How important is your previous education?

[Hayleigh]

Dear reader,

Most flying schools have a rather basic entry requirement when it comes to pre education. For example have completed secondary education up to an age of 16/18.

But when it comes to job hunting, how important is your previous education? Or are the name of the FTO and having first passes etc the most important factors? Does your pre education matter? If for example you had to redo a year, or dropped out of college in order to pursue a career as a pilot, does this influence your chances of getting a job? In short: how important is your pre education?

[Parson]

For pre-selected airline schemes, your education record will most likley be looked at, though if you have valid reasons for what happened then it may not have a significant effect.

If you are funding a f/ATPL yourself and looking for a first job, then performance at your FTO will be considered - some on-line applications ask for this info and presumably are using it to filter.

Once you have a licence + a decent amount of commercial hours, both of the above become less important.

[Thrush]

I notice a recent trend towards a degree requirement but this seems to be only for jobs in US influenced areas of the world. (USA, S America, Philippines etc)
Crusty old buggers like me never went to "uni" as you had to be very clever and not just average as is the case thesedays. Everyone seems to go to uni. I know various thickos who have managed a degree....
These days it's £36,000 fees alone for a degree course...... Unless you are a Jock.

[Hayleigh]

So basically it doesnt matter? I am currently going to University because I didn't feel it was the right time to commence flight training but I simply cant stop thinking of a career as an airline pilot. So I'm considering to commence training somewhere in August. But I'm not really sure if that would be a wise decision. But 3 more years of University while constantly thinking of a career as a pilot doesn't feel right either

[Parson]

Don't go to university just because it might help you get a flying job one day. If you see it as back-up career, then that's a different matter. Either way, you need to weigh up the cost of going to uni, particlularly if your ultimate goal is flying.

Rather than spend £30-40k for 3 years of uni, have you considered say a CPL+FI and work as an instructor for a few years?

[Hayleigh]

Unlike most countries, university and colllege is rather cheap in my country. It costs me about €300 tuition a year and about €200 for books. Add up transportation costs and you'll be looking at approx €1000 / year.

My main concern is that I'm currently in my second field of study. Last year I did real estate but it was extremely boring to say the least. So I'm currently still in my first year of uni but in a totally different field of study. If I drop out now to commence flight training they interviewers might get the impression that I am not persistent.