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Embry Riddle or College of the Sequois


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Hello everybody,

 

I will be getting out of the military in September of this year and had a few questions about these schools.

 

Some basic things I want to do with my GI Bill is, Get a BA in Business and of course get my helicopter license.

 

I have done a lot of researh on embry riddle aside from calling diffrent companies and asking them their take on Embry Riddle. What I found on the internet is that their degrees really don't matter and that any degree will do like say one from San Diego State University if I don't go to Embry. And why so many bad reviews on Embrys' degrees?

 

I am also worried that GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon will not cover all tuition cost so I asked for a break down of their tuition and what will be covered.

 

College of Sequoias it seems good but I am worried about the fast pace of the school. I know I will not be handed my helicopter license BUT I also don't want to fail out of the school because I didn't understand something and fell behind in class.

 

Also I am married and was wondering if anyone went as a full time student thru school while married and how hard was it to manage both?

 

So cliffs for anyone,

-As a perfessional Helicopter pilot does it matter where you get your degree?

-Why is there bad reviews of Embry Riddle on there degree?

-Will all of Embrys tuition be paid for (what is really worrying me haven't got a definit answer yet on this)

-How fast paced is COS?

-What is married life like for full time student/helicopter student.

 

Thanks for any and all help.

Jeffs

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Its more the degree that is worthless than where you get it. Aviation degrees are useless in the real world, and you don't need one to be a career helicopter pilot. Get a degree in something useful to society, like engineering, or computers, etc...! Don't waste college, you won't get a second chance!

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Pilot said it above. No one cares about a degree. I got hired with no degree along with friend of mine. We had had some college while in the military but it wasn't even considered in the interview process. Got another friend who has a Masters working for another company and he said the same thing. They could care less about his degree. They wanted hours and experience. Any major company will always take turbine aircraft experience and hours over some degree and a couple hundred hours R22 time.

 

If you want to get a degree for yourself, or if you want to go into management, then by all means go for it. If you want to fly for a living, I'd suggest trying to get flight time by becoming a CFI.

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Degrees are useful for certain segments of the industry, but only insofar as they are somethjing to add weight to a resume. The discipline of the degree, save for certain test positions, makes no difference.

 

ERAU is a name for which you pay through the nose, but the irony is that to many in aviation, ERAU is a laughing stock. Deserved or not, it's got the reputation for the place where snot-nosed kids go to spend their parents money.

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There is nothing at all wrong with getting a degree.

 

In the deserved or not category... final approach is not the place to give a dissertation on how a four digit NACA airfoil is inferior to the 6 series laminar flow design. Final approach is the place to make sure you don't stall that sucker and auger into the ground.

 

If you can keep the classroom in the classroom and fly the plane when you fly then it doesn't really matter where you get your degree.

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Not saying anything that hasn't been said before, but if you want that business degree, totally go for it. I'm about to attend OSU as a freshman for a business degree actually, and chase helicopters afterward. I thought about ERAU, and while it is a great school, it costs a butt-load, and in the long run, a degree does little more than go on your resume and show you can commit to something, so why spend the extra for ERAU when SDSU is an option (assuming that is cheaper).

 

Plus, having your degree outside of flight is a great idea should you ever lose a medical license, or just happen to not want to fly anymore. So yeah, while you don't even really "need" a degree at all to be a pilot, getting one serves as a small resume booster and backup plan. I would say no to ERAU just because why pay more for this backup plan?

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Find a school that has 100% coverage for what chapter you will be using and apply for a dual major through their VA dept. You could get both covered, might take more time and effort but you could end up with a back-up plan, a leg up, and your goals all paid for. Research, make the decision, consult the VA office, and execute what fits for you...and the VA program.

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Another thing to check, talk to the school (IHL) not flight school, about openings for your classes. All schools must have at least 15% private pay students, no matter what the program. With the high cost of flight training, schools are seeing a big decrease in private pay students in this economy. This is compounded by draw-down of the military and flight schools recruiting VA students to keep the $ flowing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I currently go to COS Aviation. It is very stressful and challenging, but extremely rewarding. You will know if you really want to be a helicopter pilot within the first couple of weeks. The college is super fast paced but it is not unreasonable. Sometimes it feels like it is, but like I said, if you really want to be a pilot then you will get it done. Most everyone is human at the school and they will work with you if you are struggling with anything, including family issues and what not. Plus, every student besides one person is prior military and we all tend to get along quite well. The students that are more advanced in the program are willing to help out with any struggles you have in class. (and life. we are all pretty friendly) They will spend extra time to help study or what have you.......

 

You may find it too difficult to work and go to school. It is pretty much a full time thing. You have class almost every weekday for 2 hours in the morning and then you will most likely have a flight sometime later in the day, taking up 2-3 hours of your time.

 

What else:

-you wear uniforms. Either a desert flight suit or collard shirt and jeans. So, yeah, like the military. lol

-80% pass rate on all the test. You usually get one or two retakes, but after that you are out of the program. Again....like military training

-They fly R-22's and R-44 for instrument training.

