In my opinion you should do a degree, I did Aeronautical Engineering and have been accepted onto a mentored course. I know the degree itself isnt essential (at least one other guy accepted for my mentored course is starting straight after his A levels) but the life experience, financial responsibility, social scenarios, team based activities at uni and general hard work will really benefit you and set you up nicely for a career as a pilot. Even though my degree wasnt essential I would do exactly the same thing again and am very glad I went to Uni for the above reasons