This is interesting to me because despite having successfully completed my PhD, I would have had no luck if I had to specialize earlier in my academic career. I feel that my brain took longer on average to develop and that I was not capable of understanding advanced maths or computer science concepts until I was about 18-19 (first year of college). It was only then that I began to excel in course work and really enjoy math. By outside objective measures I should not have gone on to study science. In principal I think that this kind of early specialization, when students are capable of it, seems like a great idea! So much of what we learn in high school in the US is useless.
The UK is probably the shortest in that regard and its worth pointing out that they are actively trying to transition away from that model. See the push to setup centers for doctoral training.
Re:The PhD pioneers
by chrisseaton on Thursday December 07, 2017 @08:47PM
(#15876078)
Yes that adds a year, I think it's intended six months for research training (statistics and writing courses) and a six month window for an internship.
To be honest there is so much variability that it's hard to call the US extreme.
For example, in The Netherlands (at least at my previous university) for Computer Science, BSc is 3 years, MSc is 2 years, PhD is 4 years. Non-research programs ("HBO") are 4 years for bachelors, 1 year for masters.
In Japan (at least at my university) for Computer Science, Bachelor of Engineering is 4 years, Master of Engineering is 2 years, PhD is 3 years.
The US is the extreme in this regard. In the UK it's Bachelor's in 3 years, and then PhD in another 3 years, for most people. So six years in total. Some take another year to finish the PhD. I think many countries are similar, but I've even seen PhDs done in 2 years.
People in the US often think this isn't enough, but it's possible because we specialise much earlier. I started studying data structures and algorithms at 17 in what you would call high school, and we also were doing calculus at this stage. This was standard - not some kind of advanced placement. At 18 I was completely focused on computer science - no mandatory other courses except for maths. And at 21 I was writing papers and working towards the area I'd do my PhD research in. (I actually then took a really long break at this point, but you wouldn't have to.)