Really pleased to see this happening at last (subject to formal announcement), been expecting it for a long time but hadn't thought it'd happen so soon. IMHO people joining the industry on the basis of merit rather than ability to pay can only be good.
Another scheme I didn't make it onto
, I did apply in '95 when they first re-opened the old cadetship scheme after the 1st Gulf War and regarding competition for places: they had so many applicants to deal with that it was 6-8 weeks between sending the form off and doing the aptitude tests and a further 3 months after that before the interviews/exercises stage.
We asked about numbers during a break and were told (IIRC - it was a while ago!) that after the initial press advertising they'd had c.57,000 enquiry calls, sent out c.20,000 app packs (that dreaded 16 page app form...), received c.4,000 apps back, invited c.1,500 to aptitude testing, brought back c.400 for interview/group exercises and this was for somewhere like 100 places.
My old memory may not be serving me well for exact numbers and that scheme was different to this one but there is no doubting this is going to be extremely competitive 1 way and another - the absolute best of luck to any/all of you who go for it