-Instructors were most likely prior students, which I think is a good thing cause they were in your shoes once. Which is also a bad thing too.

-Paso Robles is somewhat nice and Tulare is somewhat of a......sh*t hole.... for lack of a better description. It is just a farm town. Visalia is nicer.

 

Just message me for more info. I was in your same shoes awhile ago... with a million options on what to do and where. I hope this didn't discourage you at all. Overall, it is a pretty decent school. Sometimes it does feel like you are in the military again though. : (

Edited by Anonymous???
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Have you thought of doing both? If you go to ERAU from the start it will take you 4 years to finish CFI and then you will be out of the GI Bill. At that point it won't matter that you have a BS degree as a pilot because you will anchored down by the fact that you have around 200 hours. So either you get hired at whatever school you learn to fly with or you are instantly forced to fall back on the degree until you can find a pilot job. Then maybe you find a decent paying job elsewhere and say "why be paid peanuts as a CFI and leave my cubicle?"

 

COS could take you about a year to finish up, not the ten months that the ad claims, but the GI bill amount used will be two full time semesters which is less than 10 months. Other schools longer but still short. Then you have all of the remaining benefits to help you get through the CFI phase. You can work as a CFI and finish the degree through ERAU, or some other school, at the same time. COS is thirty miles from Cal Poly. The downside is the BAH at COS is based on Visalia...under $1100. Paso Robles is somewhat small and not a cheap place to live compared to Tulare, but is much much nicer. It could be hard financially if that is all you have to count on but there are guys in the school that are married and doing fine.

 

For ERAU, in a perfect world, you would work flying near the college (Preston has a few flight schools) but it can be done through their worldwide campus system or online if you get picked up at where you train and there isn't a local college. I'm not sure why people rag on Embry Riddle, I think it is a social thing more than a quality thing. People hate starbucks, the yankess, microsoft, walmart, ect. Same effect.

 

As far as the difficulty...I am finishing up at COS in a few months and have taken classes with ERAU in San Diego and online. I have also been in a regular state college and I think the hardest was the state school, second hardest ERAU online, and third hardest COS. Flight school will take up less time and effort than getting a 4 year degree from a major school no matter how you do it regardless of the major. The training received from flight schools is absolutely nothing like the education you receive at a 4 year college.

 

Hit me up if you have any questions

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Im curious why its so stressful and challenging? "Youll really know if you want to be a helicopter pilot inthe first couple of weeks" What is that all about?

 

 

I'm curious about this as well... Including the bit where he said it feels like you're back in the military again. Why is that?

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CoS is right down the road from me and ive been by both locations a couple of times in my travels, and know a few active and former students. Everyone of them have commented about the fast pace and how stressful it is and Im not understanding why. I know two who finished their private (non GI Bill) who said it was intense and left for other schools. Both are now working CFIIs so they werent slackers. Is there an incentive to the school to hammer people through fast in order to get paid sooner? I dont see the purpose behind a high stress civilian flight school.

Edited by Flying Pig
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Everything is relative I guess.

 

The learning curve is pretty steep in the beginning. Some of us went from zero hours to private in 2 months with around 35-40 hours. Some took longer with more hours. It's two hours of ground everyday and 5 flights a week ideally. After that things ease off a little. The ground portion of instrument felt like it could have been spread out more but otherwise I haven't felt like I am accelerated or anything since I got my private but I am used to being in college. Some people are fresh out of active duty and never went to college so this is all they have to compare it to. Also, test scores have to be above 80%.

 

The acceleration is the selling point for the school, take flight classes only, no gen ed, and be done quickly. Work on the rest of the degree if you want to but no contract. So compared to schools that take two years COS is much faster.

 

Up until a couple months ago, all of the instructors were from a non military background and paid their way through. In a couple years it will be all gi bill people with very different backgrounds. I wouldn't expect much to change then but I think it will feel more military like after that happens. Currently the only thing that seems military like is the nomex flight suit. Since all the students are veterans that may make it feel military like.

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Why does a civilian school like CoS need to be a military atmosphere? And why does the passing score have to be 80% when the FAA says 70%? Is that a GI Bill requirement? I used my GI Bill and that was not a requirement. So it sounds like guys are coming off active duty and bringing that mindset with them to a flight school where it does not apply. Good luck with all that. Flight school doesnt have to be like boot camp. Maybe you and I have met depending on how long you have been there. I flew in a couple months ago and talked to a bunch of students and CFIs around an R44. I was in a Green MD500. I attended a school out of necessity once and the owner had a list of additional things he said I needed to do to get his "recommendation". I simply said "Well, if you want my money, we are going to stick to the PTS." If you enjoy it, then rock on.... But when you start talking about how the school will become more of a military atmosphere, I scratch my head and wonder what that has to do with learning to fly on the civilian side. Then again, my military experience came from 8 years in the infantry.

