illuminating science

Alright ladies and gentlemen - the clock is ticking! I’ve just received official word that my application for an extension in my PhD has been accepted, and I now have until the 14th of September (2006!) to submit my thesis. This is good, as otherwise I would have had only 19 days…probably pushing it a little…

The story in Australia is that, provided you get a scholarship, you get funding for three years. After that, most people apply for a six month scholarship extension, and usually receive it. But that’s usually your last reprieve. Provided you submit within four years, the University gets big bucks when you graduate. After four years, I think they get nothing. So there’s very strong incentive to get you done in 3.5 years! In the U.S., it’s quite different - PhDs typically last 5+ years. Part of that is because they do coursework as part of their PhD - in Australia, we specialise in our undergraduate degrees a lot more than in the States, and so get to do more advanced subjects during our honours (4th) year, roughly equivalent to the courses Americans do at the start of their PhD.

Anyway, that means I officially have 6 months, 19 days to finish my PhD. I’ve almost finished my first chapter, and I think I’ve done a good job of being precise and comprehensive. I know that to some extent, “no-one ever reads your thesis”, but I do enjoy doing a good job writing up, particularly background stuff, and I’ll put some of it on the web, Wikipedia, etc, when I’m done - hopefully saving some future grad student some pain! And now, back to work!