What extent really matters? Come on, now, we can both go off on some tangent about how unfair the world is with such intolerance.
We're talking about a woman who probably hasn't worked an honest fulltime job in her life - yet - and needed to actually be reminded that piercings aren't going to be tolerated in a professional setting. We're talking about a woman who seems interested in perusing a doctorate degree. Many doctoral programs are highly competitive and things like professionalism actually matter when getting your foot in the door during an interview.
So yes, we are talking about the only extent in which no person is likely to succeed with body modifications - (The OP's situation.)
This mentality of, "I can do what I want with my body, whenever I want to, and you cannot tell me to stop!", -Might- work with any given spouse. But good luck telling that to a department chair who is determining if you qualify for succeeding in their academic program. Puffing out those kind of airs is neither professional nor conducive to making a good impression. All she would have to do is be professional and temporary remove a piercing for the interview itself. It's scary that somebody is naive enough to not think of these things.
Also, no forms of liquid latex or paint exist to accomplish what you seem to believe. The woman I've described above could not cover the sleeve tattoos extending to her wrist. I've tried helping her out with buying very expensive concealers... Including Dermablend which is intended for fire burn victims.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mIBKifOOQQ
I've tried buying different concealers. I've even held her hand and walked her into a Macy's store to purchase concealers so they should physically show her how to apply it. This stuff is not glue and it won't hold while working with children all day. She had to literally end her entire future and career because of that pompous air of superiority - and the belief that she would be entitled to a job just because she's allowed to do whatever she wanted with her body.