1. On College: Follow your passion and get your degree wherever your passion leads you. If you must get one in aviation, Aeronautical science degrees are too general. Try to find a niche in aviation and major in that. What you choose and how your perform will say a lot about your character and will have an impact on your future. You don't want university as a boxed that's merely checked, you want it as a highlight on your resume. Do well.

2. Go to the best university you can get into for what you're interested in.

3. Schedules, Night cargo example: I show up in the hotel lobby at around 9pm. Van/limo to airport then a brief review of the paperwork to arrive at the aircraft 45 prior to departure. Usually have an hour to 1.5 hr flt to hub, arriving around midnight. Catch a good 2 hr nap in a sleep room and wake just over 1 hr prior to next flight. Then same thing in reverse. Usually takeoff sometime after 4 am, land before 6am and in my hotel room before 7am. Melatonin consumed and I sleep for about 6 hrs. Wake, eat, exercise, and another cat nap and I'm at it again. It's a 7on / 7 off sked that usually turns into 6 on 8 off.

5. Career progression: 3 years flight school and instructing to get on at a regional. 3 years to upgrade then a little over ten years to get on at a major (9-11, age 65, recession 2008). That included multiple assignments in the training department, hiring team, etc., as well as volunteering in my local community and perusing personal extracurriculars. So pushing 20 years for me and 10,000+ hrs. Lots of friends with similar backgrounds are still at the regionals and not by choice.

6. Training: You would be foolish not to take the military route. It's awesome training, great experience, you get to serve your country, they pay you for it all, and you are well received by recruiters when you separate. Then there are pensions, guard duty you can get into which is a great little trick to help offset first year pay/furloughs, etc. Mitigate the flight spot selection risk by being better and winning those coveted slots.

11. Research the profession as much as you can before you get into it. As said above, tons of great info on this thread for you. If you decide to pursue it, do everything the best you can. Aviation is a small community; everyone you meet will be someone who will be able to help you out, and more importantly, someone you will be able to help out down the road.

Best of luck to you young man!