BTW I have added a sentence of clarification to my comment.

All I am going to say in reply to your question is that the policy that seems to work best in the part of the world in which I live (California) is to apply to participate in any educational program one would like to participate in and to join every outfit one would like to join, and to interpret the rejection of such an application as neither a reflection on one's value as a person nor the result of the operation of "politics".