Does your degree/major matter?

[Odium]

If being a pilot is all you want to do with your life and aren't giving any consideration to actually using your degree down the road: Do what ever you think you'll get a higher GPA in.

[spaceman]

If being a pilot is all you want to do with your life and aren't giving any consideration to actually using your degree down the road: Do what ever you think you'll get a higher GPA in.

That seems like a pretty risky approach. What if something comes up that prevents you from being a pilot (medical problems, injury, whatever)? Then all you have to fall back on is a bullshit degree that you only picked based on difficulty. I'd think you'd be much better off picking something that actually interests you. You can get a good GPA in any major if it's engaging enough to keep you interested and trying your best.

I bet if I had picked something easy that I didn't actually care about, I probably would've ended up doing worse than I did in mechanical engineering because I would most likely just skip class every day and drink beer and go bowling. Then I'd be fat AND have a worthless degree. Think about it.

[Duff_Man]

I'll second Spaceman Spiff up there. A LOT of dudes lose their pilot slots along the way for lots of reasons, some of which is in their control, some of which are out of their control. I had a buddy who failed his FC1 because he missed the color vision test by 1 too many questions. He even said he saw the 'correct' number on the last slide right after he blurted the wrong answer. Was he color blind? Probably. Was he so color blind that he had ever been aware of it before the FC1? Probably not. I knew a few other people who got washed out at Brooks for issues they weren't even aware of beforehand (I know it's WPAFB now). Shit happens. I know a couple dudes who ended up as civil engineers because they would get uncontrollably airsick and I knew a couple guys who washed out of IFS, hated their newly assigned AFSC, and then realized that this isn't the best economy for a sociology degree.

You really only get one shot at college and if you waste it on a degree that won't get you a job, then you're betting however much college cost ($50-100k and 4-5 years?) on a solid flight medical and successful completion of IFS, a year of UPT, and whatever follow on training you have. I'm not trying to be a downer, but the reality of it is that you'd be really smart to have a Plan B, C, D, and maybe E in case Plan A doesn't work out. Nobody counts on failing or getting washed out, but they do anyway.

On the flip side though, if you know EEs are getting screwed over and you're a first semester junior in EE, you might wanna pay a visit to your school counselor and then your cadre to see if you can switch to Aero or Mech or something and still graduate on time.

[Milchstrasse]

Instead of starting a new thread, I am going to post my question here as I believe it is the most appropriate place for it, and a quick search of the topic isn't revealing a good answer to my question.

I am currently about a year and a half shy of obtaining my PhD in an engineering field, from a good school. I was wondering if having a PhD would hurt me in the pilot selection process? I will be turning 27 when I finish my studies. Related: as a pilot in the Air Force, what advantages does having a PhD afford me down the road, if any?

Guard is another option as it could give me an opportunity to utilize directly those 9 years of education. In fact, I applied to several guard units as well as an OTS board back when I started my PhD, but wasn't picked up for a pilot slot and gave the guard slots I did receive to other candidates in favor of finishing my PhD first.

[brabus]

If your PhD is in science/math/engineering, then I'm sure it will be helpful if you ever decided to go to TPS, but outside of specialty programs like that, it does not matter. Guard would give you the best opportunity to fly AND directly use your PhD (i.e. at your civilian job) in the short term, but things like TPS mentioned above will give you that opportunity on AD, albeit slightly later in your career. Just depends on what lifestyle/job you want.

[Milchstrasse]

Good info brabus. TPS is one of those things that has always been a distant objective of mine if and when I get my commission and wings.

All the same, I'm sure I'll get a question or two about my degree in my interview.

[HU&W]

I was wondering if having a PhD would hurt me in the pilot selection process?

Shouldn't hurt you. Best part would be not having to worry about advanced academic degrees when you should be focusing on flying. Worst part would be the risk of ending up with the callsign 'doc'.

[Milchstrasse]

Worst part would be the risk of ending up with the callsign 'doc'.

If I'm lucky.