You have got it in one.

Do a proper degree (although I am willing to accept that Genghis ones are OK anything with the ATPL subjects in the syllabus arn't deemed proper)

The IR is unlike anything you will have done before. You have highs and lows, through it and it is very demanding. Its very hard to describe what it was like for myself and I would suspect its different for each individual. The stress level is a combination of the skill you are learning, the price that it costs (400 quid an hour) and the some might say anal attention to detail which you have to have.

A 2.5 hour skills test can be failed by missing 1 incorrect RT call and 1 failure to trigger a stopwatch. Cost of said test over £1000. And there is alot riding on it as well. A couple of failures and you have basically lost all the time and money you have invested so far into your training. Because you get one failure or partial and if you don't pass the next one it is very unlikely any employer will employ you.

So if you have done one of these woolly degrees which yes do get you your ATPL's but the other content is worthless you have just lost 3 years of your life and don't have a single thing thats worth anything to show for it.

hmm..all right..makes sense
thanks guys :)
happy landings..

Well said Mad Jock: basically concentrate on one and get it right, then concentrate on the other and get it right (or just do one or the other depending upon the career options you want). Degree then professional licences seems to be the right way around.

Incidentally, whilst they're far from everything, take a look also at published British university league tables. Bucks New Uni is 113rd out of 118 in the Guardian league table, 87th out of 113 in the Complete University Guide, or 119th out of 122 in the Sunday Times University guide. I'm not quite sure why they disagree about the number of universities in the United Kingdom - but the picture is reasonably consistent.

(Actually, I do have a lot of time for BNU - it has a fantastic employability record and provides valuable education and training for young people in Buckinghamshire, mostly still living with their families, who otherwise just wouldn't be able to go to University. But, it really is not a world class university - and I really wouldn't come here from another country).

G