#130 Pathway to Becoming a Pilot: Admissions and Career Insights with Penny Linsenmayer Transcript

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPT… PLEASE FORGIVE THE TYPOS & GRAMMAR! xo-Lisa.

Lisa Marker Robbins 00:55

In today’s episode, we’re exploring the exciting and challenging pathway to a career as an aviation pilot. I’m thrilled to be joined by Penny litsen Meyer, an independent educational consultant from Houston, who specializes in aviation college admissions, and our conversation. Penny shares her expertise on the steps and considerations for students interested in pursuing a pilot career from starting early in high school to exploring different pathways in understanding the competitive admissions process. We’ll cover everything you need to know to be sure this is a best fit and help your teen to prepare for this demanding field. Penny will also shed light on the often unexpected cost involved medical requirements and certifications that can limit this pathway and the importance of early preparation. Whether your team has confidently known since childhood that they want to soar the skies, or they have recently had their interest piqued. This episode is packed with valuable insights and practical advice. I’m Lisa marker Robbins and I want to welcome you to College and Career Clarity of flourish coaching production. Let’s dive right in to a great conversation.

Lisa Marker Robbins 02:16

Penny, it’s so great to have you on the

Penny Linsenmayer 02:19

show. Hey, Lisa, thanks. I’m really excited to be here.

Lisa Marker Robbins 02:23

I am to you know I love is this is sort of our to call it a career close up episode. Because it does fit into that bucket. But usually, I’m having the person on who’s been doing the job to talk about the job and how they got there. But on this one, to become a pilot to work in that airline industry. It’s a really complicated process to get there. So I thought, okay, it’s probably better that we back up and start with the expert on how to even get to the career because there’s, this is a complicated one, it’s a lot more to think about. And I’m I’m sure that you meet all kinds of kids. So let’s, let’s start with the kids who and I hear this all the time in my college major and career coaching course where like, we have some students are like, I’ve always known that I wanted to be an XYZ. And so for those families that are in that bucket, like let’s talk about who might be a good fit for aviation.

Penny Linsenmayer 03:26

Yeah, sure. So you’ve got really three possible students as far as like where they might come into this interest how they might land their student a I’m going to call them the student who’s been obsessed with planes, since they were a little kid. Maybe they went planes body, they probably have done some flight stimulating, but potentially, that student might very well have gone in gotten some flight lessons done. They might even have their private pilot license already, because you can get that at age 17.

Lisa Marker Robbins 04:01

You because that a quick question is so is age 17. Like, is that a national thing? Or is this state by state? Its net federal,

Penny Linsenmayer 04:09

national thing? Yep, absolutely. So you can solo at age 16. Meaning that you can be underway with your private pilot license by by age 16. well underway. So you’ve got you know, that student a right? Student B might be somebody who’s just aviation curious, and they’re not 100% Sure this is for them, but they’ve got a little more knowledge maybe. Then students see, well, who I’m gonna say, is the student who saw a headline or maybe the mom or dad saw a headline that said, hey, there’s a pilot shortage. And the student says, Yeah, I’m I will only like that, and I want to do that. Right. So you’ve got these three different kinds of students.

Lisa Marker Robbins 04:51

I have a quick question on that. So when, like, if you were and I know you’re working with people that are already as an IEC, who’s special lasers in aviation, you’re already working with people who are, you know, they know that they’re, they’re at least curious or like this idea. But do you have a feel for like when students engage with you or just I know you’ve got this really great large Facebook group, which will give people the link to what’s the name of it again, raising aviation teens raising aviation teens,

Penny Linsenmayer 05:22

it’s not just a group for parents, although there are certainly a lot of parents on there. There’s also a lot of industry professionals, including pilots, aircraft, awesome. Yeah. So great. And students as well. Really

