The Greaser,
I think your belief that airline sponsored cadets are less committed and make poorer students is a bit flawed. They have all gone through the long-winded selection processes and generally obtain slightly better exam results than non-sponsored folk. Perhaps it is because they feel a real committment to the airline not to let them down and as a result work bloody hard !!
Anyway, good luck to you, hopefully the industry will have picked up when you qualify.
cheers