Hello,
I’m starting in Manassas on 10/17, and have some questions. I’ve checked through the FAQs and whatnot to try no to ask anything redundant, forgive me if I overlooked where some of this has already been answered.
First, I’m told that my location doesn’t have any housing for students. Anyone in the Northern VA area got a line on cheap housing? I know it’s a bad area for that.
Second, I got my books in today. Right now I work at Amazon, and have 3 weeks of leave I can’t cash out, but only 1 of those is paid leave. How much time would you recommend setting aside for studying and working on my writtens? Should I work as much as I can to bank money to live on/pay loans later and study in my spare time, or should I go ahead and put in my notice, burn through my leave, and study all day for the next 6 weeks? I’ve generally been a quick study, high school honor grad, full academic scholarship to college, all that stuff, but I’m 34 now and it’s been a while since I was a student.
Any other advice for someone starting from 0 at 34, anything specific to the greater DC area, etc? I’m sure there are still questions I don’t know to ask.
(I hope this is in the right part of the forum. If it isn’t, can someone move it?)
As for the writtens that’s a tough one. Most people seem to take about 2 weeks per exam to get the material down. The thing to keep in mind is while we always suggest people complete some or all the writtens, there is no requirement to do so and many people are successful without. It simply lightens what will be a very heavy load. My question is what is of greater concern for you right now? Money or getting a jump. You really want to go into this with a clear head so choose whichever will get you there and do that.
Nothing other than that. Try and relax and enjoy yourself now because once you start there won’t be much of either. On side note you keep saying you’re 34 like you’re old. You’re not. You’re actually right at the average age most people start so don’t sweat that either.
Welcome to the forum. You’ve come to the right place.
As Adam mentioned, try those specific location housing threads. They are a new feature here so don’t be alarmed if you don’t see any conversations happening there yet. Feel free to post and start one up at the Manassas thread!
As for the writtens, it sounds like you’re a good student. If so, the program is meant to incorporate the written exams as you go. So you would be fine to continue working and stashing as much cash as you can to float you the next few months. However, if you’d like that head start, maybe take that week paid leave and just hit the PAR prep hard. Be ready to take it in your first week.
In my opinion the only way to confirm if a location has housing is to call ATP and ask for the housing department. Training support may be able to answer your questions as well. All I can positively say about Manassas is they have housing for the CFI Academy students, but I’m not aware if they have housing for the full time students. Best of luck on your endeavors!!
I believe they are working on getting a thread category for housing inquiries and students searching, etc, so it may be private as of right now (could have changed recently though, I am unsure). If you have access to an individual at the location, they may be able to get you into a group chat and/or connect you with fellow students to help out for now.
Adam, I didn’t realize that this age (I’m 35) is actually the average for getting into aviation. I suppose it is easier to secure a loan at this age but harder to juggle time and supporting a family.
