[Olumde]

Happy birthday Valgrind. Next year you'll be able to drink in the US!

Being a UK PhD holder, a sentence stood out out to me was a commentary/comparison between UK and US PhDs: "This was a three year UK PhD, rather than a brutal six-or-more year US PhD."

My cousin has a US PhD and judging from what he tells me. It is a lot more rigorous than UK PhDs.

[wenc]

The UK PhD is 3 yrs, after a 1 yr Masters and 3 yr bachelors. (7 years)

The US PhD is usually 4-5 years after a 4 year bachelors (8-9 years). It is a little bit longer with more graduate-level coursework.

That said, the US bachelors starts at age 17 while a UK bachelors starts after 2 years of A-levels. So in terms of length it’s a wash.

[pbhjpbhj]

FWIW, you have to be slightly careful as Scotland has a different post-16 education provision.

AIUI you can do Highers (equivalent to GCSE, at 16) and enter Uni then with sufficiently high grades (aged 16/17). Or, stay on for one more year to do Advanced Higher (most common). Uni courses can then be 4 or occasionally 3 years. Don't quote me!

[piker]

US college starts around age 18, which I understand is about the time A-levels are completed, so I believe there are 2 more years of education associated with a US PhD.

[not2b]

It took me four years for my US PhD, but I had a masters and industrial experience which might have helped speed things up.