Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:58 am
This is a response from someone who graduated with a Bachelor's in AE recently but working to be an airline pilot.
Only do either/or if you're passionate. The way I see it, one career path starts easy, gets harder (airline pilot), one career path starts difficult, becomes less difficult (engineering). If you just aren't enjoying engineering and your passion or lack of passion isn't translating into using your degree program as a tool to build yourself so you can sell yourself to a company when you graduate, don't bother; Cs may get degrees, but degrees don't get jobs, no matter how expensive they are and how stupid that may be. I wanted to switch out THREE times because I eventually realized I wasn't meant to be stuck stressing out over things that translated over long periods of time and whatnot. That resulted in apathy towards the degree I was in, and I don't completely regret it, although it would be much easier if I did care a bit more about it. Regardless it would still take a while to complete training without accumulating much more debt. I thought about going to ATP right after college, but as I like to think about it, I'd rather start as a 30+ year old airline pilot (well hopefully much sooner...) driving a Ferrari than a 26 year old taking the bus :p . It's an exaggeration, but I just think I'd be more well-off than most people this way. I may take out a loan to get through my last necessary ratings (commercial, cfi, and multi) since my "rent" is pretty high at the moment, taking a lesson a week, dual.
I'm not an airline pilot, disclaimer, but I do know that it's a pretty demanding career that you'll have to build your lifestyle around from the beginning in the cockpit of a Cessna 172 (or the ground), to the end under a water salute inside a Boeing seven something seven (or whatever type you like). Unless you're very lucky, there will be a lot of debt involved. If you want to raise a family, it may be a bit tricky since you won't always be around (I think it also depends whether or not you choose to live in the city where the airline you work for is based, I'm not sure if it's much easier for pilots working for say American if they live in DFW and they go home most nights that they don't end up in a hotel at another city). Thankfully the pay is much better than it used to be, that's probably what pushed me to continue with this career decision, although if there was one thing that would definitely be appreciated, that would be reduced training costs and more free money. This stage takes a long time.
You /do/ need a Bachelor's degree (or military training! That's an option too!) to work for a major airline, so do get one. If you do choose to be an airline pilot in the future, your degree doesn't have to be aviation, and doesn't even have to be related to airplanes (however these are most appreciated). It doesn't have to be aerospace engineering. If you can totally picture yourself doing something else aside from flying that can pay the bills and help you pay for flight training, go for it, just realize it may take a relatively slightly longer time, but you'll end up better off in the long run. Again, only do this if you use your time in college and have the commitment to develop skills companies will want to acquire, and thus hire you. Don't be a me. If there's absolutely nothing else you want to do aside from flying, just get the degree in aviation; the 1500 hour requirement is only 1000 for those getting a Bachelor's degree in aviation if they are "part 141" certified (or something like that, I believe its a standard/curriculum).
I realize your post was only asking to pick one, but this response is kind of like "why not both", in a way...