My two cents:
Flying junk in the seventies and eighties for nothing was the greatest part of my career. You had to hand fly steam gauges for little outfits who depended on your ass and valued you as a pillar of the operation. You showed up broke, you could've gotten killed, there were no guarantees, but you didn't have to deal with two-fisted middle management in an era where you're just labor in a big outfit that hates pilots (which was likely your future, if you got a high paying so-called dream job.) And most of the old guys you flew with on the first civilian jobs were the most wonderful gentlemen you could ever hope to fly with. Typically, they were guys who got fired, or who couldn't get a job at the monster airlines. Tough but brave, they would let you take the machine to the point where they weren't sure if they could save it themselves. When I checked-out I made sure that I practiced the same teaching ethic with my crews and many have thanked me since.
I was broke, then rich , then broke, then middle income flying for four different airlines. I don't regret any of it.
My Advice: Take the advice of the other posters above. If you're trying to make a logical decision, forget it. Flying careers are a crap shoot. If you're looking for money, go to med school or law school. If you love the sky, then lookout, odds are you're going to fly till you die! (What we used to call the FTD retirement plan, since our outfit was too broke to have a retirement plan.)
P.S. Don't give up because the bastards tried to side track you. Get a weekend flight instructor/ banner towing job or, if you can't manage that at a little airport near school: sweep the hangar or pump gas until they get tired of you begging.)
Good Luck, because you are going to need it!
pacplyer