Originally Posted by
+TSRA
I'll add that higher education requirements ebb and flow with the demand for pilots. As the demand for pilots increases, the education and experience demands decrease down to their minimum legal requirements. The opposite is true: as the demand for pilots decreases, the education and experience demands increase, sometimes well above the minimum legal requirements. Right this very second there are not a whole lot of airlines who care much about high school and university. However, give it a deep downturn in the industry where pilots are a dime a dozen again (as we were in the 90s), and you'll find the need for additional experience and education will rise.
For context, when I started flying in the late 90s here in Canada one needed an ATPL, a 4-year degree, and a minimum of 5,000 hours to apply to the airlines. It was strongly hinted that fluency in French and English got you the interview, and the ability to quickly decode morse code got you the sim eval, which was no walk in the park. It was also said (in jest, but not too far off) that 5,000 hours got you right seat of a Dash-8 and 10,000 hours got you right seat of a 737. Fast forward to today and a CPL, 250 hours, and a pulse seems to gets you into the right seat of a CRJ or Dash-8 and 1,500 hours and your ATPL gets you into that 737. Europe is better (or worse depending on your point of view) in that 250 hours gets you into the 737 or A320, and we are quickly headed that way here. But, it is always possible those 90s days will come again. All it takes is a good and sustained market downturn where a few airlines file for bankruptcy. Anyone who says that's tantamount to fear mongering just hasn't been in the industry long enough or has rose coloured glasses. So, if you have time, finish you A-Levels. If you don't have time, finish them after you've got all your flying qualifications under your belt. As far as university, do that during any downturn that you're caught in the middle of so that you'd be ready-to-go on the other side.
Any education is better than none, but seniority is king.
Just a slight European caveat to that. Seniority is only king at the very small handful of legacy carriers here. What is king is 500 hours on a CS-25 certified aircraft.
OP, sound advice about grabbing A Levels if you can, until you have your first job they can only help you. Once you’ve got that first job, doesn’t matter in the slightest as you’re a useful pilot. Degree? Complete waste of time and money at this point for you.