They couldn't care less if you are a bloody nice chap who went to Oxford or Mr Average who went to a former Poly etc.
The RN (and the RAF, but not the Guards) have taken this approach for a very long time.
Soon after WW2 someone I knew went to AIB. He'd have had a distinct Lancashire accent, and came from a lower-middle class family with no pretensions, not much money, but plenty of ambition. Entry to BRNC was then at 13, and he got a full fees scholarship. His fellow cadets were largely from the upper-middle classes (or better), and they came from families that had independent means. He made Captain some 30 years after starting at Dartmouth, and many were surprised that he didn't go much further.
You'll have guessed by now that he was my Dad
