Sitting through Basic Indoc this week which included an excellent brief from UAL's Senior Manager of Pilot Hiring. He said "you guys are probably all wondering how in the world you got invited to interview in the first place!" (he's obviously psychic). Then he talked a bit about some of the little things that make a difference on scoring an app prior to an invite - here are a few that I remember.

4 yr undergrad degree with GPA >3.0.
Examiner/Evaluator experience
Director of Ops/Chief Pilot experience
>100 hours within the last twelve months

Also, on top of this year's hiring numbers (approx 1040), he said the pace was expected to continue on into the first quarter of next year. The number he threw out was 500... for the quarter. I don't know how they will up production enough to handle it as they are about maxed out, so I think that number is pretty soft.

Anyways, I used Emerald Coast and it was worth every penny. Also, if you are not currently flying 121 or military transport work , the FTI sim prep is also worth every penny. Even if you are flying such work already, get the prep if UAL is where you ultimately want to be because the sooner you get on here, the better.