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Let's say I write a PhD thesis by looking at papers on arxiv. Can I use this as my PhD thesis one I enter into the program?

In other words, can you write a PhD thesis before going to graduate school?

Note. I took a year off and did intensive study. Given that, can I do it?

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    Unless you are one of the 10 most mathematically talented people in the world AND started doing professional math in your early teens, it is completely unrealistic.2011-09-03
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    @Nicole: The point is that I took a year off and learned some graduate math and did intensive study. So is it viable?2011-09-03
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    You can peruse my questions and see that I, too, am advanced for my age. But just read some theses. Much of the point of theses is that they are in depth. You need to be familiar with most of the literature on the topic (most of which you will probably not be able to read until years from now) and you have to make sure that you thought about all the ways to think about the phenomena discussed in the thesis. A thesis is meant to be work that takes years to do, and prepares you for independent research.2011-09-03
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    @Nicole: So you are an undergrad student?2011-09-03

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