Speaking of Schiller's teaching situation over the past few years, it had truly been a tale of bitter tears.
At present, he had three doctoral students and five master's students under his supervision, along with two doctoral students rotating over from other advisors. In other words, he had ten students in total.
Master's and doctoral degrees in the United States carried considerable weight. The coursework was difficult, the dissertation requirements were demanding, and graduation took a long time. Around 30 percent of doctoral students never graduated in their lifetimes.
In other words, one-third of doctoral students in the United States could never obtain their PhDs.
Prestigious universities were even worse. Gotham University's delayed graduation rate for doctoral students had remained above 70 percent, with more than half unable to graduate on time. Forty percent had their graduation delayed by more than three years.
Take Bruce, for example. He seemed pretty outrageous—years had passed, and he still had not graduated with his doctorate. But in reality, this was extremely common at Gotham University. There were plenty of people who had been dragging things out longer than he had.
One doctoral student who had rotated into Schiller's supervision last year was already forty-two. He had gone through six advisors, three of whom had retired and two of whom had transferred to other doctoral programs. Schiller had been the last one. And judging from the current situation, he still would not be graduating this year.
As far as Schiller knew, among the students at Gotham University who still had not managed to graduate with even a single doctorate, the oldest was already forty-five. He had a family and a career, had earned four master's degrees, and yet still could not finish his only doctoral degree.
So even if Bruce dragged things out for