Even more than college and a degree, get tons of hands-on experience with virtually every piece of Enterprise level hardware that you can. Learn about RAID arrays, server clustering/load balancing, every OS you can get your hands on (Microsoft and *nix), network equipment, routing, switching and basic to advanced programming (although basic programming is more Sys. Admin related). Stay up to date on all the latest technologies in the Enterprise market while you're attending college. Very few colleges offer a true Sys. Admin track right now. Most offer engineering and/or programming, neither of which have any real foundation in the day to day maintenance and running of an Enterprise network. Also learn the fundamentals of data storage, backup and retrieval and the other varied tasks that running a network requires. I also suggest working concurrently on a few industry certifications (CCNA, MCSE, CNE, etc.).
On the pay front, you will have to contend with generally un-qualified people who have "paper" certifications. The market has fostered and environment that has allowed too many people with too little real-world experience to get in the door and tie up otherwise great paying jobs that require much more talent than their initial "paper" certifications have granted them. I currently have no formal certification or schooling, make about $32k/yr. and manage about 500 client PCs. For the area that I work in, I'm in a middle of the road position where pay is concerned. You will most likely have to move to a major city to garner the wages that are "fabled" to exist and those generally range in the $40k-$60k range for a Systems Administrator. Be prepared to work the hours required also. Many things that you will be required to maintain and operate can typically only be serviced during low usage periods which typically fall sometime between 1am and 5am in most organizations. Hope this helps.
ps-perks are that you are god and people generally fall into two categories as a result: people who kiss your ass and people who piss you off forcing you to seek out reasons to get them fired. I refer to the latter people as having "God Envy"
I think this is what I want to pursue as a career after college ( I'm a sophmore in High School now).
Facebook
Twitter