Should I switch majors. Engineering to Flight

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

No one cares about your minor.

Harambe cares.

 

[Uncle Fester]

A minor’s not going to be all the helpful, job-wise, especially something like computer science.

Seriously, young bro, I totally get the appeal of spending your college years learning to fly, and if you had no intention of going into the military it’s not the dumbest gamble ever. But you’re talking about burning up GI Bill and going $15K in debt for something the government will teach you to do anyway.

Its fine if engineering doesn’t float your boat - though it’s worth pointing out that you’re, what, a couple of months into your first semester? Unless Purdue is totally different from any other university, you haven’t even really had any exposure to the major. Have you even officially selected your major?

In any case, if you don’t want to be an engineer, fine. If you want to work in aviation professionally, also fine. But pick something that dovetails with that goal, and don’t set yourself up for a single point of failure. You could blow out an eardrum or catch a piece of glass on your cornea or some damn thing and you would have a literally useless degree.

Pilot with a pilot degree = employable.
Non-pilot with a pilot degree = unemployable.
Pilot with an MBA = quite employable.

 

[Deleted member 67144 scul]

I would like to thank everyone for responding. This thread has definitely given me a lot to think about. Some things that I didn't mention in my original post. One is that I am attending partially on GI bill from my father, so even with the switch to flight, I will graduate with only about 15k of debt, significantly less than a civilian flight school. Also there is significant room in the program to pursue a minor in something such as computer science which with minimal additional training could help me land a job as a programmer should things go south. Luckily I have time before I need to make the decision, so before I do I have a laundry list of questions for three separate academic advisers and I am also going to discuss it with my family .

Stick with the engineering major. It'll pay off a lot in the long run. What happens if you're medically disqualified or something else happens? Well you got this wonderful engineering degree that will 1) undoubtedly pay off handsomely in the civilian world and 2) open up other opportunities in the armed services. If you're medically qualified and everything goes well and you become a pilot, well that works out too. So either way, you're good.. And a name like Purdue with an engineering degree is very good. My company recruits lots of Boilermakers.

 

[Jim123]

Its fine if engineering doesn’t float your boat

... if you don’t want to be an engineer

There are plenty of successful engineering graduates in the workforce who don't use the degree directly for engineering or engineering-related work (actual engineering work at a desk and working as part of a team, engineering management, engineering sales, circling back to academia, etc.) but use it for something different... sometimes entirely different. Ask some of your profs about it- especially the profs who worked on the outside for a few years before coming back to teach. Having that degree at the top of your resume gets people's attention in a good way. The curriculum in the first couple undergrad years is the kind of thing that people look back on and say that they're glad they stuck with it.

You gotta decide what's right for you. Sticking with engineering is probably a very good life decision.

 

[Gatordev]

Not that there hasn't been a lot of great advice in this thread, but...

though it’s worth pointing out that you’re, what, a couple of months into your first semester? Unless Purdue is totally different from any other university, you haven’t even really had any exposure to the major.

Sticking with engineering is probably a very good life decision.

I would have known in the first few months if engineering wasn't for me, at least not at a larger school. Sticking with it could be a good life decision if you do well. I don't think it would have been a good life decision for me if I had stuck with it because I'm not sure I would have graduated.

 

[Griz882]

Flight degrees are worthless for anything other than the pilot licenses. If you become a professional pilot and get furloughed, that flight degree is not going to get you a job. Just ask all the Embry-Riddle flight degree guys who worked at McDonald's during the post 9/11 furlough.

Get a degree that will put food on the table if flying doesn't work for you. You can get your pilot license on the side.

So not necessarily history, like me.

 

[Griz882]

I wrote it elsewhere here but many many moons ago, when I was at VT-27, a flight school buddy of mine used to joke “Mechanical Engineering to Mach 1, History to Helicopters.” In our respective cases he was spot on.

