stevevigilant,
The ATC is an excellent organisation. If you do well, and
particularly if you participate in something such as the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold, you will have an edge on lazy, fat 'civilians' who slob out in front of computer games and yoof-tube!
Some organisations manage scholarship awards for flying training. If there's one thing that is common amongst most high quality finalists, it's that they've been 'spaceys'...
