Laura Vega drove this point home when she told me that the other PhD students at Vanderbilt sometimes act like the bridge-program graduates came in through the back door, as though it was easier to get in. Then she thinks about how, in the bridge program, you actually have to publish your work. She has papers where she is the lead author, and in better journals than the “front door” students. She didn’t come through the back door. She deserved her spot.
