Do you think you are smarter than me because you have a graduate degree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, until you prove otherwise. I have a Phd.

The only thing you know for certain about somebody with a Ph.D. is that they stuck around in graduate school long enough for somebody to decide to grant them a Ph.D.

-I have a Ph.D. too.

Where the fuck did you get your Ph.D.? I worked my ass off for mine, and, based on how I have performed compared to my peers at all stages of life, I am confident that I am smart. I don't go around saying that in daily life, but anti-education threads like this are annoying and tedious.

OP, if you really were all that, you would not need to bash others to elevate yourself.

You did, and so did many others. But not everybody does. And not everybody with a Ph.D. is smart.

My SIL is super smart but she feels more comfortable in school than the real world, so she has 5 graduate degrees and a ph.d.

She is book smart alright. She can balance a check book though. She is socially inept, but I love her and her children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, until you prove otherwise. I have a Phd.

The only thing you know for certain about somebody with a Ph.D. is that they stuck around in graduate school long enough for somebody to decide to grant them a Ph.D.

-I have a Ph.D. too.

Where the fuck did you get your Ph.D.? I worked my ass off for mine, and, based on how I have performed compared to my peers at all stages of life, I am confident that I am smart. I don't go around saying that in daily life, but anti-education threads like this are annoying and tedious.

OP, if you really were all that, you would not need to bash others to elevate yourself.

You did, and so did many others. But not everybody does. And not everybody with a Ph.D. is smart.

My SIL is super smart but she feels more comfortable in school than the real world, so she has 5 graduate degrees and a ph.d.

She is book smart alright. She can't balance a check book though. She is socially inept, but I love her and her children.

Can't

[Anonymous]

I have a Ph.D. from a top program in my field. I have two brothers who are at least as bright as me, but who stopped at a bachelor's. We were very close growing up, but for whatever reason I was more driven, conscientious, and self-disciplined.

[Anonymous]

I don't think people with graduate degrees are automatically "smarter" than those without, however you define smart. Let's face it, there are many different types of intelligence, e.g. someone who knows a lot of facts and can synthesize them vs. someone who is gifted with high social intelligence.

But I would guess that in general those with graduate degrees have read more deeply, thought more deeply, and written more deeply about their field than those without.

Notice the "in general." It's absolutely possible to be deeply read and immersed in subjects without taking courses in them.

A graduate degree is just an official signal that someone has made a commitment to that type of immersion and did it in a structured manner.

Years of experience working in some particular field is another type of signal.

[Anonymous]

OP, would you go to a doctor who didn't have a medical degree?

If you were building a house would you prefer the services of a structural engineer with a BS over one with an MS?

If you needed a lawyer would you go to someone without a law degree?

Trying to understand your defensive question. I'm sorry if you feel other people's degrees reflect on your own career trajectory. But it really doesn't.

[Anonymous]

It took me 12 years to get my bachelors. I hated school and was lazy. I finally got my stuff together and started over when my daughter was born. Last year, I completed my masters program. I'm very proud of my accomplishment. Considering how much I felt like people looked down on me for not having a bachelors, I'd never turn my nose up at someone for not having a masters. The only person I think I'm superior to is the old me who always gave up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think I'm smarter than you because of my graduate degree. I think the odds are good that I'm smarter than you because I've always been smarter than most of my peers.

I'm not usually such a dick about it, but you asked, so there it is.

Hahaha, I was thinking this too. I'm not smarter than you because I have a graduate degree. I have the degree because I'm smarter than you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I have no idea how you got this idea from DCUM, incidentally. Hopefully it isn't projecting.

But to answer your question, no, I don't. I am a PhD scientist and a professor at one of the best universities in the country in a really technical field, but the smartest person I've ever worked with (in industry) was a college dropout, and no not Bill Gates. Degrees are personal betterment but jobs can be too and neither really changes your core smarts.

And just to reinforce the point I should say that I prefer to work with students as I find that my postdocs (who have PhDs) actually are often more brittle in their thinking and not necessarily more knowledgeable.

Well I do spend a lot of time on the money and schools forums which tend to be full of braggarts. Perhaps it's less true of the rest of the site.

