Tam-the-merry,
Funny you should bring this up. The other day whilst having a de-brief after a simulator run (that had gone pretty well, but there's always room for improvement), the rather charasmatic instructor said "You know what your problem is? You have a degree. Degrees make everyone think too much before they actually do anything."
And he has a point. Whilst doing the sims, there's not a lot of time to think and deliberate over your plan......you just have to do it. He's right, I did intially try to think about everything and double/triple check my thoughts before pressing that footswitch to transmit. I've literally had to retrain my brain and my confidence to "Just Do It", and if it initially goes wrong, who cares, you can fix it later so it's right.
So on the practical side, degrees mean nothing, apart from sometimes it hinders people from making quick decisions to start with.
As for theory learning, again, degrees pretty much mean nothing, except for MAYBE (I emphasise) for people that would be used to high pressure learning, but it's not usually the case, as all universities differ. Our TATC course currently is so diverse, you have people who have Oxbridge degrees, first class degrees from top unis, college people, people who left school the earliest they could, people who have had well paid professional jobs in other career areas, ex-student "bums", chefs, bankers.......you name it.
As a graduate myself, I can honestly say I have never in my life had to learn so much new stuff in a short space of time. My degree was a piece of piss compared to this (and no, I didn't do something pointless like Social Anthropology). But everyone, no matter what background of education, is on a level playing field with regards to the learning on the course. Please don't think because someone has a degree, they will do better, because there won't be any difference. If anything, the degree holders could fall into a trap of complacency if they end up thinking like that, and then end up failing.
As for A levels, correct me if I'm wrong, you only need GCSEs for this (5 at C or above). Any A levels you have is a bonus. Also remember, they don't end up "deciding" between two good candidates. If you pass the standard, they take you. You compete against the standard, not others. (Currently).
WTB