People get turned down for a lot of reasons. I, for example, if I wanted a certain kind of guy, would have a much easier time getting a date with one if I hadn’t gone to seminary than I would have after going to the seminary I’m attending now. (The one that, y’know, is letting me be on the internet right now.)
I personally think that on a klali level I don’t think that it’s good that seminary is seen as a must- however, I think that for most individual girls it happens to be a wonderful thing to do. But just see my subtitle for that.
An interesting question is what about American/Canadian sems (for Americans/Canadians- I won’t equate with, say, Gateshead in the UK because from what I’ve gathered attitudes are somewhat different there about this) and half-day sems- are they a midway point, or do they gravitate toward one end or the other of this (supposed) sliding scale of respectability and shidduchworthiness? (FWIW, I know someone who went to sem in Toronto and loved it except that a quarter of girls weren’t at graduation because they were already MARRIED. She was late to the game by getting engaged the October after sem ended.)