Anonymous wrote:Just to preempt the grammar police, it is "smarter than I".

I don't think one person is smarter than another person because of a graduate degree. I do tend to think that the group of people who get graduate degrees are, on average, smarter than the group who doesn't. To be perfectly honest, however, I think those that are doing well financially without the graduate degree are the smartest of us all!

Actually, both "smarter than me" and "smarter than I" are correct.

As for smarter, what do you mean exactly? Street smarts or social smarts or IQ smarts? Intelligence testing shows that people who do earn graduate degrees, especially PhDs, tend to have higher IQs than the general public.

Anonymous wrote:I think that I had the wisdom and the drive to better myself and the intellect to achieve my goals. Does that mean that I am superior?

I had the wisdom and the drive and the intellect to realize that I didn't need to pay out money to an institution to learn or to achieve my goals.

Anonymous wrote:There are many people in DC who are showy about their graduate degrees (and pretty much everything else).

As a college degree has become what a high school degree was in an earlier era, a graduate degree has become the gateway to the higher positions and salaries.

A college degree will get you to the middle class, but you will almost certainly need a graduate degree to get to the upper-middle class.

Poppycock and balderdash!

Start your own business and the credentials don't matter.

There are many people in DC who are showy about their graduate degrees (and pretty much everything else).

As a college degree has become what a high school degree was in an earlier era, a graduate degree has become the gateway to the higher positions and salaries.

A college degree will get you to the middle class, but you will almost certainly need a graduate degree to get to the upper-middle class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

This. Also, I know the difference between being smarter than someone and being superior to someone. I may be smarter than you in some areas because of my degree, but I don't believe I'm superior to you. Big difference in my eyes.

No, you are more educated or more knowledgeable in the areas that you have studied. That doesn't mean that you are smarter.

This is false. Just because you attended a formal class does not mean you are more knowledgeable than someone who has worked in the field, attended seminars/training/ studied/read texts on the their own, observed first hand, learned from mentors, etc.. etc..

It doesn't mean what you think it means...

I think that I had the wisdom and the drive to better myself and the intellect to achieve my goals. Does that mean that I am superior?

No. My M. Ed. was useless, and the coursework was insultingly easy. I DO judge teachers who talk about their "masters degree" (meaning M. Ed.): I view them as stupid and unsophisticated, which describes most of my classmates in that program.

Now, my MA in my actual subject was difficult, and it isn't possible for a stupid person to complete that program, so I do automatically assume that people with similar degrees are intelligent.

Anonymous wrote:If the graduate degree is from bumblefuck university usa then its worthless.

Not true. My not tier one graduate degree still opened up job opportunities for me.

Imagine you earn a PHD... You have to hire a worker doing similar work to yourself and the options are both capable persons one with a bachelors and one with a doctorate. In order to maintain your own value in the eyes of others it is more likely that you will hire others with a PHD. If all of a sudden, it becomes clear that those with a bachelors can easily do your job its not really a good look for you. This is all it boils down to...

Anonymous wrote:

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

This. Also, I know the difference between being smarter than someone and being superior to someone. I may be smarter than you in some areas because of my degree, but I don't believe I'm superior to you. Big difference in my eyes.

No, you are more educated or more knowledgeable in the areas that you have studied. That doesn't mean that you are smarter.

If the graduate degree is from bumblefuck university usa then its worthless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not know you.

Have you always had an inferiority complex?

+1.

OP, why do you even care?

In OP's defense, this comes up all the time in my field... "we are looking for someone with at least a Masters degree in" blah blah blah... Really?!?! When right in front of your own eyes you have employees with Bachelors degree outperforming those with doctorates. I agree that I don't understand the emphasis on these degrees over experience and competence. I have coworkers who did night school and earned a Masters degree working along side better performing employees who didn't bother and no change was noticeable.

OP here. When staff members look for mentoring and ask about grad school, I always tell them to go to grad school if they want to learn about a topic (for knowledge's sake) or have a grad school experience. If they want to do it to enhance their career, unless they are changing careers, it will almost always cost more in time and money than the value it will give you in terms of a career boost. Of course, this is for people who have already started their career. Certainly, for some it can help them land that first job, and for some careers (e.g. law) it's necessary. But having a generic masters is not going to give you much of a foot up in many careers, once you've got some experience.

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?

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

This. Also, I know the difference between being smarter than someone and being superior to someone. I may be smarter than you in some areas because of my degree, but I don't believe I'm superior to you. Big difference in my eyes.