There are tons of talking points when choosing this career but from your post I saw two that stood out. The first one is flying with a major airline. Right now you have to say that you will be fine with your career if you never make it to a major airline or at least it will take 15 to 20 years from right now(assuming your in your low 20's). Now people will come on and say, well so and so did this by 25,29,33,36 or whatever, but the point is that the ratio of major airline jobs to total airline jobs has been on decline for years. And the majority of pilots that do make it to a major are getting on at older and older ages. The second talking point is about debt. You must limit your debt. Flight Instructing pays in the teens. FO at a regional at best pays in the mid 20's. You will be an FO at a regional for multiple years. Quick upgrades due to explosive growth is over. Now there are other ways to advance in one's career ie corporate, cargo and fractional but I have no experience in those areas so I can not comment on these other areas. The point is if you rack up 30,40,50 thousand dollars in debt(I have heard as high as 100 thousand), you will be hard pressed to pay that back making less then $25,000 for the first 5 years or so of your career.