 

[Pags]

So to help the OP out, can someone tell me what the benefit of a 4yr flight degree is over just going to a flight school? Does it simply position a graduate to have a "4yr degree" and some certs in hand? I get the "I only want jets and I'm doing everything I possibly can to get them" view of this, but is there something else there? Because it took me about 1yr of actual flying to leave USN flight school with my commercial certs so I can't imagine what takes up 4yrs of time other than busy work to make the degree look legit to an accreditation board.

To the OP: are in ROTC? If service is your desired end state, why not have Uncle Sam pay for your degree and then use the GI Bill for flight training in your spare time? If CS interests you, why not major in CS?

Also, your statement that you majored in engineering because your family recommended it makes me think this won't be your first major change in your journey of self discovery now that you're out on your own. If it's not engineering, what other areas interest you?

 

[Python]

So to help the OP out, can someone tell me what the benefit of a 4yr flight degree is over just going to a flight school? Does it simply position a graduate to have a "4yr degree" and some certs in hand? I get the "I only want jets and I'm doing everything I possibly can to get them" view of this, but is there something else there? Because it took me about 1yr of actual flying to leave USN flight school with my commercial certs so I can't imagine what takes up 4yrs of time other than busy work to make the degree look legit to an accreditation board.

To the OP: are in ROTC? If service is your desired end state, why not have Uncle Sam pay for your degree and then use the GI Bill for flight training in your spare time? If CS interests you, why not major in CS?

Also, your statement that you majored in engineering because your family recommended it makes me think this won't be your first major change in your journey of self discovery now that you're out on your own. If it's not engineering, what other areas interest you?

I can't tell you if this is a "benefit" or not but the four year degree is more than just certificates and ratings. It is semester long classes of deep study into aviation safety, CRM, Human Factors, aircraft systems, aviation management, physiology, industry. In addition the Purdue program gets everybody turbine experience in the Kingair and Phenom jets. Not sure about type ratings. In short, if you know how naval aviation often gundecks the human factors and CRM stuff at IGS every year, think of the degree as the non-gundecked version, studied in semester long courses, at a professional level. The degree is not hard, especially compared to engineering, but I was definitely surprised with how watered down the same type of material was when I got to API and the navy started teaching it.

That said, to the OP: Purdue engineering is really fucking hard. I know guys who were in NROTC and studied aero engineering only to transfer to the Naval Academy after freshman year. They said it was night and day difference and Purdue was way more challenging. I don't mean this as a dick measuring contest or a call out of USNA as they have a good program; I'm just trying to say that the engineering degree has beaten a lot of people at Purdue. It is for good reason since that degree carries so much esteem in the real world industries of engineering and science.

 

[Duc'-guy25]

What degree is going to have less loans at the end, thats the real question.

I did flight at Purdue.

I heard it is the Harvard of flight schools

 

[Python]

What degree is going to have less loans at the end, thats the real question.



I heard it is the Harvard of flight schools

 

[Gatordev]

So to help the OP out, can someone tell me what the benefit of a 4yr flight degree is over just going to a flight school? Does it simply position a graduate to have a "4yr degree" and some certs in hand?

It also can be helpful for industry specific jobs like airfield operations or some industry operation positions. How much those pay and how "easy" it is to get those jobs with, say, a Business bachelor's, I can't say.

 

[zippy]

What are your thoughts about guys who go to school to play ball hoping to get to the majors and then get injured to the point they can't play anymore?

As others have said, having a Plan B is a good idea. It should be something youre interested in that would serve as the foundation of a career. You can always fly on the side or just go to flight school with no flight experience like so many others have.

I’ve got a buddy that happened too... he grew only to be 6’7... his NBA dreams after college ball didn’t work out.. he’s on his way to being a physician.

I’m going to argue that if the OP wants to be a pilot, doing the Purdue aviation program makes sense. I know several pilots who got DQ’d from military aviation who are at the airlines... Purdue’s networking could pay dividends if he ends up flying on the commercial side after retirement or he decides to get out at MSR, or doesn’t get picked up for a pilot slot by the military in the first place.