Sunderland Matt
Can't recommend the UAS route enough.
I joined University of Manchester in 97 with no intention of joining the armed forces but was plucked off the street at the freshers fair to join what I thought was a flying club. I was studying engineering, which is a fairly time consuming degree but I believe that without the UAS my time at University would have sucked.
I met people that I will be friends with for the rest of my life, the social life was the best I have experienced, I got paid every now and again and my degree was so boring.
I managed to secure my self a Desmond (2:2) and had the best years of my life. My mates who didn't do the UAS route but still went to Uni are now 1 or 2 years older than me but at the same stage of training (just starting Valley).
Woodvale may be quiet however my experiences of flying out of operational bases was useful but very frustrating as you were treated like second class citizens. At Woodvale the base is yours to do what you want with.
I may be bais but MASUAS was an excellent UAS, with a high proportion of its members joining full time and, in my year, all but 2 went fast jet indicating the quality of the training.
I am a big fan of the UAS system