trouble singing opera

Of late there have been articles expressing the inadequacy of opera training and performance in the United States.
The conservatory is churning out cookie cutter small light voices that fizzle out in a few years singing on the stage and then they meet obscurity. Opera companies also are not taking the time to "invest" in bigger voices that take more time to mature.
I'm not being particularly articulate about this right now, but essentially these articles make me feel justified in my decision to attend a liberal arts/research university rather than conservatory for my undergraduate work.
so that begs the question: what the heck do I do for my graduate work?
Do I continue doing theory and musicolgy and study voice on the side?
Do I go for vocal performance despite the negetive rap everything's getting right now?
Ultimately what I want to do is sing opera. It's just what I want to do. Teaching theory and researching, while enjoywable is truely second choice for me right now.
There are plenty of stories of people who make it as opera singers after years of doing somehting else...do I want to be that person. I feel like despite the dangers of singing too much at a younger age, that I would have the energy for performance earlier, and want to do things like have a family and perform less later.
That said I have been told that you really shouldn't bank on even starting to pursue a career in any seriousness before the age of 25. At the youngest. So. What do I do for the next five to eight years of my life? Start pursueing voice seriously, and work small things until perhaps something happens later? Work at other aspects of music while taking lessons and...biding my time?
Really I wish there was someone that had real advice, because everything that I've done up to this point has been my own research and intuition. yes. Ultimately you have to depend entirely upon yourself, because no one's going to get things done for you. But I wish that I had more than my head and afew words here and there from others.
I guess that's the problem with going to a big research university, no one knows anything about music performance.