Lisa Marker Robbins 05:35

cool. So So that’s that mean, that’ll help them figure out like, does this align, I always talk about in my course, you know, informational interviews, getting up close and personal with people who are already working in the field. So you can discern fed, which it sounds like your Facebook group would be a great way to do that. But as you started talking to people, like what percentage when you said to me, you can, you know, you can solo at 16? And you can get your license at 17? Like, are there a lot of kids that do that, like, I hear that and go if the aviation curious, kiddo hears that, or they’re gonna go like, Ah, it’s too late? Or are you going to tell me that that’s a minority of students? I’m curious on that. Um,

Penny Linsenmayer 06:17

I wouldn’t have a great sense of of numbers, specifically. But I would say in general, I think of the students that are starting out in a proflight major and a four year university, for example. 60% probably how go in with a private pilot license and 40% do not have that license.

Lisa Marker Robbins 06:41

Okay, so our parents who are listening, or if they’re sharing this with their teen, if this is not at all a situation where we’re saying like, hey, there’s not a pathway forward if you don’t have a license at 17 at all right? salutely?

Penny Linsenmayer 06:54

Not? No, there’s plenty of students who come to this a little bit later. But what you do need, you do need a couple of things before you embark on this journey and sign up in and apply for a proflight major at a college. Can.

Lisa Marker Robbins 07:08

Can I interrupt you real quick and say, let’s define because you and I are up close and personal with college majors as independent Educational Consultants ourselves, like we understand this. And we’re really close to it. So let’s step back. And let’s even define proflight major because I think we might have some listeners who, like you said, somebody reads a headline, they’re like, Oh, I’m curious. Maybe I should be a pilot. I have kids in my college major career coaching course, where they see that the the US Department of Labor job family that encompasses transportation, and which pilots are included in like, Oh, that’s a match and they say the word pet like baby, that’s for me. But let’s step back and say like, what is a pro flight? Major? Can you kind of define that for us? Yeah, sure.

Penny Linsenmayer 07:57

And this is something I’m definitely planning on, touching on later, but we can do, we can dance. If you’re if you’re going to major in professional flight at a university, you’re going to leave with a very significant perk from that degree, which is that you can get your restricted air transport certificate. Or, yeah, I’m not doing the the acronym correctly, but it’s our ATP. Okay, restricted air transport pilot, that’s what it is. It’s a license that you need, you know, to go fly for a regional airline or a corporate charter or whatever, right? You can get out with less flying hours by having done the FAA approved curriculum through a college program.

Lisa Marker Robbins 08:45

Okay, so when you say proflight major in that, and then let’s go back to like, what do people need to know? So, if to know if that would be a good fit? You’re like, I’ve got some cautionary things for you that you need to be thinking about before you just dive right into this journey. And what would those be?

Penny Linsenmayer 09:04

Right, so two big ones come to mind. The first one is take a discovery flight if you if your student has not ever been up in one of those small single engine planes. It is not for everybody, and some students come down off of that discovery flight or maybe even after lesson one or two. And they’re like, You know what, this is just not for me, I am not comfortable up there or get airsick or whatever. Right? So take some flight lessons for sure. The second big one is being sure that you can get a class one medical, the college programs are all going to require you to show up with a class one medical evidence that you can get it right so you have to have that to fly commercially in colleges don’t want you investing a ton of time and money in a degree that’s never going to pan out for you on the career side. So that’s why they have that entry level requirement.

Lisa Marker Robbins 10:03

It’s like, it’s not like they’re against kids, they’re supporting you, and they want you to pursue a path that you can get to the finish line. So what does that entail to be eligible for this class? One medical, like, what would maybe rule an individual adult word teen out from getting that? Yeah.

