There seemed to be lots of wannabe posts in the OASC thread in the late spring and early summer but they have largely died down.
Now that the A-levels results are out and university clearing complete (?) I would expect the queries on Pprune to pick up. I think that may be just starting.
Yes and no. Currently, all officer branches bar Pilot, WSO, Regiment and the medical branches are closed to recruitment until late September for some, February for others. It's the same case with quite a lot of the airman entry trades too.
The reason there aresometimes more queries in early summer as opposed to late is that that's just after the exams have been sat and people can't help but think they did poorly. When it comes to results time they realise they did all right after all, so revert to plan A, which 9/10 is head off to university.
Unprecedented numbers applying is one thing; getting the right individuals is something very different. Remove the Walt’s, Daydreamers and Wannebe's and how many are left in the queue. Even if the remaining applicants are the best of the rest, it will take months in some trades, years (2?) in others before they are productive.
Point is though, with more people applying - and the walts and daydreamers always apply - there are more good people. Candidates who would have got through previously [albeit on the lower end of the scale] won't get a look in now, because the odds are against them.
I start in 3 days and I'm conscious that there will be some people thinking I've only done it because I couldn't find a 'proper' job. The fact I've been building towards it for 12 years is lost on a lot of them. There are countless others on my course in the same boat, they've all wanted this for a very long time, it's just coincidence that we're joining during a recession and a surge in interest. We do, however, have a massive course.