so. oral sex.

please tell me some things i would need to know about this particular subject... i'm sixteen, my boyfriend is six months younger than i am, and we've been together for a year. i don't want to have any type of sex until near graduation / senior year, since i don't think we're mature enough for that intimacy. we have the same dream school and he wants to be an engineer, while i want to be a surgeon. we both don't want to stay in our hometown. he and i understand each other perfectly and even though we text everyday, we never get tired of each other. i am 97% sure he's the one. is oral sex safer than penetration?