Can you do a dissertation in 1-2 semesters?

[hejduk]

Found out that I can be done with my PhD coursework in 4 semesters total. While I'm probably an idiot to be looking this far ahead in the future, I'm wondering how many of you fellow COMM people were actually able to complete your dissertation in 1-2 semesters?

I know the time frame can be adjusted a lot depending on topic, method, etc, but just interested to hear people's thoughts. I know that deadlines are made to be broken, but man would it be great to be done in 3 years!

[commsch12]

I don't think I've ever heard of someone writing a complete dissertation in two semesters, unless you're including prelims/exams as part of your coursework and enter the program knowing exactly what you want to study and basically start researching your PhD immediately. I do have a friend in a poli sci PhD program who is planning on finishing his diss. a year after finishing his exams, but that will still put him at four years to finish the program, and that's unusually quick.