In Europe, I get the impression that many commercial pilots are quite happy with their profession. There are some negative aspects to it, but it doesn’t seem to me that too many people let themselves be defeated by that.

In e.g. Scandinavia there seems to be increasing attention towards combining airline transport pilot training with additional academic education. A few universities in Norway and Sweden offer full ATPL(A) or MPL(A) courses together with a bachelor’s degree in e.g. aviation. This means that ATP students go through extra courses not directly related to flying, but which may be highly relevant for a future in commercial aviation (e.g. logistics management, organisational-/management theory, aviation psychology, business economics etc).

Some airlines have a clear desire for pilots who are able to take on jobs other than just flying. This may benefit pilots with e.g. an academic background by providing more options as time goes by.

University-based or otherwise public ATP training programs as described above also have other important benefits such as low training expenses (most are covered by the training organisation), support and inputs from airlines and other operators in the aviation community and renown procedures for selecting students.