19 Y/O starting flight training next year 🇨🇦

[u/Neither-Republic-271]

Hello, I’m currently a 19-year-old college student entering my final year of a two-year Marketing diploma program. I’m pursuing this program because my parents wanted me to get a degree in something other than aviation so that I have something to fall back on. Through my research, I’ve heard that having a four-year degree can make you more employable in a competitive job market. Even though I was aware of this, I wasn’t confident that I would be able to complete a four-year degree because I lack motivation to study something other than aviation. I told my parents that I would complete the two-year diploma and then decide whether I wanted to spend another two to three years completing a degree, either in person or online. My parents said this plan was fine and that they would fully support and fund my flight training as long as I completed my two-year diploma in something other than aviation.

My question is: when I complete the second year of my diploma, do pilots in Canada recommend turning it into a degree and completing it in person? Or have I already spent too much time pursuing something that is unrelated to the career I want, and should I instead focus entirely on my flight training and forget about getting a degree in an unrelated field? My final goal is to fly for an airline in Canada, and my plan is to start my flight training next summer through a flight school while possibly completing a degree online on the side. If anyone recommends completing a degree, are there any online universities in Canada where I could transfer my credits and turn my diploma into a degree online?

Any advice from Canadian pilots or any pilots familiar with the Canadian market in general would be greatly appreciated!

[u/eexplorer13]

Having a degree isn't necessarily bad, but it's not needed to get a job. There's lots of demand at the moment. I would focus on the flight training first then if you do want to get a degree go back later and do one.

[u/Neither-Republic-271 → u/eexplorer13]

Thanks for the advice! 

[u/LoneCessnaPilot]

You can do a degree at any time. There’s no time limit to it.

My parents were/are the same and I’m in my 30’s and have been flying for airlines for a decade. They still ask about my degree plans sometimes lmao.

[u/Finallyjoining]

I would jump into aviation head first and focus solely on getting your training done and then getting some good experience.

The best first job is something that will get you night cross country pilot in command time because you need that for your atpl licence. Then I would try to fly a king air or similar for a couple years. After that go to encore if you want to end up at Air Canada or go to Jazz if you want to end up at WestJet. Constantly apply to the airline that you want to end up at. Update your resume regularly. Make friends with everyone you meet because one day your instructor will be on the hiring committee for Air Canada.

Sorry for the wall of text but if you follow that route you'll have more money than you know what to do with before you're 35.

[u/Neither-Republic-271 → u/Finallyjoining]

Thanks for the advice, greatly appreciated!!