I never did a recognised year 12; So a degree was a no-brainer for me- degree Trumps Yr 12 any day.
I figured if my grandpa needed year 7 to get a reasonable job and my father needed year 11. Then I probably needed a degree.
When September 11 & 12 happened I decided to up-skill in case of the unknown and did an MBA over the next 5 years.
Interviews with Cathay, Qantas, Eastern, - it didn't get mentioned.
Interviews with NJS & Virgin. It made a passing comment "Why did you do that?"
Whether it made any difference in either (accepted for both) is conjecture and a mute point anyway. One might plausibly say that if I wasn't studying for my MBA I might have got into Qantas at the first interview (more conjecture).
The only difference I have noticed is that I think I have better written communication skills than non degree colleagues - but unless you aspire to management then thats another mute point.
I guess another point that could be made is that now that I fly for Virgin; I have the most time off that I have ever had. If I wished to do another degree now would be the time to do it. (but then you might just prefer to play golf or trade shares or start rallying cars, study environmental science or play with your children and teach them how bitter and twisted and terrible pilots have it compared to the good ole days.
Make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time and then move forward.
Life is like a box of chocolates. Open the box
