University or not?

[jswift98]

I am debating whether after finishing my A-Levels whether i should go to university or apply to CTC or Jerez (haven't decided which yet) when i went to a 'pilot careers live' event at Heathrow quite a few recommended going to university because it shows that you have life experience and you are therefore more likely to get employment after completing flight training, however with tuition fees being what they are is it really worth it or should i just forget university and focus all my resources on getting into a good flight school?

[LandingConfig]

quite a few recommended going to university because it shows that you have life experience and you are therefore more likely to get employment after completing flight training

That's a very, very generic statement.

Apply to both, but don't go to university because society dictates you should. Go if you have a genuine interest in gaining a degree in a subject you enjoy.

Alternatively, you could spend the time working or doing a modern apprenticeship and maybe even using the money to fund PPL training, which arguably would look even more impressive on a CV. Why not work in aviation and gain valuable work experience, familiarise yourself and develop a working knowledge of the industry and make contacts in the process?

Just my two cents.

[EZY_FR]

Since I recently graduated from University, I thought I'd add my input. I agree with everything landing config said in his post, going to university to study is a decision to make that requires a lot of thought. If you were successful in gaining a place at uni, then you must realise it requires a lot of time and commitment, so you need to really want to go if you want to get much out of it. Therefore, if you are considering uni just for the sake of gaining life experience, don't. You will start to hate it very quickly! There are many other ways to gain proper life experience, as landing config pointed out.

However, it's essential to understand that aviation is a very dynamic industry that can change very quickly overnight. If we continue to have more ISIS attacks, another recession, etc, then the market will not look as rosey as it does now. So that begs the question, what do you do if you lose your job? That's were having a degree can really help as it gives you a fallback option. Again, as above, only go to uni to study a subject you are passionate about.

Best of luck!

[FlyVeryHigh-]

There's a thread on here somewhere that speaks of this in detail and has been a topic of discussion for some time.

I agree that apprenticeships are a fantastic idea, and for me overlooked because my school didn't even advise on them and pretty much forced us into uni, and they made out that if I didn't go I'd have no opportunities which is certainly not the case.

Uni for me was great, and I did flying at uni... as well as have a great time ha.

Just a point from me, is that a lot of people on good cadet schemes such as ba and aer lingus have degrees and/or a good few years work behind them.

Good luck.

[Eavr]

I think if you are motivated and hardworking, have the money to finance an integrated training with FTE/CTC - go with them now. They offer degree options so look into that as well. I am a final year student on a BSc Aviation Technology and Management course at the UK. While studying full-time I also completed modular pilot training. I am very happy with what I have done and now I am looking for my firs pilot job. The degree provides you with a solid foundation, but is a true academic experience. It makes you stand out from other applicants as well. Nevertheless, I think that FTE/CTC/OAA have very strong relations with airlines and that is a trend which is going to continue for the future. At the end it all comes to securing a job with an airline and the question is how much will that cost you. Good luck!
You can read more on the following blog - http://www.peakaviation.net/#!my-road-to-becoming-a-pilot/lfs4w

[tomuchwork]

Interesting discussion, will share my observations and thoughts:

I am already an older pilot, got my licenses from hard work and even harder learning. I have flown with some fellas with degrees in some airlines, they did not impress me flying wise. It seemed the pilot career was like a "sugar coating" for them and they tended to make flying to something that it is really not - COMPLICATED.
Don't get me wrong, nice guys(most of them, as always) but it seemed they had a different approach to flying then the pilots which "grew up" with flying.

Apart from that, as this are just personal observations I must say that I see some family members and kids of friends and relatives that went to study "this or that", because society expects now nearly everyone to have a dregree(and then you have a secretary with degree cooking your coffee, well).
The problem is - there are not enough jobs around for all this educated kids and then they end up with having a degree but no practical work experience which actually would have helped them more.
IF you are lucky to find a job after University then it usually pays bad. And this for a long time. Even my worst paid pilot(Captain) job was better paid then anyone around I knew/know up to mid level management in some internation companies(e.g. electronics, car producer,..) AND they had to work much harder for that, Monday till Friday, often even weekends. And this guys(gals) where actually lucky to get this job.

If we go on now, saying you want to have this degree(without any significant job experience in your field) and then start a flying career. Then this degree should provide you actually some "safety net"? The problem - there will be plenty of younger, better qualified(because they studied and stayed in this profession) people around, so most likely you will still find no job. IF you find one it will be bad paid, so no way to feed a family from that, not talking about paying back mortgage.

If you want to be a pilot go for it. Train, work on the side to keep the costs under control and do not risk your entire life on one of this 100k+ programs which promise a lot and guarantee nothing. Just a lot of money that you owe to some bank. That's guaranteed...

Job security? Well - not existant anymore for a majority of airline pilots. As a Bizjet pilot(did that as well for a while) you are anyway constantly on a zero-zero ejection seat.
If you are scared what you might do after your company gets bust and you are catched at the wrong time with the wrong typerating and not enough experience then try to get into training as soon as possible. Become TRI/TRE, most airlines offer that internally.
In case you loose your job this is the perfect job to keep you easy afloat. Instructors on Sim are always needed. Plus it is perfect if you loose your medical.
Or you think a degree helps a 50-60 year old pilot who looses his medical and he has zero experience in his "backup" job?

Different story if someone studied and then he went to work. Know for instance a 45 year old lawyer that worked good 5 years in his original job and then decided that he wants to go flying(for halve the salary). He is a Captain now and in his case he always could go back to be a lawyer.

A bit of planning is always advisable depending how badly you want to go into flying. Sometimes the wish to fly "wears off" with the years, that could save you a lot of money.

I do/did not intend to offend anybody. Just my share of observations that I made through some very good amount of flying and as well in my life.
Btw: studied by myself for a while(on the side) , as soon as I got my first airline job I quit my studies without any regrets.

[seen_the_box]

A couple of ways to look at it really.

University will seldom be a negative experience. You will gain good life experience, make friends, have a good time, and hopefully gain a useful and marketable qualification at the end of it, assuming you do a proper degree at a good university, and not underwater basket weaving at a struggling ex-poly.

However, I'm not sure that the "back up plan" argument really holds water if you're intending to go directly into flying after graduation. Without relevant work experience in the field you're intending to work in, you're going to struggle to find a decent job as a back up option if (when) you're unable to find a flying job immediately after training or get made redundant later in your career. £27k + living expenses is a hell of a lot of money to spend on a piece of paper that will actually not be very useful when it comes to finding a job.

I went to university, graduating more than a decade ago. I have a good degree from a top UK institution, but I'm not sure that confers any advantage if I happen to lose my medical and have to find a job outside flying. With fees having increased six-fold since my day, I'm not sure I'd make the same choice if I had to make it now.

[bafanguy]

jswift98,

Lots of points of view on this often-discussed question but seen_the_box and tomuchwork covered the subject nicely.

I might add one additional thought: since a career is a marathon rather than a sprint, once a person starts flying and gets in the routine of a career, he can either go to college via distance learning online for a non-aviation subject if disciplined enough. I've worked with people who were going to law school while flying !!

Or, along the way, one can get involved in areas of aviation outside the cockpit itself which might allow positioning to turn flying experience into non-flying aviation dollars if needed. These areas might include experience/licensing in ground/sim instructing, MTC, dispatching...or safety work, accident investigation, human factors via association with professional organizations...or dare I say it ? Management ? I've known people who did all those things.

Good luck with your choice.