= It must be easy to change your area of study
This is a pre-requisite of <Students must have a flexible choice of what to learn>{full}.
If the choice of what to learn depend on a years long <dependency graph> of other obligations, which currently are the increasingly interlinked:
* passing the <University entry exam>
* getting your <undergrad> degree
* getting your <PhD>
you end up without much choice at all.
The lock-in periods must be much more fluid and shorter term than those, otherwise it makes the almost inevitable <pivot (Strategy)>[pivots] to success impossible.
This is something that <Ciro Santilli> has heard from several people at the end of their <undergrad>/<PhD> degrees. Some online mentions:
\Q[When I realized the biggest reason to continue my pdh was to be dr helps, that's when decided I should probably leave.]