graduated college in 3 years, opting to graduate early to go on to graduate school. It's one of my biggest regrets in life. Now I would give anything to have that extra year of college to hang with my buddies and have fun. Probably wouldn't have cared about my senior year of high school, though.
 
Relax, you're way ahead of the game. 18-21 should be a vast wasteland of personal exploration. You'll have 45 years to go from Chicago to Tulsa over and over, enjoy your youth. By the way it's really hard to balance college with getting your ratings/instructing because often times you put more attention in flying.

:yeahthat:

Dude you need to chill out on the career talk. Its good you're motivated but even if you get that airline or 135 job at the age of 25 you'll still have 40 YEARS of to and fro flying.

Enjoy your youth!!
 
I did college in 3 and I have no regrets. The difference in a year of seniority is HUGE and the difference in career earnings can be large. I plan on retiring at 55 which gives me time to be with wife/ kids (hopefully) and enjoy life. I figure 35 years of flying should be enough for me! To each their own though. I know while my friends were seniors and I was already at the 121 gig I did a good bit of jumpseating back to have fun for a few days....
 
Graduate early, get all of the ratings done as quickly as possible, and then start college. Flight instructing while attending classes is actually really easy and the pay is better than any other job you could get while in college. The only thing is, school has to come first and it can be hard to stick to that mentality. There will be a lot of days you want to skip class to go flying or just drop out of school completely to fly full time. It takes a lot of disipline to stay in school when you are already qualified for the next job and when you get job offers.

Alex.
 
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