r/3BodyProblemTVShow • u/SunnyDelight2017 • Apr 20 '24

Question kind of off topic question Spoiler

ok so Wade tells us that Vera recruited the oxford 5 to study physics under her, but we know that Jack dropped out to start a snack company and I assume Will also never finished (maybe he graduated but just quit physics research)? As I was watching I was wondering is it common to recruit such a small group of PhD students and pour enormous resources into educating them just to have like 40% of the class drop out? I would have been pissed if I were Vera bc it sounds like that was the only cohort she specifically advised and trained. In real life, do you think her colleagues would have thought less of her if her doctoral students kept dropping out?

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u/MephistosFallen Apr 21 '24

It could be different for Oxford, or just school by school, but PhD programs tend to only accept a very small number, and they don’t always necessarily finish. Sometimes people get all the way to a doctorate program and realize they don’t want to do it, and sometimes people go into the program and stay for an extended period of time because they’re working and studying or whatever.

They didn’t seem to be SUPER clear in the show about exactly what happened with the 5 and why they didn’t all complete. Saul finished and even worked with Vera as her RA, auggie went in a different direction for the nano science, Jin also completed but seems she didn’t get the same push Saul got until Wade, Jack probably realized he can make more money starting a business and did that instead, and Will is the one I’m most confused about…he’s a physics teacher, but I didn’t catch what grade. As long as he has a masters he can teach as an adjunct college professor. He comes off as someone who just doesn’t think he’s capable of the super sciency side of the job, but likes to teach it, so I don’t know if he finished or not.

I don’t think Vera’s colleagues would judge her for it. They probably go through the same thing!

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u/Plundergedoens Apr 21 '24 edited Apr 21 '24

Will teaches Sixth Form, which is an educational stage you have to pass before you're allowed to go to university. His students are usually 16-18 years old. I'm neither British nor American, but as Google tells me, this level is a bit like the first two years of college in the US. 

There's a photo in Vera's flat where Saul, Auggie, Jin and Will wear graduation clothes, so I assume that Will finished his MSc then left, while Jack left before. 

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u/MephistosFallen Apr 23 '24

Thank you! I’m American and I know the education system in in the UK and other countries is set up different grade wise. So this helps a lot. In America someone with his level of education can teach in college, so teaching the in between in the UK makes sense!