Well, I am amazed at the replies I have got from this thread. My intention was not to discourage young people of their dream of becoming an airline pilot but to explain my view at 23 years old.
As in my life, I also have goals/dreams and to achieve them I always have steps. I guess for my airline pilot dream I am in step 2 (degree tick, job tick). As most of the replies on here, I am not planning to spend my whole life in consultancy, I do plan on either becoming a pilot or gaining a PhD.
Ah well, fair enough! Gaining a graduate job at Accenture (especially in these time) is undoubtably a great achievement, but having worked in a not dissimilar job, I can confirm Whiskey Bravo's description of the life is depressingly reminiscent; the long hours, the backstabbing, the daily alcohol misuse, the attrition, the inherent dullness of the work...
Keep whatever dream you have alive and don't fall for the big corporate trap - by the time most realise their mistake they are married, with kids and a huge mortgage. (Unless of course, you turn out to genuinely enjoy it
)