Hey, I am reaching out to someone that could potentially answer my question and give me some words of wisdom. First I would like to start out by saying I do not have a degree right now; Once I am in a good point in my life I want to set away some time to get that knocked out online while in a career. But experience wise, I have been in the Navy and have served as government contractor for the past 6 years including multiple deployments to the middle east and africa. I say that just to point out that I have experience in a workplace environment and gives me a bit of maturity for the workplace. It has recently become my dream to be an airline pilot not only for money and perks but just to have a career in something I can be proud of. I am 25 so I think that there is no better time for me financially and mentally to branch out and start something new. The thing I am most worried about is the fact that I have no Aviation experience and will be literally starting from Ground zero and wont be admitted. Words of wisdom encouraged lol
Tommie,
Thank you for your service, my grandfather was in the Navy. It has not been uncommon when I was instructing to see a lot of service members looking to transition into the flying career. I don’t see a problem with the prerequisite of 2-years of college or work history being a problem, Admissions would be the ones to determine that.
Flying has been in a lot of our dreams and we turn them into reality. If you haven’t already, you need to take an introductory lesson. It is important that you feel comfortable and open to flying a plane. There is a big difference between sitting in the back of an airplane versus flying it. If you have a nearby ATP location to you (which there are now 73), I recommend scheduling an introductory flight to get acquainted with the idea of flying. If there is no local ATP to you, check your nearest airport for a flight school that way you cand determine.
I don’t have statistics to back this up, but I would say more than 75% of students at ATP come into the program with little to no experience. ATP has a very successful track record and that is why ~1,200 graduates have been hired in the airline industry.
Brady
Thank you Brady, I really appreciate you responding.
Tommie,
As Brady said the vast majority of ATP students have zero flight experience. What they do have is a strong desire to change that and become professional pilots.
The fact that you’re concerned is actually a very good thing. It shows you have some understanding of the fact the FAA doesn’t just had out pilot certificates and the airlines don’t just hand you the keys (although these days it’s pretty close). While not everyone can or should be a pilot, if you’ve got average intelligence, average coordination and are willing to put in the work you should be fine. It’s the folks that come on here saying “Ive never flown but I KNOW I’ll be awesome so my question is should I be targeting Delta or AA? I really like Delta but they have double breasted jackets and that doesnt compliment my build” that concern me 
Adam
Tommie,
At some point, all of us had zero experience. I remember as a teenager, sitting in a US Airways 737 simulator and feeling completely overwhelmed. Now, I am a captain on that airplane. The point is that we all had that feeling at one point. Take an introductory flight and see how you feel about it then.
Chris