Universities: we are improving access to education for all!

Also universities: you can't do a PhD unless you can afford to pay for an MSc first. While still in debt from your BSc.

Many PhD students are recruited before their MSc has even finished. So it's nothing to do with proving you can get a post-graduate degree, it's proving you can pay for one.

The reason this makes me angry is that I've seen so many talented potential researchers give up after their BSc because they simply can't take on that much additional debt.

What can we do? Funded PhD positions are scarce and competitive. It's impossible for a PI to fairly compare a fresh graduate against someone who has several more years of experience because they could afford it.

I don't have an answer here. The whole system is weighted towards maintaining academia as the preserve of those who can afford the high costs of entry. It's not even as though you get paid well after the PhD either.

Would a graduate entry exam help? I'm not sure. It just erects a different barrier favouring those who are better coached. And what would we test that their undergraduate degrees didn't?