Penny Linsenmayer 10:22

So class medicals, come in three flavors, class one, class two, class three, if, if you’re working on a private pilot license with a local flight school, they may tell you, you only need a class three, you don’t listen to them just move right on ahead and stay, but hey, I want to go on to college and get my you know, get all my ratings, I’m going to need that class one. So I’m going to do that. Alright, so the difference between class one, class two and class three is actually fairly minut. It really has to do with vision, mainly, however, any of the medicals, you can get really tripped up, whether it’s class one or class three, with a fear, it’s a few things that kind of commonly crop up for students this age, I would say, the big one, ADHD, right. So a lot of students have either taken some ADHD medication or been diagnosed at some point in their childhood. So that’s a big one. And I’ve got ADD, rule them out from being getting class one. No, nope. But what it does do is it sets up a much more complicated process that the FAA, understandably wants pilots to be focused. And

Lisa Marker Robbins 11:37

you know, that Ohio as a passenger, by the way,

Penny Linsenmayer 11:41

one dad, so they have a pretty complex system set up they did last year, do you have fast track thing, which is pretty unusual for them, that allows a student who maybe took ADHD medication, let’s say in elementary school, and then they got off of it, and they haven’t been on it. Since then, if you haven’t been on medication in the last four years, and you you meet is a couple of other requirements, then the medical examiner can give you a medical on what’s called their fast track process. If you’re if you don’t qualify for that, let’s say you, you actually, maybe are still on medication, for example, or you, you’ve been off for a while, but you’ve been it’s not been four years, you’re going to want you’re going to have to go through a pretty complicated process where you’re going to need to find an FAA approved neuro psychologist and go through a full day’s diagnostic battery, that person will then send all those results off to the FAA, who will interpret them. The neuropsychologist will tell you flat out, I can’t interpret this, this is the FAA is the only person for the only, you know, entity that can interpret those results. So you’re not out of out of the game completely if you’ve had ADHD or even if you’ve taken the medication, that you do have to pass that neuro Psych Exam. And that that is something that can be a real robot for people

Lisa Marker Robbins 13:12

on the vision thing. I have a question there. So do you have to have 2020? Or better vision? Or could it be corrected? Like what are the I know it’s changed over the years? I’ve heard that. Yeah, now, and people get LASIK now. And what are the rules of it? The

Penny Linsenmayer 13:31

Vision piece? Yeah, the vision piece. So yes, corrective lenses are totally fine. As long as you’re corrected to 2020. I believe you do have to wear contacts, if I’m remembering correctly, they don’t want glasses. If I’m I think that’s correct. The other thing related to vision is color blindness. And that is an area where even a perfectly healthy person who doesn’t have anything else that might not suspect any issue with getting that medical might walk into the room and medical exam and learn that they’re colorblind. So if that happens to you, that also is not the end of the road necessarily, it just means that your your medical examiners probably going to send you to an optometrist and say, Hey, there’s a second level colorblindness test that you can do. Here’s the conditions. And here’s how that works. You know, when

Lisa Marker Robbins 14:20

you’re, you’re talking about like, so if we start to think about this, and the parents listening, and they’re like, well, yep, my kid has been on ADHD meds in the last couple of years even. Or, oh, maybe they are colorblind. So these don’t rule them out. But you’re you’re giving them what I do love is you’re giving them like it hasn’t rolled you out. Here are the next steps that you need to take to see if it’s going to rule you out or not. And let my brain my my kids are all off the payroll now. But I just finished paying for college and I start to think that’s going to be at the family’s expense, to engage that neuro psychology. Adjust or Okay, the optometrists things, probably not that expensive. But I, I know that any kind of psychological testing neuro ed psych like it’s an investment. So it makes me wonder how expensive does this get? Are there other, I don’t want to call them hidden costs, because they’re not probably hidden. But when we’re, you know, typically thinking of the college bound journey, we know, we’re going to pay for things like test prep and working with an IEC or, you know, my college major and career course, or the cost of like campus visits and things like that. But I’m hearing some other expenses in there. Is this expensive? Absolutely,

