<p>That is ridiculously uncommon. The MS usually takes 1-2 years. The PhD usually takes anywhere from 3 to 6 years beyond that. Doing what said professor did takes quite a bit of luck in that you would need to be assigned to a project that is basically all ready to go and runs into no snags so that if you work hard, you can make rapid progress. Even then, I have never heard of 2 years. That is ridiculous.</p>
<p>You almost never see professors who get their graduate degrees at the same school as their undergraduate degree. That is what we like to call academic inbreeding and is generally frowned upon in academe.</p>