Non flying courses at uni

[DK08]

Hey guys :)

Currently through the middle of my year 12 exams my uni preferences are in, but i'll be given the opportunity to change them before the end of the year.
Within my preferences i've placed:

Bachelor of Applied Science (Aviation) - RMIT University (http://www.rmit.edu.au/programs/bp070)
and
Bachelor of Aviation (Management) > Courses > Future Students > Swinburne University of Technology (http://www.future.swinburne.edu.au/courses/Bachelor-of-Aviation-(Management)-M056N/local)

both courses about the industry that don't involve actual piloting, i figured they may be useful if i lose a leg one day.

As far as i can tell they are both very similar, and was wondering if anyone has any knowledge about the courses, and any advice associated when it comes to choosing between the two. With RMIT having a higher required ATAR score, perhaps its more popular? Does anyone know why that is?

Thanks,
Daniel

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

Here's the best piece of advice you will get today!

If you are going to go to Uni, get a "bankable" qualification, ie a professional degree (eg engineering). It is then always there if you need it.

Dr :8

[peterc005]

Both are well-respected courses and would help you land either a pilot or non-flying job airline job.

Areas like marketing, pricing, route planning etc are important to airlines and could be lucrative careers.

Both the degrees you mentioned cover these areas.

The fairly high ATARs of these courses show they are popular and there is a reason for this.

[Shagpile]

My advice - do something completely unrelated to aviation. Breadth of knowledge is now more important than ever in this day & age.

[mcgrath50]

Both are well-respected courses and would help you land either a pilot or non-flying job airline job.

Not quite, as a graduate of one of the programs I can tell you it makes squat difference as a pilot. As a management graduate though, all the students who put in a bit of effort walked into jobs with the airlines.

The fairly high ATARs of these courses show they are popular and there is a reason for this.

For as long as I have been associated with these program the ATAR has hovered around the 70 mark, not really a high score.

If you want to be a pilot do the degree because you want the university experience and 3 more years to 'grow up' before hitting the real world but don't want to study something you aren't passionate about. I found it beneficial and the added maturity made me more employable but the same would have happened had I studied Arts or done an apprenticeship in my opinion.

If you want to work on the ground the management courses can get you in but be prepared to come back and do an MBA or similar to give you a more rounded business education if you want to progress.

My advice - do something completely unrelated to aviation. Breadth of knowledge is now more important than ever in this day & age.

Is also good advice. At the end of the day do what's best for you today and what will be best for you in the next 5 years. Once you have a few years of experience under your belt it won't make much difference whether you have a BAv, BBus or a Cert II in Flower Arranging.

[jameskvs]

My experience has been that once you're established in aviation as a career, it's quite absorbing and it becomes easy for your knowledge of the wider world to shrink. If you've got a background in something different, it can provide a bit more balance to your life later.

Also, depending on what jobs you land, there may be the opportunity to get a fair amount of credit to an aviation related course later in life anyway.

[pull-up-terrain]

A few of my children have gone down the engineering path and my advice is just do your research when it comes to engineering. Because at the moment engineering is very saturated with grads and 30-40% of engineers graduating uni are unemployed for the first year or 2 after graduation (according to this senate enquiry into the 'supposed' engineering shortage). And just becareful of the bull**** universities say on open days when it comes to employment rates and starting salaries....

Just another thing to factor in, where I work there are a handful of LAME's, AME's and pilots that i know of who also have engineering degrees (mainly civil, mechanical and aerospace) and we have discovered these engineering degrees have a bit of a "used by date". When it has come to all these redundancies and LWOP that has been going on at qantas these days none of them have been able to successfully score an entry level job as an engineer.

If you think that an engineering degree is going to provide a good backup career if for some reason you lose your medical etc, I think you are wasting 4 years. Maybe you should look into doing a trade, I know quite a few sparky's who are also LAME's and AME's earning some nice coin on their days off.

[KoolKaptain]

Do a commerce degree... That way you will be able to properly manage the generous GA wages you will get once u have a CPL. Also... No shortage of women in that course that would be quite impressed that u are a Pilot who can give them joy flights. Kinda like shooting fish in a barrel:ok:

[Seabreeze]

UNSW offers a BCom/BAv dual degree. I think it has a high ATAR though. A high quality business degree with aviation applications.

[peterc005]

If you wand to do a non-flying aviation degree, do it. The main thing is to get a Bachelors degree and you might as well do something that interests you.

If you want to change careers later, you can just go post-grad studies in that area.

[4Greens]

UNSW offers a combined flying and aviation degree program.