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by almostgotcaught 619 days ago
> Doing a PhD and learning Mandarin as a side project?!

his matriculation year is 2024 (and fall classes haven't even started) so he's doing a PhD like the pre-med kids were "doing" med school freshman year. people that brag like this don't finish - there were a few in my cohort too that washed out after quals.
2 comments
wenc 619 days ago
Author also graduated high school from Austria early, and finished a Berkeley math degree in 2 years. I’d say author is gifted.

That said, technical PhDs often require a combination of raw mental horsepower, persistence and luck. (Working for the right advisor in a promising area)

I brought about the same smarts as my peers but they graduated in 5 years whereas I did 8 years because I didn’t have the most promising area of research plus I got unlucky.

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serf 619 days ago
as someone with lots of impressively credentialed braggart friends.. that's not always the case.

although w.r.t. myself? absolutely agree with the sentiment. I would wash out in half a week with that kind of workload.

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