Any Ph.D.s or Lawyers in the crowd? Questions about how it goes.

[hong]

Joe Gani or one of his students?

Peter Hall. Joe retired some time ago.

It was funny the day I turned up, because noone knew who I was. Peter didn't recognise me (we'd only spoken on the phone previously, and he didn't remember the conversation at first) and the uni hadn't received any of the paperwork to tell them I was coming (it got lost in the mail). But everyone was very accommodating, luckily for me. Otherwise I'd have been sleeping on a couch or park bench.

Already have a masters?

Yep, Masters of Applied Stats from Macquarie. Not very rigorous, but it was interesting and every piece of paper counts these days....

 

[TerraDave]

Yep, Masters of Applied Stats from Macquarie. Not very rigorous, but it was interesting and every piece of paper counts these days....

So 3 years for a PhD isn't THAT lucky, still sounds like a good gig

(in the US you can go straight into a PhD program with an undergrad degree, but it takes a long time)

Last night my wife and I met another person from our PhD program...so much venting, so much to vent...

 

[hong]

So 3 years for a PhD isn't THAT lucky, still sounds like a good gig

Oh, I wasn't referring to how long it took, more that I had a great time and no horror stories to tell. Heck, I'd have taken longer, but my supervisor started getting impatient.

(in the US you can go straight into a PhD program with an undergrad degree, but it takes a long time)

Well, in Austria you can too -- don't forget, Honours counts as undergrad. From what I've seen, getting a Master's in the middle is fairly rare for PhD students, as is coming in from industry (at least in my field).

Last night my wife and I met another person from our PhD program...so much venting, so much to vent...

Ah. Going from your location, you wouldn't be at the ANU as well, would you? Which school/department?

 

[TerraDave]

Ah. Going from your location, you wouldn't be at the ANU as well, would you? Which school/department?

I have never been to "Austria", (though I have been to Vienna, at least the airport), though I have an old friend who lives there and would like to visit. No, the nation's capital I am in now is Washington DC, where I went to undgrad and grad, and finally got that PhD (well, by that point I was living on another continent, in another nation's capitol, but it was awarded here, or something like that).

I did actually get the "intermediate" masters, an M.Phil, correctly anticipating it would be many more years before my disseration (and PhD) would finally be done