justanother
You sound just like I did when I was your age (God that makes me sound old!!) - I'm only 22! I got similar grades to yours at GCSE and I'm just coming to the end of a uni course in Engineering.
What Dozza said about uni - "I saw it as being at uni for 3 years doing something I wasn't interested in. Working for 3 years to pay off uni debts, and then getting into debt again for flying. I guess I thought lifes too short to be doing something you don't want to do"
.......is something that HAS crossed my mind, as flying is all I want to do.
BUT - towards the end it's become more and more obvious how important it was for me. Fallback career - big bonus in an industry where you could lose your license and job at your 6-monthly medical with no warning. Maturity - airlines look for well-rounded pilots who can take many factors into account when making big decisions: uni will teach you that. It will give you something to write and talk about in answer to those painful 'Give an example of a time when you...' questions that you'll come across when you apply for those sponsorships, other than answers from part-time work during GCSE's and A-Levels. It opens many doors, even ones unrelated to the degree discipline.
As for whether to go mil or civvy, it's also something that's become obvious to me during my time here at uni. On some level I always knew that it would be commercial - but if you're anything like me then the lure or flying (anything) will cloud your decision. So follow your heart - if you were to go and poke your nose through a perimeter fence, would it be at Heathrow or Brize?
Finally, you'll find many people on here will say that flying IS a 'real' job: Just as it has taken 4 years of study and a year of experience to make me an employable engineer, it will also take a hell of a lot of determination and slog to make you an employable pilot. I'm now in the position where I can start to save for the self-funded route if I can't find sponsorship - a prospect that you may also have to face. But don't give up!
