Alright, heres some advice from a recent ERAU graduate. i graduated in december 01 from the daytona beach campus w/ aero sci degree. If i was to do it all over again I would do do my basics (first two years) at a community college and get my commercial multi at a local fbo. reasons for this? first like michael said, it'll save a crap load of money on the flight part. Now im going to tell you some stuff that the school doesn't tell to prospective freshman. i worked the admissions, registration, and records dept dealing with transfer credits from other schools for three years when i went to school there. The GPA from the community college does combine w/ your riddle gpa. so why not get a 4.0 at a community college for two years, then come to riddle transfer over and have a 4.0 on the riddle diploma? not to mention save $50,000. also, you do NOT have to do all your flight training on campus regardless of what your admissions lady says. well let me take that back, that rule may be changing this year. in the past, the only rule w/ transfering credits in for flight courses is you must complete one flight course on campus. Just before you make any decisions or sign up at a community college make sure that ERAU excepts the course or you will be wasting your time. ERAU Daytona treated me very well, i loved my time there and feel like I got a GREAT education. The aircrafts are very reliable and the maintance dept is outstanding. If there was one thing that i hated w/ the area it was that sometimes you would have 100-200 vfr pilots in like 40 sq miles all trying to practice steep turns, lazy eights, etc. it gets quite hectic and you REALLY have to see & avoid. If you do your flight training somewhere else, say less populated area, not only is there less traffic, but ATC will probably stay w/ ya. extra pairs of eyes are always nice! Ive visited the prescott campus too, and i wasn't impressed at all, its fairly old, in the middle of nowhere, the airport isn't on campus (i hear that may be changing in the future though) i just loved it as a freshman, to wake up and walk 2 minutes to the flight line at daytona, unlike prescott where you have to wake up early and take a shuttle if you don't have a car to get to the nearby airport. Plus you can't beat doing your cross countries to KEY WEST or MARATHON! just think about it though, i would do the community college thing, make sure the credits transfer, transfer in w/a 4.0 and your commercial multi. this should probably save you over 50,000 in tuition, housing, food, etc. plus you still get the riddle name on the diploma and can still say you did some flight training at ERAU.
if anybody has any questions about erau or the campus' feel free to email me at Vballindaytona@msn.com
jonathan
