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Comment by peterkelly | Hacker News Reader

I bet the grad student involved is celebrating now that they can finally submit their thesis

Woah woah woah, not so fast, Doctorate McPhdsosoon. Science is repeatable. See you at lab meeting next Monday morning. Please come prepared with a roadmap for phase 2 trials. These grants don't write themselves, you know.

Phase 2 would be continue to wait to see if the glass funnel would drip in order to prove whether glass is a solid or liquid.

and all his colleagues will be jealous of him submitting so quickly.

Really, it seems like a dream gig. Just being a student for years and years and continuing to get financial aid to continue your thesis work. I've often said if I could be a student for life I'd be happy. I was just picking the wrong field of study. Viscous fluids, here I come.

If only it were true.

In Australia, they give you 3 years (plus an additional 1/2 year extension, which isn't always granted). After that, you're on your own, and many people get a full time job to support themselves.

I've seen quite a few people abandon their PhD because of the need to pay the bills once their funding runs out. It's quite sad.

Sometimes your advisors, if they have grant funding, will cover you for an additional extension. (Source: I know someone who is a PhD student at ANU).

Does everyone get funding? Including liberal arts?

No, you have to apply for a position.

'liberal arts' doesn't have a meaning in Australia, but I'm not aware of PhD applications being treated differently in different fields (or rather, the rules differing)

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