Ah, now this thread makes sense. I'm not on those much and was wondering where this characterization came from. IME DC area is one of the best places to have advanced degrees because they're so common that people don't have too many weird perceptions. Back home (major Midwestern city) the standard response on finding out is "you must be SO SMART!" (Not in a friendly way either) I had 2 stock answers to defuse their discomfort. "Well, I am, but not because of that" and "having a old doesn't mean someone is smart, it means they are a stubborn MFer." Here I don't need any stock answers and its WONDERFUL. I can just be myself because people know just what it does and doesn't mean to have one.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, on phone. Old==PhD

[Anonymous]

I have not followed this thread but I don't think I'm smarter than you OP. My smart high point was probably HS--I noticed a lot, read more, and had a better vocab back then! My MA gave me confidence and protection though. The fact that people perceive me as more 'credentialed" means I get pushed around just a little less, which feels good as a human. I'm not saying I deserve it and I wish it wasn't that way. I did learn a little craft wise with my MA, but smarter--not really--experience has been a great teacher but my most smarts where when I was just starting out and far more curious about the world around me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You must be fairly young or stupid OP. When I was in school, it was expected women who wanted to work as professionals needed professional degrees. Without one, we wouldn't have been hired for high level jobs.

That doesn't answer OP's question at all. The question is: do you think you are smarter than someone who doesn't have a grad degree?

I would say there are plenty of people that don't have degrees at all that are plenty smart, as someone noted: Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates, etc..

As a general rule, you would think people who have graduate degrees would be "smarter" than those that don't, but I think it really depends on the field.

What a pile of crock. I graduated undergrad in the mid 90s and that certainly was not the case. Young college grads might be advised to go to graduate school to stand out today (male or female) but it wasn't the case 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, would you go to a doctor who didn't have a medical degree?

If you were building a house would you prefer the services of a structural engineer with a BS over one with an MS?

If you needed a lawyer would you go to someone without a law degree?

Trying to understand your defensive question. I'm sorry if you feel other people's degrees reflect on your own career trajectory. But it really doesn't.

OP here. I'd use the person most qualified and experienced for the job. But I wouldn't consider that their expertise made then innately superior to me! They just happened to study in that area, I didn't.

Likewise, I'd use the most appropriately qualified person to re wire my house or re do my plumbing but I wouldn't expect them to have a graduate (or any) degree, and I would never consider my own education to be superior to their clearly useful skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think I'm smarter than you because of my graduate degree. I think the odds are good that I'm smarter than you because I've always been smarter than most of my peers.

I'm not usually such a dick about it, but you asked, so there it is.

Hahaha, I was thinking this too. I'm not smarter than you because I have a graduate degree. I have the degree because I'm smarter than you.

And I don't have the degree because in fact I'm smarter than YOU and I recognized that it has no actual utility in real life beyond the process/experience of learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

lol, you're wasting your time. Her reply shows she doesn't get it at all..

Yes, I don't consider my children or my husband to be personal accomplishments.

You have to put yourself out there to date someone; you have to sacrifice and compromise and work to be with someone long-term. You have to be willing to make sacrificies and change your life and go through physical hardships, in many cases, for children. Not everyone who wants a spouse and children is able to have them. So yes, it is an accomplishment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think I'm smarter. I do think I am more accomplished.

That's tautological, in the sense that people with graduate degrees have accomplished something (namely, a graduate degree) that people without graduate degrees have not.

On the other hand, a graduate degree is not the only possible accomplishment. Which means that a person without a graduate degree could well be more accomplished than a person with a graduate degree. What have you accomplished besides getting a graduate degree?

--Got scholarships for undergrad and a full ride to grad school paid for by my employer
--Steadily climbed career ladder from undergrad on, and now make six figures and set my own hours
--My byline has appeared numerous times in The Washington Post
--Two beautiful, healthy children, and a wonderful husband
--Homeowner
--Works of fiction published in literary journals
--Presented at an international literary conference
--Overcame a serious health issue for which I received a pretty grim diagnosis, and am healthy and happy
--Volunteer/donor
--Active member of my church

We good?

Oh, wait! You forgot to mention how humble you are.

NP: You didn't mention how jealous/insecure YOU are...but it shows.