There's lots of reasons that someone would prefer to hire a graduate educated applicant over a BA educated applicant. They mostly have to do with training, not IQ. People who don't have the advanced degree often aren't even aware of what they don't know. They can't see their own weaknesses. My paralegal is probably smarter than me if you just compare raw IQ. She doesn't have the law school training, though, and there's a metric ton of stuff that she doesn't know and doesn't even know that she doesn't know because she lacks the theoretical framework for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I have a graduate degree, and I can confidently say that getting a grad degree is just going through the motions. Grad school was a whole lot easier than undergrad.

agree

Really depends on the field. I work with quite a few PHD Physicists and I don't think I've run into any that weren't at least VERY smart.

It isn't necessarily smarter- I do feel I have accomplished a lot by having a top 10 MBA- it was a lot of work to get in and then graduate. Is this an automatic smarter than you? NO. I have also stepped back from that track recently for my kids and it's refreshing going to a job where you excel and don't bring it back at home.

No, I'm not smarter than you because I have a PhD but I have cited it on occasion on DCUM to underline that I know what I'm talking about (eg, statistical significance) because I studied it in graduate school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The OP clearly has a complex. Everything you talk about is in relation to whether someone is superior to you or not. Grow up, OP.

That was the topic being discussed!

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I think that I am smarter than you, not because I have a graduate degree but because I have the good sense not to post such a pathetic screed

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a well respected law school. Not HPY, but tier one. And I worked very hard to get my JD (and pass the bar. And pass the bar again when we moved). I don't think about law school all that often, but I am proud of my degree. And not because it makes me superior somehow. But, law school was a lot of hard work, and for me, graduating was a real accomplishment. So yes, I'm proud of my JD.

....Princeton doesn't have a law school. Even I know that, and I'm a state school grad.

that's right - it closed down in 1852

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Law_School

Anonymous wrote:I went to a well respected law school. Not HPY, but tier one. And I worked very hard to get my JD (and pass the bar. And pass the bar again when we moved). I don't think about law school all that often, but I am proud of my degree. And not because it makes me superior somehow. But, law school was a lot of hard work, and for me, graduating was a real accomplishment. So yes, I'm proud of my JD.

....Princeton doesn't have a law school. Even I know that, and I'm a state school grad.

OP I am smarter not because I learned anything valuable in grad school because I really did t. It because I was smart enough to know at age 23 that a college degree is essential a High School diploma now days, especially in DC. I was smart enough to knock out a Masters degree by age 25 and be done with it. I was smart enough to know it would open a lot more doors for me at the beginning of my career. You sound bitter. As my mom would say "you can be bitter or you can be better, your choice"

I went to a well respected law school. Not HPY, but tier one. And I worked very hard to get my JD (and pass the bar. And pass the bar again when we moved). I don't think about law school all that often, but I am proud of my degree. And not because it makes me superior somehow. But, law school was a lot of hard work, and for me, graduating was a real accomplishment. So yes, I'm proud of my JD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, not at all. In fact, some graduate degrees are complete wastes. It is one accomplishment, the worth of which differs.

Just wanted to add an example, I think most people who get law degrees from lower-tiered law schools are not too bright. Very poor financial decision.

Even if they are otherwise employed? I work as a fed attorney, and I sometimes think this about people who went to very good, but very expensive law schools. They owe so much money, and so much of their loan amounts are private loans. I went to a lower ranked school and earned a partial scholarship, graduating with only public loans. With the public loan forgiveness program, much of it will be forgiven. I look at the lawyers with the fancy law degrees, boat load of private loans, making the same pay as me, and.working at the same job. My choice looks like the better financial decision.

I am actually really excited to find the chance to talk with a person who might be smarter than me.

No, I do not think I am smarter than anyone just because I have a graduate degree. For me, going to grad school was something I did initially because I wanted to delay my adulthood as long as possible. I'm glad I went because I enjoyed it, met some cool people, and get paid more/can probably go farther in my career because of my degree. However, I went to grad school with enough dolts to realize that you don't have to be that smart to get a graduate degree in most fields and at most grad schools.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So this is where you lost me. Someone who wants to be a doctor goes to school to learn how to be a doctor. Her degree absolutely has actual utility in real life. Same for any profession where having advanced knowledge of a field is key to success.

People who have gone through a rigorous graduate program have done a lot more than simply getting through "the process/experience of learning."

If I'm going to hire someone for a position that requires a deep knowledge of something, you bet I'll look more favorably at the application of someone who has been tested in that field and has a graduate degree to prove it than someone who spent fewer years studying it.

You are mixing up apples and oranges anyway - someone is not a better person for having gone to graduate school. But they're probably a better psychologist, or chemist, or professor.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The OP clearly has a complex. Everything you talk about is in relation to whether someone is superior to you or not. Grow up, OP.