Recently I received my medical certificate from the FAA and now I am at the point where I am about to begin my private pilot license with my local flight school. However, my plan was to attend Middle Tennessee State University to finish my other licenses to eventually become a commercial pilot. I have run into a bit of doubt and uncertainty. The flight school I will be attending for my private license has partnered with Liberty University where you can obtain your degree online and still fly with this flight school. MTSU on the other hand has already accepted me, and offered me a scholarship paying only $6k over 2 years for tuition. The tricky part though is that they require a 3.0 GPA to get a flight lab, and even then you aren’t guaranteed any flying time. So the point of this post is to get opinions of which path I should take? Take the risk at MTSU or complete everything at the flight school with Liberty University?
Christian,
If you look at the top of this page you’ll clearly see the ATP logo that means we’re all fans of ATP vs University/College aviation programs. The main reasons for this is the time, the expense and most important you don’t need an aviation degree to be an airline pilot but if you should desire to change your career (either by choice or circumstance) there’s not much you can do with an aviation degree.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way I’m frankly confused by your question? Are you asking if you should spend over $100k because you don’t believe you can achieve or maintain a 3.0? If that’s the question you might want to give this whole career some thought. Major airlines want pilots with degrees but they also want pilots who have done well in school. While a 3.0 is challenging it’s far from impossible. More important airline training is often more difficult and rigorous then most any college course and requires a tremendous amount of hard work. I guess what I’m asking is if you’re concerned whether you can work hard or keep up what makes you believe you could make it through airline training?
Adam
When I was hired at Continental, they required a 3.0 or better college GPA. I believe this is rather standard across the industry.
As to Liberty University, I have a major problem with a college that was founded by an outright racist (Jerry Fallwell). His comments about “Brown verses the Board of Education” are absolutely awful. I would not want a degree from there.
Chris
Oh wow I think I need to look some more into the whole Jerry Fallwell thing that’s definitely awful. So @Christian.buford I will give my 2 cents I don’t know about MTSU but I am somewhat a student of Liberty University FTA program(will be starting ATP next month).
So I am in the military and you know we move about a lot so that’s why I decided to try out Liberty’s program. It seemed like an efficient way to get my ratings since I can do it locally at a school that is close to wherever I am stationed. I wouldn’t say the program is bad but it is not as efficient as you might think, I started working on my PPL at a local school in 2015 but my training just seemed to drag on and on since it is Part 141 and with the whole syllabus and all. You have to pay set lab fees to the university which in turn get sent to your flight school of choice; and it is non-refundable, so you have to fly until the money is used up in your account, also each rating is like a class and each one is like a prerequisite for the other.
So say you sign up to do your PPL in like a 16 week term and you get done in 10 weeks you will have to wait for the next term to start your IFR training. Also each rating has like a college class that runs concurrently with it like a ground school, which is mandatory. Along with that you will have to complete the Kings school courses you get at the flight school too and take your FAA written.
I got deployed in 2016 which got me off track on my training so when I got back last year before my current deployment I cut my losses and went to a part 61 flight school and now I am a Private Pilot. As I said it is a decent program but not nearly as efficient as ATP, there is a lot of fine print that comes along with it. But as the mentors said it’s a choice only you can make. Hope this helps.
Kenroy
I agree with @Kapache007. I am also a Liberty student, and the their was is fine, but as @Kapache007 said, it takes a long time and is no where near as quick and efficient as ATP.
LaMorris
It’s not as much doubt that I can achieve the 3.0 GPA. My concern is me getting the requirement and still not being able to fly, therefore wasting time trying to get flight hours from the university. If I go through ATP do they require 1000 hours or 1500?
Christian,
I’m going to assume you mean do the airlines require 1,000 or 1,500hrs after graduation FROM ATP? The answer to that is 1,500 since ATP is a flight school and there’s no degree associated with the training. That said ATP provides ALL successful students with a guaranteed instructor position, just in case that 250hr job you’re counting on doesn’t come through.
Adam