I agree with baswell, go to uni, the life experience and fun is well worth it. I know I felt a lot more employable simply for being 20/21 rather than 17/18 when I finished high school. Check out the thread below, it debates the two sides rather well, Mr. Hat & co on one, myself and others on another. Essentially it boils down to, do you want to delay working as a pilot for 18 months out of a 40 year career to get the uni experience. (Can you tell which side I took)
http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-a...ng-degree.html
Remember as well there are cadetships and then there are cadetships. A lot of people are getting excited about the Virgin one as the deal sounds too good to be true from the rumours being thrown around. The Qantas one used to be the benchmark and now isn't even being run (and who would want to go to that company anyway at the moment). Jetstar and REX have had plenty posted about them in these forums. But like any contractual agreement, read the Ts & Cs carefully and get some advice from people who know what they are talking about.