Deadlines like that are zero-sum games
So is poker, but it doesn't mean there's no point in playing it. (Also, they are only zero-sum if the number of candidates who will pass is fixed in advance.)
Well, I think a lot of people play poker who shouldn't...
As for not being zero-sum - that may be true, and I assume your argument is that the additional return justifies the use of the HTC. But if you're not using the speedup aspect but the pocket-universe/precommitment aspect, why not just run cheaper facilities in realtime which approximate prisons for students? They need a week's practice, they enter the prison a week before the audition...
This has the tremendous advantage that we could do it already, right now, in the real world. Yet I've never heard of such a thing.
Master version on gwern.net