This is Why Sam Beckett is So Goddamned Smart
We know Sam has six or seven doctorates. How long did it take him to complete them?
My personal theory is that he did the bulk of his doctorates in the 1970s, and continued on the side at a slower rate while working in the 1980s.
In 1970, Sam entered MIT. In 1972, he left with a bachelor’s degree. I’m going to apply his in-double-speed time to the rest of his degrees because of his ridiculous IQ.
Let’s say his bachelor’s is a double major in physics and biology. Then he goes straight to the quantum physics doctoral program. Incidentally, only United States military officers can get a master’s in physics at MIT. Why do we know Sam’s first PhD is in quantum physics? He was already discussing time travel theory with Professor LoNigro in 1973. Since Sam is already discussing the string theory at that time, that’s revolutionary enough for him to be finished by 1974 (taking twice as many exams per year, probably). Add another year for research and his thesis and he’s done by 1975.
Since Sam was already performing at Carnegie at the age of nineteen, I imagine he’d have offers from various graduate schools to skip the master’s and go straight to the doctoral program in music. UCLA’s PhD program requirements call for students to know German, French, Italian or Spanish. Sam already knew three of these (save for Italian), so he could’ve picked one up during this time. Sam could probably finish the music program in a year and a half, bringing us to December 1976.
The biology half of his bachelor’s comes in handy as Sam goes to medical school. He finishes the first two years in one and by January 1978, he’s working rotations while working on his next PhD.
Because he’s a nerd and likes learning languages, Sam focuses on Ancient Languages (we know he knows Ancient Greek and hieroglyphics. Probably classical Latin too, for good measure). I’m using CU-Boulder for my source here. This degree would more likely be a master’s going to a PhD in Classics, with a concentration in hieroglyphics. While he finishes his rotations, he’s also completing this degree. His med school work is done by the beginning of 1980 while his Classics PhD is finished in 1981.
Project Starbright is looming around the corner and Sam still has three left. I imagine a research hospital taking an interest in Sam at this point, after he became a Real Doctor ™. So he’s working again, using his medical degree, while working on his classics and archaeology PhDs. Archaeology PhD programs require knowledge of classics, so it’d naturally follow his Classics PhD. This’d take him 2.5 years, so he’s done with five PhDs by the summer of 1983, probably taking a bit of time off work somewhere for fieldwork.
At this point, Project Starbright recruits him. They need him for his work in quantum physics. Granted, they could’ve recruited him at any point after 1975, but my headcanon is that it started in the late 1970s or so and Sam came in any time between 1979 and 1984. He also met Al at the same time, so they go as far back as 15-20 years of friendship.
You could probably flip around the medical and music degrees in some timelines, with Sam working rotations during the day and performing at night. The quantum physics PhD could have come later, or that nerd did research on the side with LoNigro to earn his Nobel in the 1980s or so.
While at Starbright, Sam starts taking a slower pace on his degrees. He works on his sixth PhD during the mid-1980s, taking about three years. Donna, no doubt, helped him a lot with it). What is it? I’m thinking either something combining quantum physics and biology or something in ethics, which would appeal to him.
Either of those possible PhDs could lead to his working on a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, using what he’s learned and Al’s input to create Ziggy. I think Ziggy is his thesis for his final PhD, but Al had to submit it for Sam after he started leaping, about a year later. Sam took about five years total for that one, since he was so busy with PQL. That’s my explanation for why they jump back and forth on six or seven doctorates- Sam had to accept the last one in absentia or the quirks of leaping changed his mind on his sixth doctorate. Al and Ziggy probably had to do his thesis defense for him, since Sam was stuck leaping. Let’s be real, Ziggy did most of the work presenting.
With his level of intelligence, Sam could theoretically keep up his breakneck pace of work throughout all of his studies. So up to three years could be shaved off in some timelines.
In total, Sam spends about 21 years in post-graduate education. Keeping a consistent pace, he’d take 18 years for all of his degrees. I’d say about 20 years or so is a good rough guess for how long it took him to get all of his degrees, bachelor’s included.
Sources: websites for various graduate and doctoral programs
