As an American, my advice would be get a degree and experience outside of aviation. It will provide a career and income when aviation fails you. My father always said, "learn a trade, then fly".
Personally, if I knew THEN what I know NOW about an aviation career, I'd have walked straight into a whirling propeller. It is a wonderful way of life, but the sacrifices, costs and pain, is NOT worth it. The real deal is to make a ton of money in financial "engineering" and buy a plane and crew to fly YOU where you want to go! In the US, even doctors are leaving medicine and heading into financial "engineering"!
GF