Hi! I’m Lukas and I was wondering what would be the best route to go to the airlines? I have thought about doing a four-year bachelor’s degree program at an accredited university but recently, I have been thinking a lot more about doing ATP. I was just wondering if it would be more beneficial to me to get a college degree or just do this fast-track program and what would the pros and cons be in doing ATP vs a college degree in Aeronautical Science? I know that at the airlines, it is all about seniority so that’s what makes me think that a fast-track such as ATP would be the best option for me.
Thanks!
Lukas
Lukas,
First and foremost if you look up and to the left you’ll clearly see the ATP logo. This is ATPs forum and all the mentors are former student/instructor/grads of ATP. Needless to say we’re all somewhat biased towards ATP. We’re not salesmen, nor do we receive any incentive to get you to enroll. We simply were all where you are now, did our research and decided ATP was the best route and are now all successful airline pilots.
None of us are fans of aviation degree programs. They’re expensive, time consuming and really offer no benefit. The airlines neither require or desire an aviation degree and they offer no backup should flying not work out.
That said the Majors do prefer pilots with a 4yr degree (in any discipline) and we still recommend completing your education before flight training.
Adam
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Lukas,
Everybody will have different opinions on this, but assuming you are just graduating high school, I would recommend going and getting a four year degree in something other than aviation, then going to an accelerated flight school like ATP. There is zero benefit to having an aviation degree, I feel it is much better tp have a degree in an outside field that you can use as a backup should something happen to your aviation career, such as a medical issue.
This is exactly what I did, college, then ATP.
Chris
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