Hi Sulphate,
I too am 17 and passed my GCSE's with half decent grades and currently at college. I too aim to be a commercial pilot. These guys are true saying that time is on our hands, and I believe that I have used it wisely so far! In April I got my medical, I thought to myself, is it worth not spending the £411 and build my hopes and dreams up to such an extent, that if I fail in the exam in the future, I would be devastated, so I booked the medical exam for the soonest day I could, I passed and can now look forward to doing my training. That would be my biggest advise get a medical, it just gives you that piece of mind knowing that you can be a pilot medically wise! Secondly, I have recently been to a seminar at Oxford Aviation Training, and the people there are wonderful, polite, answered all the questions without woffle and is a well respected school, I would say to you, go to all the big schools, have a look around and decide which one is best for you. A couple of weeks ago I applied to go onto the Oxford course, the next day I got a reply saying that I have passed the initial application and could I come to Oxford for my selection, all this and I have not got my ppl, or any significant flying time- two hours in the Air Training Corps. One more thing, with regards to uni, is it imperative that you go straight after college? I to would like to get a degree, but if I go straight after college, then it will be precious time wasted not doing my flight training, and a heavy debt to pay off. Instead of going straight to uni, have you considered doing an Open University course whilst you have established a career in flying? Hope I have made some helpful points, Chris