Interesting reactions, and I tend to agree: to me it seems like a big rip-off too. With Thomas Cook at least there is some kind of gentleman's agreement to be taken on again in the next summer, but this doesn't seem the case here so it seems like a clear case of making money out of desperate wannabes, kicking them out and taking on the next batch the year after.
Avenger, at this stage it is not known if it is a 10 month contract -- it's likely quite a bit less so you probably don't get to 500 hours, and for that more than 20,000 Euros is indeed a lot of money.
I've actually been invited to the assessment but I think I'll give it a pass as it is just too risky. Might as well go to RYR where at least you get a kind of return on investment in the form of more than just a few hundred hours on a 737.