"In the event of failure, the candidate will be asked to withdraw from the Graduate Program.", How is it different from being fired?
When you withdraw from the program, you can tell people later (in a job interview, social situation etc) that you “decided to withdraw from the program”.

If you are fired you will have the option of either lying (with possible bad consequences if the lie is found out) or telling people “I was fired”.

Which of those sounds better?