Penny Linsenmayer 15:41

yeah. Yeah, the neuro Psych Exam on couple of points on that it is expensive, it’s typically going to be three or $5,000, depending on where you live. The other point I will make is I live in Houston, it’s a fourth largest city in the country, there are literally two professionals in the city of Houston that can do that testing. So if you don’t live in a big city, you’re probably going to have to drive and find this person. It also they are very booked up. So it’s going to take you some time in which is another really big point. So circling back to students see who suddenly has this interest, and maybe they’re a spring of junior year, that could really cause some time problems, because you have to have that class one in hand, by the time you actually matriculate in August of your you know, after you’ve graduated from high school. So you want to really take this, the timing into account, especially if you don’t have pristine health, which by that and you know, the other the other big ones just to really quickly touch on some other common things that aren’t necessarily going to rule you out. But and just be aware, though, that it’s going to take some time for the FAA to get comfortable with whatever medication you’re on or whatever you’re doing to treat something. So maybe you have a chronic condition, like ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, asthma, or, you know, diabetes, even those kinds of things, doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t fly. But it is going to take some time. The FAA is a government agency, they work at a very slow

Lisa Marker Robbins 17:17

but that government word and alright, and in the FAFSA this year, certainly taught us now with all the delays as for sure yet what you know, it’s, I always people will say to me, like, when do you think is the right time for kids to take your course or start working on college majors and careers? And I always my answer is in my utopian society, which I have come to a peaceful place that this will never exist. I would really like by the end, like second semester sophomore year for students to really start digging in and start going like one lines with me building that self awareness, figuring it out. And sometimes I get pushback on that, right? Like, they’re not ready. And I’m like, Well, I’ve got 4000 kids, and I can say they’ve gone through the framework in it in, it has been the right time it has worked out. And then I talked to someone like you who has a very particular expertise. And there are many of these career fields where like, if you don’t start early, I’m hearing, you know, probably sophomore year, going into junior year for the aviation curious student is probably the right time to do it to be able to check all the boxes, cross those T’s dot those eyes and make sure it’s a possibility. Right.

Penny Linsenmayer 18:34

Absolutely. Yeah. And to circle back to your point earlier about affordability, this is a very expensive degree, no matter which pathway you choose. And we can talk about that in a second. Oh, yeah. I

Lisa Marker Robbins 18:45

mean, what are the pathways? And then let’s talk about the associated costs with that for sure.

Penny Linsenmayer 18:49

Yeah, sure. So door number one is the one you and I are most familiar with would be the four year university. The trick there is to and I can give this to you, Lisa, so you can link it in the show notes. There’s a list of institutions that the FAA has approved to give you the RA T. P, let me quickly just, you know, do organize that a little bit. If you don’t go through a college program, in you just fly to an independent flight school. In you, you turn 21 If you have 1500 flying hours and some of that’s fairly specific that 1500 In general, you can then get the RA TP which is your restricted air transport pilot license and go apply for a job at a regional airline for example. Okay. If instead you were 21 and you went to a four year university that is authorized by the FAA to grant the RA T P reduction, then you only need 1000 flying hours. So it’s a big benefit to now If you go to a community college, there is a little road thing, a lot of community colleges are on that list of FAA approved institutions, you can get your associate degree in pre flight, and you get reduced down to 1250. So not quite 1000. But you know, not that 1500.

Lisa Marker Robbins 20:18

And you’ve gone to school for two years less. So that makes sense. Right, right.

Penny Linsenmayer 20:22

So the other big benefit for the college program, so if you can use FY 29 funds, and you cannot use FY 29 fun to peaches go to a like local flight school.

Lisa Marker Robbins 20:34

Wow. Okay. That’s interesting, because, you know, they opened 529 years, a few years back to trade schools, and but not yet to flight schools,

Penny Linsenmayer 20:44

yet flight schools in jail. Right, so you’ve got your door number one, which is your four year university door number, choose those community colleges. With door number three, you really have multiple, multiple things you could do you, you’ll hear a lot of people, you know, the airlines relaxed to the college degree requirement. So you don’t technically need a college degree to go apply for a job with an airline, you will hear a variety of industry. You know, viewpoints on that, you know, as to whether somebody with a college degree might fare better in a time of downturn and furloughs and that sort of thing.

