At a brick wall

[Big Cheese1]

Hi all,

I need some serious advice as I appear to have hit a brick wall.

I'm 21, and have just been offered a place to study at westminster university.

My A-levels are DD and E at AS, and I'm seriously considering making the full commitment towards going down the airline route.

In 2000 I was awarded an RAF flying scholarship, and although I'm still aiming at going down the air force route, I would still be grateful for any advice you might have.

Now in light of my grades, I feel it would be rather hard to get myself on any sort of flying scheme on offer, and so I'm also needing to find out the best way to fund this, or even if its worth it??

Given my grades, would this be forseen as a major problem? Or do airlines concentrate on how you performed on your CPL ATPL etc

apologies for this being rather broken and long winded

Thanks in advance


:ok:

BC

[Dan 98]

I dont think you should worry too much about your grades, yes at your age if you want to get sponsored you may need better grades and i think they like them in Physics etc.. But believe me there are plenty of people myself included who dont have any A' levels at all, however I'm 30 so will be self sponsoring myself on a modular route, I think it will matter less as you get older. At the end of the day I dont see it stopping you if you really want to do it, and the most important thing will be how you come across at an interview and how you fly! Who would you want flying you, someone with staight A's in their A Levels or someone who was a good pilot!
Also you have plenty have time to decide, just dont wait till you're 30.
Best of luck

Dan

[Captain Ratpup]

I got B,C,E at A Level and then graduated from a good uni with a first in politics.

I think you should be more concerned about your chances with the RAF than in civil aviation. I was offered a Sixth Form scholarship as well as a Flying Scholarship despite the fact that I've got really bad eyesight. This illustrates how you shouldn't be misled into thinking they really want you simply because they gave you an award.

In this game, what really matters is whether you have the aptitude, and this will be tested rigorously at interview. You will almost absolutely have to sponsor yourself through training. It's a long hard slog but the question to ask is: how much do you want this lifestyle?

What are you doing at Westminster? My partner is their admissions officer so she may be able to give you some constructive advice on the course you're doing.

[scroggs]

I think you are highly unlikely to be successful with the RAF with those grades. If I were you, and I wished to continue an ambition to join and fly for the RAF, I would enrol in night college and retake those exams as soon as possible - aiming for Cs at the very minimum.

You will find that most sponsorship schemes, when looking at school-leavers, will also be unimpressed with results at your level. A few years down the line, when you have other life achievements to your name, A-level results will be less important. Right now, they're all you have - and, as you well know, they're not good enough for the career options you'd most like to adopt.

You must either retake and improve your results, or go and get a degree or professional qualification and thereby reduce the significance of your A-levels. As a brief read of this forum will show, you don't need A-levels for a self-sponsored modular or integrated frozen ATPL course - but you do need money!

[birdlady]

HI

I have to agree with scroggs there in that you should try and get better marks if you want to go do the sponsorship route. Have you had any flying experience??? Cause if not I would suggest that you have a couple of trial flight to see if you really do like it and then decide whether to go to night college. Believe me its extremely hard to get sponsored and they will want some kind of proof that your able to work hard before they spend thousands on training you.
If your looking at the self sponsored route - may I suggest South Africa for PPl and hour building - a lot cheaper and the weather is great - most of the time.


Good Luck

Birdlady

[Big Cheese1]

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies.

Captain Ratpup, I've been accepted to do Politics and International relations if thats of any help.

In regards to my grades, as you've all said, I'm well aware that they wouldn't be good enough for sponsorship, however in regards to the RAF, I went to OASC in June and the RAF didn't seem too fussed about my grades as I was going through a bit of a domestic at the time.

Birdlady, my flying experience is an RAF flying Scholarship, 20hrs total including 4hrs 20min solo.

Scroggs, are, or were you ex mil?? Looking at some of your posts before, I know you seemed very genned up on HM flying club, and would be curious to hear more from yourself aswell.

Cheers so far guys and gals:ok:

BC