EMBRY-RIDDLE? advice?

Question

Is that school worth it? Im going to be a airline pilot and want to go to college ad flight school at the same time. Answer is basically EMBRY-RIDDLE. Will they give me everything to apply for the job (expect hours I know)? is 200,000+ worth it?

Answer 1

You will certainly get a good education at Embry Riddle, but the school is overpriced and not worth it.  Airlines do not care where you went to school and what your major is in.  Not only that, but you can learn everything you need to know, about becoming an airline pilot, from a local flight school.  My advice is to go to a local state college (much much cheaper) and major in something other than aviation.  You've chosen a very tough career path.  I know many airline pilots who are out of work right now.  It really helps when you have a useful degree, when you find yourself in that situation.  Learn to fly at a local flight school, or wait until after college and go to a larger school to knock out all your ratings quickly (the latter option will be more expensive).

Good luck

Answer 2

Go to your state university and enter the flight program. ER is a trade school, and it is overpriced.

Answer 3

Well, you'll probably get a big range of answers here and some that give me a negative rating, but from personal experience I'd say NO, it isn't worth it. As long as you have the required ratings when you start looking for your first job you'll have everything you need to apply for a job, and having been to "Riddle" won't give you an edge. You may know a bit more textbook theory, but any good student of aviation should have that knowledge, whether self-studied or learned through a structured program. In fact, most first jobs as flight instructors go to graduates of whatwever flight school they attended. It's simply a case of who you know being far more important than anything else, so I'd say that you should learn to fly at a place where you would also like to get your first job.  

I went to ERAU for an academic degree (not for flight training, couldn't afford it) and can honestly say that having a degree from there has not helped my career in any appreciable way (see my post to your previous question). Most aviation companies are not concerned with where you went to college, what you studied, or where you learned to fly, except in some cases where the managers  of those companies are ERAU grads themselves. I'm currently in a position to hire a couple of pilots right now and I wouldn't give an ERAU grad any extra consideration, and in fact might be disinclined to hire them since many I have met and a few I have flown with had the attitude that by having gone there they were the greatest pilots since Sky King. They weren't even close. Personality and attitude are a big part of getting hired, and being "full of yourself" is not an endearing quality.

Another fact: there is such an "in-breeding" problem at ERAU and most other flight schools where the instructors are graduates who learned from instructors who were graduates (ad infinitum) that there isn't any real depth of experience that is going to teach you about real world flying. I'm not saying their flight training programs are bad (they aren't), but you can get better traiining, and more personalized treatment for a lot less money if you make the effort to look for it. There are many people like myself, with loads of professional flying experience beyond instructing, who teach part time that can give you far better training than you'll get from the big, expensive "pilot mills".

Don't let me talk you out of going to ERAU if you can afford it, but be aware that it may not be your best option. You might also inquire of other ERAU graduates about the infamous "Riddle Run-Around". They'll know what I'm talking about. I wish I had gone to a cheaper college and had put the extra money into additional flight ratings or the bank instead. I think that would have been more helpful in my early flying career.

Learn all you can before making a decision. Don't believe the advertising, it is mostly self-serving propaganda. Good luck.