Lisa Marker Robbins 21:23

Right. I mean, there’s they, I always say that, like, there’s this idea that, yes, maybe it’s not required, but it would probably give you a leg up. It’s you know, my daughter just graduated from my our youngest, we have five kids, but our youngest just graduated. And she got into the management trainee program at the fortune 500 company that she targeted in wanted. And I assure you, she would not have gotten that position. Ultimately, she wants to be in sales with that organization. But she wouldn’t have gotten that position had she not had the college degree, even though I think lots of people can be very successful in corporate sales without a college degree, but it does often give it a leg up.

Penny Linsenmayer 22:07

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So if you decide that you want to go the independent flight school route, you have a few other options to pull that degree in. Right. So a lot of these flight schools do have an affiliated online degree partner, like Liberty University is a big one within that within the flight school realm. Or you could just say to yourself, I’m going to, I’m going to go to local public flagship college and get a business degree. And I’m going to work on my flight ratings at the local flight school on the side. Or you can say I’m not doing the college degree thing at all, and I’m just going to get my flight ratings. But just know that if you do that, you’re still cooling your heels until you’re 21, you’re not, you know, you’re not gonna be able to graduate from high school at age 18. bang out 1500 flying hours somehow. And then you can have to go for H 21. And get there. So,

Lisa Marker Robbins 23:00

if a student goes into one of the RA TP, and interestingly, to prep for RT, our discussion, I actually had pulled that institutional list. So that’s funny that you said you and I want to make sure I have the right link, but I had pulled one. But if some if a student goes to an RA T P program for a four year degree, and they they’re reduced to the 1000 hours, on top of paying for college, is the family also paying for that flight time, like I think about when I was paying for my kids to go to school, some of their classes had lab fees associated with that. So there were added costs, depending on your degree, some colleges are more transparent about that on the front end than others. So what could have family expected spend on top of the four year degree? Yeah, great question. Not not good news for families. Speaking,

Penny Linsenmayer 24:00

those are considered loud fees. Yeah. And they are they are enormous. So you can expect from the private instrument commercial multi engine and CFI, that certified flight instructor, all those ratings all in it’s going to range from one college to another. There are there is some variation for sure. And I encourage people to to really dig in and find those costs into a spreadsheet, but you’re looking at anywhere from maybe 65,000 On the very lowest end she made 100 125,000 on the high end. Wow. On top of your calling for college. Exactly. This is not a cheap degree. Now in law, it’s out. Okay.

Lisa Marker Robbins 24:46

Wow. Okay, that just took all the air out of the room. So really, I mean, I hate to say this, it you know, it’s it sounds like it’s this pathway to being a pilot really is restricted to people who are upper middle class upper class families. I know a lot of people, though, become pilots by taking the military route, which we don’t need to get into in this episode today. So if you don’t have the additional basically $100,000, maybe that’s a different route. So this brings me to like if we’re sticking with just the idea of this ra tp 1000 hours, an additional $100,000 on that. As you’re talking, I’m going this doesn’t feel like the typical college admissions process, you know, when we’re working with, and I know you work with a lot of these students, and I’m working with students on a wide variety of majors. And so what can somebody expect? Like do they need to start earlier or their earlier deadlines? Like what awareness should they have, as we’re kind of bringing our discussion in play? Like, what should they expect and plan for?

