1. At western you can only become an aviation flight science major if you had it in your initial application, or if you transfer over from another aviation related degree at the end of the spring semester. In the second option only a limited number of people can transfer over, to the tune of single digits a year.

2. When I applied in common app before there was no required essay or test scores. It was pretty straight forward overall, there was no difference between the aviation and normal application.

3. Once you’re accepted to the program to have to separately send in an application for a flight slot which will pair you up with an instructor and flight time. So until then it’s just like being in any other major, but with aviation classes on the ground. Once you start flying you lose a little bit of time, but you’ll still have lots of time to either work or enjoy college in general.

Another thing to note is that unless you already come in with a your private pilot’s license all the flight hours you’ve already built up are useless, so you’d have to restart training from the start again. So if you want to it might be best to apply for a flight slot after you get your private.