In Europe and Australia, a PhD is commonly a "three" year program. I put "three" in quotes because the truth is closer to 3.5 or 4. This is still very short and

In Europe and Australia, a PhD is commonly a "three" year program. I put "three" in quotes because the truth is closer to 3.5 or 4. This is still very short and oddly specific to North Americans where a PhD is nominally a 4 year program, but in practice is more typically 6 (depending on whether or not you do a masters first). It is not unusual for it to take 7 or 8 years. North Americans are not being slow or lazy, they come out of it with far more research and teaching experience and are generally far more capable than the equivalent overseas. It is sort of like already having one postdoc under your belt.