NuKirk Derserved to be captain.

[Lt. Trull]

Pike told kirk a) you have a genius level IQ b) your know for your quick thinking on your feet. and c) NuKirk can become a captain in 8 years after graduation. and last item d) kirk graduated in the 3rd year of a four year program. (but apparently so did the remainder of his class.)

well... all that doesn't take in to affect saving a major populated planet. that is quite a event. He gets a metal... and a ship. O and don't forget he brought to the attention of starfleet intelligence the real reason for all that happened... A spock from the future who has quite a story.
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[Peter the Younger]

kirk graduated in the 3rd year of a four year program. (but apparently so did the remainder of his class.)

Not necessarily. Uhura and the other cadets in Iowa already seemed to be well into their studies:

1) she seemed relaxed and confident in her major field, for somebody just signing up;
2) She already knew other cadets, like, er, Cupcake;
3) If they were all just signing up, why the hell would they muster in Riverside, Iowa?

If, as it appears, Pike and his officers (Spock) were assigned to training duty at the Academy, it's reasonably follows that he might have been there with the cadets, for some sort of on-site training exercise (a Starfleet "field trip", if you will). Sounds like just the sort of thing cadets might do in the summer before their second year begins. So that would mean Uhura and Cupcake are completing their fourth year when the attack on Vulcan occurs.

As for McCoy, he's already a medical doctor, it's reasonable to assume his training is only a three year program - as an MD with surgical experience, he would surely be excused from some of the basic "general education" curriculum!

Of course somebody's going to say "They should have said that on screen!" But I think these are all pretty likely assumptions.

 

[Red Ranger]

Well, I still think it's an overexaggeration of the hinted legend of Kirk becoming the youngest captain in Starfleet. What I would've liked to see far more is three steps leading to the conflict between Spock and Kirk.

Step One: Show Spock as a brilliant cadet rival of Kirk's who invented the Kobayashi Maru scenario as a school project that his fellow classmate ruins when he reprograms it.

Step Two: Shift 10 years in the future from when Kirk and Spock have their famous conflict over Kobayashi Maru. Pike is in command of the repaired Enterprise. Show he's mentor to both Kirk and Spock, but he prefers to bring Starfleet hero Kirk on as his XO, and Spock resents being leapfrogged by Kirk on the path to the center seat. You could even establish with a line of dialogue that Spock has served with Pike a few years and expected that promotion.

Step Three: Then, Kirk's actions saving Earth earn him that coveted promotion as captain of the Federation's flagship. That would then set up future movies with Abramsesque flashbacks showing more details why Kirk and Spock aren't fast friends, and how they work out those differences as a 23rd century Lincolnesque "team of rivals."

Leaping ahead 10 years still means the crew is a bunch of young 30-something hotshots, such as our young, brash Captain Kirk.

Red Ranger

 

[Snaploud]

Well, I still think it's an overexaggeration of the hinted legend of Kirk becoming the youngest captain in Starfleet. What I would've liked to see far more is three steps leading to the conflict between Spock and Kirk.

Step One: Show Spock as a brilliant cadet rival of Kirk's who invented the Kobayashi Maru scenario as a school project that his fellow classmate ruins when he reprograms it.

Step Two: Shift 10 years in the future from when Kirk and Spock have their famous conflict over Kobayashi Maru. Pike is in command of the repaired Enterprise. Show he's mentor to both Kirk and Spock, but he prefers to bring Starfleet hero Kirk on as his XO, and Spock resents being leapfrogged by Kirk on the path to the center seat. You could even establish with a line of dialogue that Spock has served with Pike a few years and expected that promotion.

Step Three: Then, Kirk's actions saving Earth earn him that coveted promotion as captain of the Federation's flagship. That would then set up future movies with Abramsesque flashbacks showing more details why Kirk and Spock aren't fast friends, and how they work out those differences as a 23rd century Lincolnesque "team of rivals."

Leaping ahead 10 years still means the crew is a bunch of young 30-something hotshots, such as our young, brash Captain Kirk.

Red Ranger

I think that would have made a much better movie. Good details.