Originally Posted by Wader2
Faster promotion? Not really. As best I can recall,
Given a non-graduate starting at the same time as the undergraduate starts university the non-graduate should have his wings and be a substantive fg off and near his first operational aircraft at the same time as the other becomes a graduand.
The graduate will then start at the same rank as the non-graduate has now reached but 3 years behind the drag curve as far as pay and expertise goes.
Yer pays yer money and yer makes yer choice
A basic entrant pilot or nav starts IOT as an officer cadet, gets promoted to APO on graduation, to Plt Off after a year, to Fg Off after another year and to FLt Lt after a further 3 1/2 years.
A graduate starts IOT as a Plt Off (for pay and sentiority purposes). After 6 months thy're promoted to Fg Off and 2 years later (1 year for most non-Scottish 4 year degrees) to Flt Lt.
To the best of my knowledge the class of degree, or its Honours status, matters not a jot for these purposes as long as OASC have accepted it. There's no mention of honours in the relevant AP (yes, I spent too long in IofR, so know exactly where this gen is) except for applicants for bursaries for the Eng and Trg branches. However, in the current cut-throat environment whether OASC would accept it or not is a moot point.