Perhaps she would be allowed a second chance but I doubt it. The Kin are special cases, really. We're talking about women who were put out at 16-17 y.o. and who are now very often over 150, 200, 300 etc.

Else seems to simply not have got what it takes to be Aes Sedai. She gives the feeling of someone who didn't want to be Aes Sedai but rather saw all this as an opportunity to leave her parents' farm and live the life. But who knows.. maybe at 25 or 30, she'll have matured enough and will wish to train seriously, and then she could seek a second chance. She would not have gotten it under the old Tower system, but under Egwene's reforms she might. I guess she'll be saddled with a husband and children soon enough, though, or end up dancing on tables in Lugard.

At the moment, the Aes Sedai still see being AS as a career/vocation they dedicate their whole life to. There's no sign yet that the AOL worldview will make a comeback any time soon. As far as we can tell, being an Aes Sedai in the AOL meant that you agreed to train an ability that was gifted to you by life, and in return you adhered to a set of ethics and agreed to put that ability to the service of others when called by the Guild. Except for those who worked for the Guild (eg: LTT, Barid Bel Medar), being AS wasn't a career, it was a way of life. To several, it opened doors to OP-related careers (Lanfear, Semirhage, Aginor), but to many others - probably the majority of them - being AS was just a matter of being trained when young, following a code of ethics and helping when asked. Moghedien, Elan Morin, Balthamel, Mesaana, Be'lal and perhaps also Rahvin (who seemed to have been involved in civilian politics, as we know some AS were) pursued full-time careers unrelated to their AS status. Being AS for them was more like doing community service part-time.

In this vision, that's perfectly possible for anyone to be AS, even Else Grinwell raising a string of kids in her village could be trained, and help the farmers around with their crops, with wounds, help lift heavy stuff, find springs etc. But at the moment, the Tower has a very narrow and very elitist vision of what being an AS means. They probably don't know enough about the AOL to realize why the Guild became so influential in the first place (it serves massively everyone in daily life, and shaped the possible in technologies and ways of life), and that prior to LTT and the WoS it appears politics was one of the fields in which they were the most reserved and least present (the Guide hints that some AS were part of the government, but also hints between the lines that their status as AS was irrelevant to that, that is they were probably elected by people like any other representative, not delegates representing the Guild on the civilian government). The WT has perpetuated and turned to the normal state of things the special role of the Guild during the War of Shadow, when its leader was given special powers and was put in charge of a lot, and placed above the regional governments to conduct the War. That's still the vision the WT has of the role of the Amyrlin Seat, as standing above all the rulers, and having a large role/influence in politics everywhere. A lot of this rests on the standing of the WT and the sisters, and thus started to appear all those standards to be AS, and then it narrowed down even further in the TW, when to gain the shawl you had to show you could defeat your fears and could channel under attack well enough to stand your ground in a fight (those tests then got ritualized later, taking other symbolism... like representing severance to your old life, and showing that you want to be AS above anything else. Initially, it seems to have been a test of courage: are you too much of a coward to train to fight with the OP in the Wars, because we have no time to train cowards - and then a second test to assess if you fighting skills were good enough or if you'd put yourself and the army you fought with in danger at the first occasion.


THE AOL version was more like "any training will let you be of some use to society", and how much so is up to your talents, your efforts and your desires to serve. Being AS gave some respect/status (the training was probably hard), but nowhere near what your accomplishments as AS earned you. It ranged from perfect nobodies lie Moghedien to celebrated people with an honorific third name like Semirhage, LTT or Demandred.

So for people like Else there was a place then in the Guild, but in the fourth age it will very depend how much Egwene and likely Logain turn the White Tower around, and if/when they do, if they'll turn toward the AOL mentality of "public service", distancing themselves from politics, or if they'll try to bring back the Tower to its golden age of political influence. If the latter, not much will change, except after the way the Tower let down the nations during the series, I'm not too sure the nations will accept a return of the meddling Tower once TG is done. Egwene, if she survives TG (I'm not convinced either way myself) is gonna get a lot of "where were you when we needed you? Oh yes that's right... too busy with your WT affairs to care about my realm and its people anymore..." the day she tries to send back AS advisors to the rulers.