This is a fresh perspective, and a DUH moment for me. I know quite a few PhD(s) and researchers, and a few PhD programs dropout. My takeaway up until now was

This is a fresh perspective, and a DUH moment for me. I know quite a few PhD(s) and researchers, and a few PhD programs dropout. My takeaway up until now was "PhD = politics", but now I see that I was looking at it all wrong, I was looking under the wrong lens of pick_a_school->get_an_advisor. The reverse is true, when the student is read, the master will appear; the place comes with the advisor (not the other way around).