I can only speak from my experience, but here goes....

I do have a friend on the inside. He thought he might be able to get me in below one of the minimums....the 1500 hours ME. When speaking with them, I was told that they are not letting any of the minimums slide anymore. I wasn't blown off however. The conversation continued for about another 10 minutes after which I said I would call back when I was at mins (I predicted about 3 1/2 months then). I was asked to stay in touch and call back sooner just to chat. I'm still about three weeks away from hitting the ME time so I too have been surfing the boards for info. I read of one guy who got the interview with no recs and barely at all the mins, so not having a contact may not be a deal killer, but again, I'm not there so I cant say for sure. I do believe that they want to know that you really want the job. I would say go to the job fair, make contact, get some numbers and stay in touch. Any current CS guys please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any account......