Bachelor's degree

Good evening,

I am getting my bachelor’s degree before attending flight school. This ATP thing is sounding more and more logical every day. But in order to be an airline pilot I need a bachelors degree. I’d rather not go away to school and spend unnecessary money. So I will be getting a Bachelor’s at home. What is the Bachelor’s degree the airlines look for the most? The least? Or does it not matter as long as you are educated? I was thinking about a Business degree of some sort? Can’t decide which gives me the most future benefit for my investment. Thanks

-MI

Hi Matthew,

The Majors do require a BA (Regionals do not) so you are best finishing your degree before you start flight school. The Majors like a BA because it demonstrates that you (as a young person generally without much work experience) can work hard and complete a goal. The field of study is secondary. I recommend you study in something you find interesting as a possible “plan B” just in case you have a change of heart in the future or maybe even a second career (as many senior pilots do later in their careers). Def your choice.

Adam

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Do all of the ATP locations offer the same coursework? Obvious example being Dallas has the same program as Las Vegas? I am considering the Las Vegas location. Thank you for answering all of my questions everyone.

Matthew,

I have a business degree, which seems to be a rather common degree amongst airline pilots. As Adam said, find something that you can fall back on.

All of ATP’s locations offer the same programs. The only differences are that not all locations offer housing (Dallas and Vegas both do) and that the CFI portion of the course is only taught at Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Las Vegas, so if you go to a location other than one of those you will end up spending two weeks at one of them for the CFI training. Las Vegas would be a great choice as it has housing and the CFI class is taught there.

Chris

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