I was one of the original 5 cadets and I absolutely recommend this scheme.
I remember reading an advert such as this one three years ago and settling down to write the loooong application form, it took me about five hours as I recall. I had a friend staying for a few days; him and my wife kept moaning and asking when I would be finished so we could go out for a few beers. One step led to the next and suddenly I was facing the sim in a weeks time. I was soo penniless I could not afford any sim time to practice. I trotted off to WHsmith and bought a copy of MS FS 2002 and a top notch joystick. I could not afford even this modest outlay so I told the cashier "is for my nephew, can I return it if his computer is not powerful enough to run it?" I put in 8 hours everyday flying the profile we where given out of Manchester. It was bloody hard at first with the tiny EADI and the oversensitive joystick but practice makes perfect. When I sat at the sim it was almost easy compared to the one at home. At least the screens where much bigger and the controls had more feel.
The day after the sim I had a lost call on my phone. I called the number with trepidation and spoke to Mrs Hamrah then to Hamrah himself. I cracked it, the chance was mine to take. I must admit it has been hard at times but above all great fun. The learning curve almost vertical at times, the people great, the destinations varied and challenging. It was a great opportunity and so if you are, like I was, wondering where to go with your few hundred hours and FATPL. Get stuck in, tell your mates to wait, tell your girlfriend you will be a while yet and get stuck into that application form. It worked for me...
BTW I did go back to WHsmith and told them that, sadly, my nephews computer was only a 486 with 1mb of ram so the sim did not run. They where very understanding. I always buy my magazines from them now.