I agree that a PhD at a good US institution is full time. But there were people in my program who got off relatively easy: A professor would basically say, "He

I agree that a PhD at a good US institution is full time. But there were people in my program who got off relatively easy: A professor would basically say, "Here's some data I've collected over the years. Do some new analysis on it, and you're done." Now, those people still worked very hard. And there is often something to be said for analyzing existing data in new ways. Or collecting some data that extends the stuff that was already done. But there's a world of difference between that and what my advisor expected, namely that we do something completely original and groundbreaking.