Penny Linsenmayer 25:58

Yeah, there’s a lot. So I’ll try to I’ll try to knock this out a little bit. But in general, this is, you know, again, a very expensive degree. It also means that programs because there’s a finite number plains, there’s a finite number of instructors, they have finite resources at these programs. So they are capped programs, and thus they are very competitive in many cases. So not the community colleges so much, although even that can be competitive based on again, another bit of resources. You do want to apply really, in almost all instances. And here’s why. I’ll give you just a few examples. So the University of North Dakota runs on what they do now, last they started last year, and they’re going to do it again this year. First come first serve. So August one, their application opens. The first night, this is a very large program, the University of North Dakota is the largest proflight Meet and very well respected and very well known very well respected. industry connections are huge. They have the first 900 students with a 3.25 or higher, and they don’t care about test scores, because the state of North Dakota did away the test scores. So we’re talking just a 3.25 GPA on a four point scale or higher. First 900 people who apply with that qualification will be awarded the flight major. But or they will be accepted, I should say. Then what they say is the first of the people we accepted that first 400 or 450 of you to put down a deposit will have the flight meter spot. Oh,

Lisa Marker Robbins 27:34

wow. Okay, so it’s an automatic admission, and and then then you got to pay your deposit, and

Penny Linsenmayer 27:42

you got to pay your deposit. And then there’s, you know, several other models, right. So, oh, you which I’m for Texas. And I know that means something different to you. Lisa then does to me. Yes, it does. Oh, you down here in Texas means Oklahoma University of Oklahoma. At Norman. They have a process we’re typically the last part of October or the early part of November, they’re going to release 100 Aviation spots, and they’re going to say go hunger game style, and the first 50 of you to deposit will have those spots. So you can see by what I just said in terms of the calendar, that if you’re a student who waited around until November 1 to put your application in, you’re out of luck.

Lisa Marker Robbins 28:24

Yeah. Because this is really more of a it really puts it in a more of a rolling.

Lisa Marker Robbins 28:31

It’s been an allegory, even though it’s not officially rolling. You got to be thinking what the rolling admissions mindset first come first serve that and

Penny Linsenmayer 28:41

like the Oklahoma State University process, they have a secondary aviation application. So if you waited until November 1 to apply to the University, you’re also out of luck. Because that supplementary aviation application you got to do that through the applicant portal. Right? That’s have your university acceptance and your portal set up? Well before November one,

Lisa Marker Robbins 29:02

I have a question for you is I you know I work with students literally from the East Coast. You know, Maine out to Hawaii, up to Canada down to Mexico that tends to be the students are in our college major course. I like here in Ohio, our kiddos are going to go back to school the second week of August. I mean it used to I grew up in Cincinnati, it used to be after Labor Day now we’re you know, a month earlier, okay. But our friends in the northeast, they are not going back until after Labor Day. How do you what advice do you have for a student to navigate like they’re ready to hit submit on August 1 or second when the application opens, but yet their counselors not going to be back in school until after Labor Day and they to get accepted. You need your transcript to show that you have that 3.25 or whatever. Do you have advice in that case? Yeah, that’s

Penny Linsenmayer 30:00

another instance where you being on the ball in the spring of junior year is a is a great advantage because you can go in and talk to your school counselor and hopefully, you know, talk them into giving you even a sealed envelope that you could mail, for example, or being available to go up to the school and press send on your transcript, especially for you potentially,

Lisa Marker Robbins 30:22

yeah, recommendation letters to if they’re required, right. Yeah, you know,

Penny Linsenmayer 30:27

a lot of these aviation programs lease are at large public state universities that don’t typically have like, new teacher rep letter requirements. Mainly that transcript I think that’s yeah, well, the other thing quickly, just on the timeline issue is even schools that don’t ostensibly have this sort of fast paced, you must put the deposit down in order to hold your spot, have in recent years, done what I would call, I guess, a look back where they yielded more flight students than they intended and hoped for. And now they’re, they’re crowded, they have too many. They’re allocating the flight spots on a first come first serve basis to the deposit date based on the student’s deposit date. So even though they didn’t tell you that up front, no, and be aware of that, that is possibly what’s going to happen going on behind the scenes later.

