The only requirements I understand are post count, and post time. They show activity on the forum, and how much you're on.
Never really seen anything about kudos, but that'd be a lame requirement. People troll and get a shit load of kudos, they don't really mean anything. And reputation here doesn't really mean anything here either..
Honestly, I think they should just look at people's application and if the user sticks to what they say, keep them. Pretty sure lower members have quite a bit of potential themselves.