PHD (Piled Higher & Deeper) is a webcomic by Jorge Cham that has been running since 1997.The characters are a bunch of graduate students at Stanford University. They obsess about ever getting their theses completed, struggle to make ends meet with their meager stipends, wonder why life is passing them by, and slack off while their supervisors aren't looking.
Defictionalization: Drawing comics about students who procrastinate endlessly has resulted in Jorge Cham hitting the lecture circuit with a conference on procrastination. As a result, many other real-life universities (beyond Stanford) and real life grad students make cameos.
Failure Is the Only Option: To keep going, the series needs the characters to remain grad students, meaning they have to postpone the completion of their respective theses indefinitely. Ultimately averted with Mike, who does complete his own thesis after years of procrastination, but stays anyway as a member of the teaching staff.
As the main character put it in a press conference in 2003, "Basically, if Mike graduates, we're all out of a job..."
Flanderization: Tajel. At first, Tajel demonstrates all sorts of semi-stereotypical things, such as camping out at the mall after Thanksgiving to take advantage of Black Friday sales. This changed soon enough, of course...
Freud Was Right: I refuse to believe that the line break in the middle of "encephalic" in this strip (in the part about "The Campus Tower") was anything other than deliberate.
Fun with Acronyms: Of course, the strip title (though that itself is an old joke). And this strip has a how-to guide!
In Vino Veritas: Played with. The shy and reclusive Cecilia turns into the Life of the Party not because of drunkenness, but from a chocolate high.
Limited Wardrobe: Probably justified considering how cash-strapped the characters are. In any case, they are almost always depicted in the same outfits.
Meganekko: Dee. Cecilia also used to be one in high school and her undergrad years.
The Nameless: The main character of the strip is never referred to by name. Jorge uses him to depict himself in his "Tales from the Road", where he visits other universities.
Truth in Television: In this strip the author recounts a time when he was detained by British border agents on the grounds that he didn't qualify as an academic visitor.
Jorge Cham: "But I have a Ph.D.! I'm giving lectures at universities! I have a Ph.D.!"
Border Agent: "Sorry. The rules say doctors are allowed in, but you're not a real doctor, are you?"
Obstructive Bureaucrat: Faced by Mike when submitting his thesis (he has to come back because the layout isn't in perfect conformity with university rules), by Tajel when applying for a visa, and by the main character when trying to get reimbursed for travel.
The Slacker: While several characters are slackers to some extent, Mike Slackenerny stands head and shoulders above the rest in this regard. An eternal student, he's the PHD answer to Doonesbury's Zonker Harris.
Status Quo Is God: Lampshaded. The characters like to point out to freshmen that they were already in university when the latter were middle-schoolers.
Still Got It: Prof. Smith when he finds out he can still take a nap balanced on a chair, as he used to do as a grad student.
Take That: This strip pokes fun at TV shows that get the science wrong. This strip does the same to movies that also get the science wrong.
And now this strip at channels that claim to be focused on science.
(Piled Higher & Deeper) is a webcomic by Jorge Cham that has been running since 1997.The characters are a bunch of graduate students at Stanford University. They obsess about ever getting their theses completed, struggle to make ends meet with their meager stipends, wonder why life is passing them by, and slack off while their supervisors aren't looking.
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