General Discussion

And I don't see a place for absolutist certainty based on religious doctrine in an academic environment where the point is to learn to THINK! Nothing shuts down dialogue or inquiry quicker than complete certainty without a shred of (self) doubt.

I guess I made an error like this - among others - when I applied for a PhD program some years ago. I studied up for the math part of the GRE and surprise, did well! Didn't worry about the verbal too much, and scored 795 except on the essay part. There, we could make arguments along one of two narrow paths, or take an alternative point of view. I chose the latter and thought I came up with my own good argument (first by reframing the question at hand through a solid rationale), but now realize that's equivalent to not following directions.

But my bigger mistake was interviewing first with two faculty members in charge of the program who were very encouraging to me and enthusiastic for me to apply. When I questioned whether my background was exactly right for the degree program, they said it depends on who's arguing on your behalf to the department! They'd see me through, not to worry. I waited a few years to actually do it, and by then, those two had moved on. Their replacement had a different point of view, and the response was that my background was all wrong!

I know I could have done it and made contributions to the field, but I never tried again.

(Just a personal story unrelated to this one. Thanks for indulging me.)