Lisa Marker Robbins 31:23

So get that this is not I mean, this the whole thing, you’re right, it feels like Hunger Games. It’s like, apply or right away, and deposit as soon as you can to secure it. Because if you’re you can be admitted to the university. And if you can’t get your flight time, it’s like, I mean, it’s the same thing. What I’m hearing is, and I think this is something that our listeners will understand. It’s like nursing, right? It’s restricted, because they have to have X number of clinical spots and the local hospitals. And that’s why it’s a kept major. It’s I was recently talking to the University of Ohio, or I’m sorry, University of Arkansas. And they said, you know, come October, they will cut off education, nursing architecture, things that have like, require studio space, or field hours is the same thing. And so, you know, listeners hear us, this is not an uncommon practice at all, for particular majors, right.

Penny Linsenmayer 32:24

And you will see on the websites, you might go to apply like Purdue, for example, macro, Major, it is only available if you apply early action, November one, and you will see on other websites proflight Major no longer accepting applications,

Lisa Marker Robbins 32:37

right? Yep. Wow, sounds like the early bird gets the worm. And you will never lose out if you’re early, you could often lose out if you’re late on many things. And so this time sensitivity is very important. I love what you said about you know, get

Lisa Marker Robbins 32:56

up in a plane, I had somebody else come on and talk about you know, as medical school, a good fit, you know, can you handle gross things that might turn other people’s stomachs? You know, in some people think that they would love to be a doctor or a nurse, and then they go, Oh, I’m queasy. You know, I just took a flight that was a commuter flight from Cincinnati to Philly last week was single lane of, you know, row of seats. And I’m like, That was not fun. We had rough air. And so I certainly couldn’t handle a single engine. So you get up close and personal. Make sure it’s a fit before you start going down this very expensive. time consuming, but what could be a fantastic fit for some people? Absolutely. Yeah, Penny Thank you. If okay, if our aviation our pilot, curious listeners just are like, you know, I need to learn more. Now. I’ve learned it after like, Well, I gotta learn more. And then you’re not yet committed to this path. What would be the best way for them to continue learning? That that Facebook

Penny Linsenmayer 34:00

group? Yeah, the Facebook group would be great raising aviation teens. And like I said, it’s a range of its students, parents, pilots,

Lisa Marker Robbins 34:08

I love that there’s pilots in there. Yeah, it’s almost like an informational interview that I trained students on how to do in in live time in that group setting. So that’s cool. And what if somebody is like, yes, Petey, check, check, check, check, check. We’re ready to go in, but we need the support of someone like you what’s the best way for them to get in touch? Sure.

Penny Linsenmayer 34:29

My website is pathway admissions.com and you can email me at penny at pathway admissions.com. So I do work with with several one on one with several prospective pilot majors every year and happy to help you help others. Fantastic.

Lisa Marker Robbins 34:46

We’ll put all of that in the show notes as well. Penny, thank you so much. And it sounds like we probably are gonna have to do a deeper dive on some of this later on.

Penny Linsenmayer 34:56

That could be that could be fun. Very good. Take care, you too

Lisa Marker Robbins 35:07

thank you to Penny Letson Meyer for sharing her expertise on the aviation pilot career pathway and the college admissions process. I hope you found our discussion insightful and helpful as you guide your team through this exciting yet demanding journey. If you and your team listen to this episode, and you’re not yet deterred, I encourage you to explore the various links Penny provided in the show notes to ensure that your student can meet the strict requirements for becoming a pilot. Additionally, if your teen hasn’t yet taken a discovery flight and a small single engine plane scheduling soon, it’s a crucial step to make sure that they have the nerves to handle the demands of flying. Remember, this is a career pathway where the early bird gets the worm and it will not benefit your goals to not take action now. If you found today’s episode helpful, please share it with a friend who might benefit from it too. Also, taking a moment to rate and review the podcast helps us reach more families navigating the college admissions process. Thank you for listening to the College and Career Clarity podcast, where we help your family move from overwhelmed, confused to motivated, clear and confident about your teens future. I’m Lisa Mark Robins and until next time, keep striving for clarity and confidence in your teens college journey.