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Why does a civilian school like CoS need to be a military atmosphere? And why does the passing score have to be 80% when the FAA says 70%? Is that a GI Bill requirement? I used my GI Bill and that was not a requirement. So it sounds like guys are coming off active duty and bringing that mindset with them to a flight school where it does not apply. Good luck with all that. Flight school doesnt have to be like boot camp. Maybe you and I have met depending on how long you have been there. I flew in a couple months ago and talked to a bunch of students and CFIs around an R44. I was in a Green MD500. I attended a school out of necessity once and the owner had a list of additional things he said I needed to do to get his "recommendation". I simply said "Well, if you want my money, we are going to stick to the PTS." If you enjoy it, then rock on.... But when you start talking about how the school will become more of a military atmosphere, I scratch my head and wonder what that has to do with learning to fly on the civilian side. Then again, my military experience came from 8 years in the infantry.

 

 

i know for our practice tests, we have to be above 80% before taking the written, but that's only because they want a buffer in case you get a bunch of questions you haven't seen before. 70% is passing by FAA standards, 70% on the ACTUAL written is passing by school standards. So it's definitely not a GI bill thing.

 

And don't worry bud, I'm scratching my head as well and I came from 8 years in as a mechanic.

 

What school wanted a bunch of extras to get a recommendation? And a recommendation for what exactly?

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Do yourself a big favor and avoid ERAU and UND like it was Ebola Zaire. Aviation Degrees are worth about as much as degrees in Basket Weaving 101 and Theater Arts from Yale or Harvard. Going to College is a good thing, as education is good in and of itself. Its not going to matter a wit flying helicopters and for a good junk of the airplane flying that gets done. Now getting and A+P would be a worth while thing to do, its been known to open doors that might other wise be shut. One of the mistakes I did career wise was durning a dry spell in the late 1970's I didn't go a gotten the A+P. I sat around the airport bitching like a lot of other at the time that there were zero jobs to be had. 20/20 hind sight. Find a good College If you must, but one with out a Major big Name. And don't take on a huge debt load. Fig its going to take you about ten to fifteen years to get to were you think you want to be flying wise. That is just how the industry is. And in that time you are going to do a lot of things you will not like, but its all part of the industry and how the industry weeds out the weak ones.

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Flying pig- Was it a drab green 500 that had engine work done at del rio? That is the only time I remember seeing one come in. Either way, I wasn't one of the people you spoke with.

 

This has me thinking...why someone would think a school is military like?

What is a military atmosphere?

 

To me the military means that the quality of life is dependent on rank. If you have low rank then you are poor, treated like crap, expendable, clean toilets, kiss ass, menial, and naive. It means people yell at you. It means that you are expected to be an idiot so they hold your hand for every little detail in life. It means your have to run around and do push ups. Marching, uniforms, salutes, war, deployments, barracks, sleeping in the dirt, living on a ship, guns, excessive drinking, death, dui's, suicides. And lingo, tons of lingo.

 

So military like is...uniform flight suit and a higher or lower threat of death depending on what you did in the military. The first day they go over a lot of rules, and policies, but feels as much like a corporate thing than a military thing. We have to look professional but we can have beards and long hair. Killer beards. The rank goes like this: no license to having a license. And aviation lingo.

 

So I guess,in a small way, yes it could be said that it is military like but what about other schools? More importantly, a school full of veterans...it is the students that make it seem military like. They talk the talk. Eventually, the current instructors will be gone and the current students will be running the show. I then would agree that it will have a military atmosphere, vets teaching vets.

 

 

The 80% passing thing is just a way to prove to the VA that the school is worth 10 million a year to the taxpayers. That's what I was told. The syllabus is basically the PTS--copy and pasted.

 

But a school full of veterans...it is the students that make it seem military like. They talk the talk. Eventually, the current instructors will be gone and the current students will be running the show. I then would agree that it will have a military atmosphere, vets teaching vets.

 

I'm not trying to stand up for the school. The enrollment will be full no matter what happens on here. I'm just trying to understand the point of view of the students that I will hopefully one day be teaching.

 

I think it is more like a frat than anything....girls and dick jokes. When we aren't studying or have an imminent flight, we are drinking.

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Flying pig- Was it a drab green 500 that had engine work done at del rio? That is the only time I remember seeing one come in. Either way, I wasn't one of the people you spoke with.

.

No... Metallic green and gold and it says "SHERIFF" in big letters on the tail :)

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Ha, that's bad ass. Did you have to be a regular sheriff before you could fly for the dept.? Where do you fly out of?

 

The CHP guys did a presentation the other day and it seems like a really cool job except for the 2 years as a regular cop. Think I would rather be a CFI.

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So the school isn't JUST like the military. Just some things remind me of it. And yes. It shouldn't be that way.

 

I don't know why the school has to be so stressful. It is very fast paced, and I think they just don't want people there who aren't very serious. So they set the standards high.

 

Since 99% of the students are on the GI Bill, we get pushed around some because they know there is a small market for GI Bill approved flight schools and it seems as if they are doing us a favor. People don't understand that we are still paying for it. Just because the Government is "paying" for it, doesn't mean we didn't put in our time in the first place.

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