Lee,
Having spent the last 3 years waiting for the elusive sponsorship, whilst working at the airport in the mean time, and having spent the same time visiting all the major schools, the following is what I feel is the case today.
Your best bet is not to waist any time after completing A levels or uni and get talking with/visiting the schools and find out which school and route (Modular of Integrated) suits you best. It tends to be the case in this day and age that airlines will visit the school, talk to the FI's and find out who the top bods are. There are usually some students who are then interviewed and some, depending on airline requirements, are offered jobs, help with type rating funding, or just the promise of an interview if they score well at the end of the process. Other 'ivy league' schools, such as OAT and Jerez, are in constant contact with airlines and inviting them to the schools to conduct interviews etc with students. Again there are always schemes such as BACX that look promising, but you still have to stump up the full amount and there is no promise of a job at the end of the course.
Having spoken to many frozen ATPL types currently doing 737 efis type ratings the message is go integrated, especially at schools where the main raison d'etre of the school is integrated training. The reaon for this is that modular fills the gaps in class rooms and training hours available. As a result some students feel they are treated like second class citizens by the schools. I believe the CTC scheme with EZY/TCX still exists and as that scheme (whilst heavily subscribed) offers a 'bonding' arrangement after training, I would give that serious thought.
Ciao for now.
