My husband is a German who did a Mech E PhD, and indeed was 31 when he finished, despite going through the pipeline completely on schedule. Back then, German st

My husband is a German who did a Mech E PhD, and indeed was 31 when he finished, despite going through the pipeline completely on schedule. Back then, German students finished high school (Gymnasium) at 19, then did a Diplom (think combination bachelors/masters) which took 5 years. In his particular institute, the better you were, the LONGER it often took because the professors found stuff they wanted you to help with unless you were really good at boundaries. My husband took 7 years; a very kind, very bright friend of his needed 8.5.