Originally Posted by
atlmsl
Go to college where you want to go, aviation related or not. Enjoy your 4 years and get your training on the side at a local FBO. No employers care about big named flight schools that everyone has heard of. This will keep your costs down and you will still enjoy the "college experience."
I cannot emphasize this enough.
If you are interested in the military look into ALL services...those slots are hard to come by so don't limit your options. Like someone said, helos are fun, but if you want to be an airline or corporate pilot try to do FW in the military.
Also look into the air national guard/ usaf reserve...this is a very good deal for a career pilot because you can pursue civilian and military careers in parallel, and because you will know in advance what aircraft type you will be assigned (no getting locked into helos for ten years).
ROTC or the academies are good financial deal, but the downside is that you will be obligated for military service even if you do not get a flight slot for whatever reason. If your priority is flying over military service, doing guard/reserves after college is safer.