have to say on the girlfriend side, i ended up splitting with mine because i'm going to OAT. it sucks but do you want to do this for the rest of your life? if you could overcome the work bit, the girlfriend bit should come second. full time takes less time and is more focussed imho, you will be surrounded by people who are doing the same work as you, you'll be around the instructors, the support is a1 for d/l fair enough but for me there's no substitue than being face to face with the person who knows the answer, and it'll be over sooner.
just my two cents