Austin:
        Your experience proves the rule that I was trying to communicate
with both the  content and intent of my message.

I wrote, "...In this case I would recommend going to a non-PhD granting
school to get a masters that will be a stepping stone to a top program."
(notation to California schools excluded...).

You wrote:

>   Years later...I am now completing a masters degree having just
>presented my thesis research at an international conference; resulting in
>my first publication.  Quite clearly I can now apply to higher quality
>Ph.D programs that would not have accepted me earlier.

That was exactly my point!  In fact, where I used the term stepping stone,
you employed the term springboard.  Don't you think that's the same basic
idea?

MGrober

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Matthew S. Grober
Assistant Professor of Physiology
Department of Life Sciences
Arizona State University West                Phone: (602) 543-6939
4701 W. Thunderbird Rd.                        FAX: (602) 543-6073
Phoenix, AZ  85069-7100                     E-mail:[log in to unmask]


http://lsvl.la.asu.edu/zoology/faculty/grober.html

"No human being was ever so free as a fish."
                            John Ruskin
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