in my opnion extra curricular stuff is quite importent, it gives you a bit more depth. I recently starting doing Duke of Edinburgh to add to what I can offer. If you want to pm me to ask what I have found in my research your very welcome to. What scroggs said is definate food for thought. I have also wanted to be a pilot from when i can remember but in all honesty I'm not going to get to my eyeballs in debt when I can make a good living out of Physics or Maths and fly for fun with my PPL. This is probely cutting my options right down, but i want a good life, I dont want that much debt. If i were doing my training part time while holding down a full time job, and my debt wasnt huge. I would consider self funding. But! Its all up to the indivudal, if you can afford to go intergrated at 18 then consider it. but look at the risk factors. Debt = risk. So the lower your debt the lower your risk. Anyway hope this helped you a bit, remember you can pm me if you want!