Life Changing Decision....

[kelly7898]

Well once again I am going to ask complete strangers for what they would do in a certain situation that is presenting itself to me as we speak. I am just looking for some honest opinions so I can get an idea if I’m insane or faced with a good problem. Here’s the situation:

I am currently a pilot as I think I said in an earlier post and work for a regional. I will pull in around 30K this year (maybe a tad more that’s conservative) and not much more the following (35 maybe?). I am currently 22 years old and working on college while I work full time. I will be most likely finishing my 2 year transfer degree at the end of the fall and will then have to move to a 4 year institution. All this seems pretty straight forward but I may be losing my job at the end of the year. We are losing planes and well, it’s a ticking clock at this point. If I did lose my job, my plan was to go to pharmacy school and maybe enter that as a career and not return if recalled. That is still my plan but now I have been thinking of doing something I have always dreamed of. Moving to another country to go to school. Now put aside getting accepted, visiting (which I am soon), visa's and other small things and let me ask you this. Would anyone leave to go to school and do something like this even though you would give up your job, take on debt (around 90K), and move to a new country (OZ)?

Like I said it has always been a dream but now may be a reality. I would take on debt but have a good paying job after and be eligible for citizenship as it is a needed job there. It could open doors but also will shut others such as returning to flying. Any ideas? Am I crazy?

Thank you for the post.
Hi guys, Im a newbie. Nice to join this forum.

[ktmarvels]

The drudgery and low pay of a regional airline is definately affecting your love of flying. Look for other jobs within aviation that may interest you and position you to make more money. 4-6 years of study, $90k of debt just to make $60-$90k (if that much) working at a CVS doesn't sound nearly as exciting as a career in travel/aviation.

I know about this all too well. My husband is a pilot for the Navy and I'm currently in Pharmacy school. I agree that when the "stuff" at work gets hectic the he says the flying becomes a lot less fun. However, I can speak better to the pharmacy side of things. I think it's a great career with a lot of flexibility, however it's also a lot of work! You will be earning a Doctor of Pharmacy. When you graduate could be working alongside medical doctors making decisions and in some cases running your own clinics. Wanting to be a pharmacist and doing that work is what gets you through the grueling times of school. Although on the flip side you'll be making more than wincrasher said...my goal is $100K, and I should make close to that. I've heard some people who make $120K going retail. So I would make your decision based on what you want to do. And if it was me, I'd run away to Oz for a little while to help you figure it out.

[cschin4]

Your plans are too vague. Going to "another country". Where, why, and what for? You want to pursue Pharmacy or maybe not. It is hard to pick a career path in life but lack of focus is going to hurt you in the long run. You need to make a plan and commit to it. I don't know why you would have $90K debt if you went overseas. Not seeing the connection. As for pharmacy school, it is a 5 -7 yr degree and many programs are PhD now so that is a long committment and pharmacy school is VERY competetive and you would need the appropriate background in pre-pharm type classes to even apply.

[mom-from-missouri]

Check it out throughly before you do this. I know of several persons who earned their RN, MD and Pharmacy degrees in other countries only to find when they moved to the US that that they were not honored here. A lot of it depends on the country and on the school (is it a US school with a campus overseas??). We had a family (from church) from Asia who moved to the US. They were both physicians, but it was not recognized here. They both had to take other jobs here--nanny and working for FORD while they went back to college here in the US.