PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - The CTC Wings (Cadets) Thread - Part 2.
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Old 20th Jan 2007, 09:52
  #157 (permalink)  
bjkeates
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
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My opinion is that it may help - I found that going to University gave me a lot to talk about in my interview which, had I not gone, I wouldn't have otherwise been able to. Of course it's not necessary; if CTC considered it "a sin", as you put it, to not go to university then I think they'd probably list a degree as a minimum requirement rather than just A-levels, and save you wasting your time applying if you haven't got one. I'm in full agreement with Dragonfly; I had a cracking time at university and made some brilliant friends, however there are people training who have never been to university and they're just as good pilots as the ones that have.

Do bear in mind that the minimum requirements as listed here are just that - a minimum. Of course it might help if you've been to university and you've shown you've got the ability to study and learn and work hard, but if university isn't for you then slogging through it for three or four years, doing a degree you're not interested in and making your life a misery in the process is probably going to leave you fed up, unmotivated and probably worse off than if you hadn't gone (and with another 10 grand to pay off further down the road.)

To answer the last point on choosing subjects "an inch close to a pilot's career"... that really isn't an issue. There are people out here with degrees in law, psychology, chemistry, engineering... you don't need a maths or physics degree to be a pilot! (Incidentally I did a maths degree, and although it has helped me think quicker mathematically, not once have I used ANYTHING I learned during my three year degree during training so far. The most complicated I think I've used is early A-level stuff on vectors, but even if you haven't come across them before you'll be taught all you need to know once you're on the course.)
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