What to do next??

[Fraser19]

I'm 17 now and I'm my last year in high school and becoming a commercial pilot is definitely what I want to do. I have looked at many options as to how to become a pilot and I CANNOT join the RAF because of my asthma.

Going to university seems to be quite a good idea I looked at Glasgow University for Aeronautical engineering, but not sure if my grades would get me in. I then looked at Strathclyde for Aero-Mechanical engineering which i have a better chance of getting into, I looked at Mechanical and Civil as back up degrees and the Herriot Watt for Mechanical. Now obviously i want to do Aeronautical/Aero mechanical because it would help me out when it comes to ground school exams. Say I dont get into Aero engineering and did Mechanical or Civil,would it be better forgetting it and doing something else like an Apprenticeship at Rolls Royce or similar companies?

NOTE: I wouldnt pay any tuition fees for university as I'm Scottish and would only go to a Scottish university as there is no tuition fees.

We have been told a year in industry at school, The Year in Industry (http://www.etrust.org.uk/year_in_industry.cfm) they do this at places like rolls royce and you get paid roughly £14,000 for the year to go work for a year. Should I consider this?, or do think I should just try go to a place like CTC or OAA straight after school?

What do you think would be the best thing to do after school from these options?

[smartguy]

Do you realise that if you go straight to either ctc or oaa's integrated courses you can get a BCs degree in professional aviation and pilot practice anyway, and upto 42k of funding! I say go straight to ctc or oaa after school

[GLuis103]

Found myself in that exact position before starting ATPL last September, a year has past now and the more I know the less I think it would make sense going to uni before. As it has been said here, a huge majority of people who went through uni before taking pilot´s license, didn´t actually benefitted from it.
Just my 2 cents.

Good luck out there :)

[Fraser19]

Did you get into somewhere like CTC or OAA? If so you did well to get in! Or are you doing it the modular route. Anyway good luck with the rest of your exams and hope you get to the ultimate goal! Any tips you can give to me before applying? Should I apply as soon as possible?

[Bearcat F8F]

Personally think it would be stupid not to take advantage of FREE higher education, get more experience, knowledge and a BACK UP in case for whatever reason one day your Class 1 can't be re-validated.

How many airlines want 19 year old pilots anyway? Not many I bet.

And conversely I have heard plenty of pilots say that degrees do help. Maybe not always, but I think that isn't the greatest advantage of having a degree anyway, the fact that you can one day fall back on it certainly is and you wont be stuck stacking the shelves at Tesco.

Also, if you have the money/ loan for an integrated course then during the course of your degree you could easily be applying to Airline Cadet Schemes like Easyjet, Aer Lingus, BA (although you don't need to be rich for that one) and so on. Having a degree or studying for one will certainly help in those schemes. I believe most people who make it through have degrees.

Good luck, I'll meet you up there some day :ok:

[redsnail]

Don't study something because you *think* it might help with the ATPL ground school. Chances are it won't. Also, if you study something you're not absolutely fascinated with, then it's a pain and a drag and will affect your marks.