Have to agree with Bealzebub.
I get to meet a lot of pilots in their 20s joining my airline. The vast majority are mature and well motivated and came into the business eyes wide open, well aware of the negatives. They all chose a route which was expensive but which they felt gave them the best chance of getting a job. No guarantees were given and some of their contemporaries who followed the same route have not been so fortunate.
I invariably ask them about their school/university mates and it does not make for happy listening. The top guys with good degrees may well end up in the city but they seem to be a tiny minority and the pressure can be immense with little job satisfaction. Many of the others seem to end up in some other form of employment which is neither fulfilling nor well paid. The only really happy ones seem to be the ones who have followed a more vocational route. Meanwhile the guy sitting next to me says he has no regrets and talks optimistically about the future.
I do worry for my children and will not encourage or discourage them to go into flying but if I was starting again and determined to fly I would go MPL or, at a push, Integrated with a known UK School. Without that relative security the risks are too great. It's a great shame because the route I took was a lot more fun and open to the majority of people who do not have access to huge amounts of money/credit.