Ok #1 make sure you find a good patient flight instructor.Try to find one who has been instructing for a long time this will tell you he loves to teach. There are instructors out there who only instruct to build time and go to the airlines. You don't need this kind of instructor The airlines can be a back stabbing  job.Pilots will screw over you yep thats right they are out there. Corporate is the way to go. I have been flying for 20 years as a flight instructor,corporate and charter pilot and love it .Go to your local Fix Base Operation (FBO) and get a older Instructor who loves to fly AND who has a lot of patient Keep in mind going to big flight schools is not always the way to go.Go to college and get your degree  it does not matter what.As and instructor I have students now flying corporate,military and airlines so go get it.Make sure the instructor will listen to you and help you.You will know because he will go the extra mile for you. 8)

Beefhole, I have had  students come to me for help .And the # 1 question they ask me was help me finish up. My Instructor left me for the Airlines. As a Instructor you owe that much to your student to finish him up. If you can't finish the job then don't start it. How long have you been in the aviation Business.I feel sorry for the start up students who is told later that the Instructor got hired by the Airlines and some Instructor never did tell his Student that he was leaving.And that makes it hard on him.If you are a good Instructor and care about that person who loves to fly you will stay with him to the end. I have been in this business for 20 years with a 98% pass rate for PVT,COMM,INST,CFI,CFII,ATP,SEL and MEL and make a real good living  at it. Nothing here I copied it is all hard work and carring for students. I teach out of Olive Branch Ms airport (olv). ask around. And the reason is no body wants to set reserve at home or at the airport .

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Must disagree again.  This is from the view point of a STUDENT.  My first CFI was named Zack. He was a CFII, and head of the flight school.  He was universally loved by everyone, and if you go to websites that allow people to post comments on airports you will see his name mentioned there.

I think, at about 12 hours through my training, he got a great job with Midlantic jet and left.  And you know what?  I couldnt've been happier.  Why?  Because as an aspiring pilot myself, I know that MY ultimate dream is to eventually fly one of those fast, sleek jets.  Therefore, relating my ideas to his, I was too happy for him to have any problems with him leaving.  Now, I have a very special, very non self-centered way of thinking, and I always look at it from the other person's point of view. What would I do? I'd take my dream job, that's what.  There is NOTHING wrong with that. 

You CAN NOT chide a CFI for holding a job in order to build up hours.  You CAN'T.  If they're not interested in the military, how else would you suggest they build up the hours? While it's clear you're not (directly) stating that it's bad for a CFI to hold the job in order to build up hours, what would you suggest they do for their students?  How are they supposed to know when they're going to get hired? It's not a feasible situation for an instructor to hang around and finish up every student he has, and therefore your statement implies a CFI should nto hold a job to build up hours.

Well there's my take on it.

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My only beef with that system is that it set a negative tone to things at the school I went to. Competition for hours was high, and I'd sometimes  show up for a lesson only to find my name had been erased from the schedule so some other CFI could yoink that slot for his student. Then there was the way the CFIs discussed a student's progress before handing him/her over to another instructor: they apparently didn't. I spent too much time flying review flights with four of the five (!) instructors I flew with on the way to my PPSEL checkride. I always sensed a little milking on these flights, too... review may have been an excuse sometimes.
  On the other hand, I knew this might happen, so... I lived with it. And having more than one instructor taught me a lot about flying with instructors, if nothing else.
  I will say that each in his own way was competent and dedicated. I received quality instruction from each. Hope they've all got juicy airline jobs by now...