Lekhni: I agree Also, Potentially High Debts? (by the time one graduates)

Lekhni: That’s funny Thanks for sharing that.

Lekhni: Is it only for a few years? I know universities here pay out for the stipend for 7 or 9 years – I am not sure if there is a stipulated upper limit

That is a hilarious one! I have one favourite that I cannot locate right now but it basically shows one grad student being slapped by a PhD for asking ‘how is your thesis going?’. I periodically find it and send it to a friend who is in the last throes of her thesis and she promises to kick me when she sees me next (admittedly she has 2 children, and in reality, feeds me samosas and keema matar when I visit her…)

Lekhni: I understand that feeling. There was a time when I knew never to ask this question too

Lekhni: As for the result, I suspect that if you drag on your PhD for a number of years, the University becomes very keen to give you a doctorate and shove you out They don’t want to keep paying your stipend, right?

Bloody underachiever.

Lekhni: I know, surely he could have done something with his life ? What a lazeabout

P.S : Love the new edit in under 5 minutes widget- I just got a chance to try it out now.

Lekhni: Do you really think so? (Astrophysicist playing rock is not startling?) Maybe you are right. But as a kid, I remember reading about Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar getting the Nobel. “He makes perfectly round dosas”, his wife said proudly. I remember being amazed. He gets the Nobel AND makes perfectly round dosas? Wow. I dd not even know how to make dosas or chapatis. Years later, after I learnt how to make them, I still could not make round ones. So I still admire Chandra for his perfectly round dosas

At least May had a legitimate ‘interruption’ for 36 years. Last summer I found myself drawing ‘inspiration’ from his finishing his PhD finally… It was interesting though to imagine how he managed not to get deregistered all this time (other respectable Unis threaten much sooner).

http://laviequotidienne.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/if-he-can-so-can-i/

Cambridge recently awarded a PhD to a 91 year old man, who took 18 years to finish the research and 25 to publish it. Not sure if he beats Brian May or not, considering he did not have an ‘interruption’. He brought an entourage to his graduation when in reality we get 3 tickets per graduand!

http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/article/default.aspx?objid=49515

As for chancellorship, it is a decorative post, not a functional one. So academic laurels do not really matter. Chancellorships and rectorships are conferred on people for prestige and ‘networking’ or fund-raising reasons. Bill Bryson (no PhD earned) is the Chancellor of Durham Uni, for instance, and Prince Philip, of Cambridge.

PS: That his thesis was deemed worthy of being awarded the PhD says something about the sloooooow speed at which things must move in his field.

Lekhni: I think PhDs are almost by definition, supposed to drag These days I am very surprised when I hear about the rare person who completes their PhD early!

Oh, and I found this. Hilarious.

Lekhni: You mean, he’s a rock star, and what’s a few decades here and there for a rock star ?