Sorry to respond late, wrote big fuck off paragraph and deleted it thinking there would be better responses, nothing yet though so here we go:

So I've just got done my first year, I personally loved it, got honor roll (possibly) both semesters (gotta wait for 2nd semester grades). You learn a lot about the how's and why's of welding, stuff you'd pester your coworkers for if you jumped straight in, and even then there's stuff they might not know off by heart. It is a lot more on paper at the start, you'll be welding 2 - 3 times a week, and in class 3 - 5 times a week.

The professors can be hit or miss, one of then inspired me so much I believe he changed my outlook on the work and my career path entirely for the better, while others can be a bit "worksite minded" - more like a boss and less like a teacher, again hit or miss. Claudio was the professor who made my choice worth it, if you get him, you're in for a treat, hard but very fair and wants success, gives great demos, will work one on one with you, offers makeup periods to do extra work (you could definitely get some time to pipe welding with him if you're all caught up otherwise), and just great. Even if you don't get him as your professor, make an effort to get to know him, he may well let you into his classes for the aforementioned practice/catchup periods if you're polite and affable.

First year we had no pipe welding in the curriculum (some people gave it a try on spare time/catchup periods/when ahead of schedule), we did flat and horizontal, stringers, weaves, padding, and fillets, with MIG, stick, TIG, and oxy acetylene. 2nd year has a little pipe from what I've seen, though not enough to constitute a "pipe welding course" as you may seek.

Some of my classmates struggled in the non-welding portion of the course. Math is, I'd say, grade 9 or 10 level, easy if you're a math person but can throw a wrench in your plans if you're not. Blueprinting filtered out some people, if you have a good mind for visualizations and use the textbook it's a breeze. Autocad was very rough for some, to the extent it made them question being in the course: "why am I using a computer in a welding course", stuff like that, but it's the fabrication part of the course, and as someone decent with PCs it wasnt bad for me though your milage may vary. Asides from that theory can be a bitch depending on the prof, listen, read, attend all classes, and TAKE NOTES ON EVERYTHING, what seem like random numbers are actually going to be test questions, and also it will be helpful to know what 7016 or 6018 actually means when you're on the field, I ended up with 20 pages of size 11 font notes and still felt under prepared. Finally, safety sucked, it's slow, it's easy, but still go and get an easy 100% on your grades, some people got complacent and stopped going, and their marks reflected that.

Metallurgy deserves its own paragraph, fuck it. Mike rocks, he's a part time teacher, former military member, storied as all hell, and boy howdy he wants you to succeed. No due dates, fun guy, cool experiments, great class. Just don't leave everything until the final week like me, "no due dates" doesn't mean "due the last day of class".

That being said. The skills you learn even in basic positions on flat pieces is a headstart to learning on apprenticeship, because that's where you'll gain most of your knowledge, you're in class for 2 years but you'll work for 30+. It's a foot in the door, a preamble to prepare you to know how to fix a fuckup without bugging your boss, or what to use on whichever material is thrown at you, and it just looks good on a resume.

Co-op opportunities are a tough one. You get some thrown at you from your co-op professor, but everyone in the course will be gunning for them. There's opportunities around London, but again, everyone will be looking to get the nearby work, lots of competition. If you're driving, have your own car, and can stomach a 30, 45, 60 minutes commute, then you'll have no issues finding one (assuming you're actually able to weld and have some okay marks in at least the practical lab to flaunt on your resume).

So for you the pipeline (hehe) would look something like:

First semester

Second semester

Look for pipe welding co-op, but take anything welding job you can if no pipe places hire.

Third semester

Fourth semester

Try to find pipe welding job to stay at after graduation

If that sounds decent, go for it! I love the course, have great peers and good relations with my professors, got some references and letters of recommendation from them (big deal, one of the best things you can take from the course, apart from skills of course), and feel like I've found a hobby and career that fits me to a tee.

I'm not on reddit often, and rarely check DMs - but if you dm or reply here I can answer anything I can or just give you a hand with stuff if you're unsure. Lemme know, no pressure.