I'd imagine its all taken into account when allocating routes tbh. Guess none of us know for sure as we're not involved with easyJet HR :P I too was told in the presentation that academics would be taken into account for route allocation but unsure if it was just, like you said gary minimum requirements for route 1 allocation.
My question was mostly about whether you are restricted to only route 1 or 2 if you meet the academic standards as knowing there are more spaces on route 3 would really not want to miss out on at least a spot on a tagged program.