Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ApostleMatthew 3122 days ago
My former adviser told me that out of the 150+ committees he's been on, only one failed, and that the person who failed known for stealing research from his labmates and demonstrated in the defense itself that he didn't know what he was doing.

As far as I'm aware, defenses at most institutions are formalities. Your adviser has already decided you're done and its just the bureaucracy. Some places don't even have defenses (I don't think Berkley does, at least the chemistry department).