# "Big Bang Theory" question about Bernadette **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [January 7, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956 "2021-01-07T20:11:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/1 "2021-01-07T20:11:55Z")
I have a question about Bernadette. Was it ever specified that she got her Ph. D. in Microbiology from CalTech? Or was it from a different university? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/2 "2021-01-07T21:09:14Z")
In the [Big Bang show wiki](https://bigbangtheory.fandom.com/wiki/Bernadette_Rostenkowski-Wolowitz) it says she went to the University of California to study micro biology, and later got a Ph D, but doesn’t specifically say she got her Ph D there. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/3 "2021-01-07T22:00:05Z")
Even saying she went to the “University of California” is awfully vague. There is no single UC; it’s a system of universities including UCLA, UC Berkley, UC Davis, etc. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/4 "2021-01-07T22:03:32Z")
True, though, at least based on how the schools are referred to in intercollegiate sports, “Cal” or “University of California” is often used as shorthand for the Berkeley campus. Lacking any other information, if I read that someone attended the University of California, I’d assume it was Berkeley. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/5 "2021-01-07T22:05:38Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > at least based on how the schools are referred to in intercollegiate sports, “Cal” or “University of California” is often used as shorthand for the Berkeley campus. I actually didn’t know that, but I don’t really follow college sports. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/6 "2021-01-07T22:10:39Z")
Probably not a perfect analogue, as most of the other campuses in the Wisconsin system are substantially smaller and less well-known than some others in the UC system, like UCLA, but while there are 13 universities in the University of Wisconsin system, UW-Madison (my alma mater) is really the only one that gets shorthanded as “University of Wisconsin” or “Wisconsin,” and the other schools are pretty much always referred to by their location (UW-Milwaukee, UW-Eau Claire, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/7 "2021-01-07T22:18:03Z")
Good to know! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/8 "2021-01-07T22:19:13Z")
That’s probably true of most state university systems; if you say you went to UNC everyone knows you mean the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and not Charlotte or Greensboro, etc. But California always seemed like an exception to me, since like you said several of the UC’s are equally well known like UCLA and Berkeley, and I don’t think I’ve heard any of them called just the University of California on it’s own (until now, at least). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/9 "2021-01-07T22:36:33Z")
Yeah, most states have one “University of " or " University” and one " State University", and even if both schools are part of their own larger systems, if someone talks about "University of ", they’re meaning the prominent one, and usually the oldest one. For example, the University of Texas is technically the University of Texas at Austin, but talk about Texas or the University of Texas, and nobody’s getting you confused with UT-Dallas or UT-Permian Basin. It gets weird sometimes when you have situations like University of Georgia and Georgia Tech, and then Georgia State being the youngest and least renowned of the three. Same thing in Texas with the University of Texas, Texas A&M and Texas State, which is also the youngest and least regarded of the three. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/10 "2021-01-07T22:55:09Z")
Somewhat unusually, Pennsylvania State University is probably better known than the University of Pennsylvania even though PSU was founding a century after UPenn (and UPenn is an Ivy). But if someone says they went to Penn, they went to University of Pennsylvania (Penn State is always Penn State, in my experience). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/11 "2021-01-07T22:57:35Z")
The wiki also says that she received the PhD during the course of the show, when, presumably she was living in the Pasadena area. So Caltech seems most likely. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/12 "2021-01-07T23:00:07Z")
In California, it’s pretty well accepted that “University of California” without a location means Berkeley. It was the first one. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/13 "2021-01-07T23:02:14Z")
I’d say UCLA is the better bet. If she was at Caltech there would have been a not large chance that they could have encountered her at work. Also, there would have been the “Did you take this professor’s class and what did you think of it?” type questions asked. Along with “Where do you park?” and “Can _you_ drive Sheldon to the comic book store?” > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > In California, it’s pretty well accepted that “University of California” without a location means Berkeley. It was the first one. Not in SoCal. Around here we refer to it more as “Berkeley” so it doesn’t get confused with the Universal College of Lowered Aspirations." ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/14 "2021-01-07T23:07:43Z")
I’m from Southern California. We’re more likely to call it Berkeley, but we also know University of California means the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/15 "2021-01-07T23:08:29Z")
Of course, but I had to get a slam in at my alma step-mater. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/16 "2021-01-07T23:17:31Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Not in SoCal. Around here we refer to it more as “Berkeley” so it doesn’t get confused with the Universal College of Lowered Aspirations." Or the University of Spoiled Children? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/17 "2021-01-07T23:44:53Z")
Yes indeed, but I didn’t attend _that_ school. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/18 "2021-01-08T00:54:40Z")
I have no idea how much within striking distance of Pasadena these really are, having never lived in Southern California, but the following also have Ph D programs in microbiology: - UCLA - USC - UC Irivine - UC Long Beach - San Diego State - UC Loma Linda ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/19 "2021-01-08T02:05:37Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > UC Long Beach There’s no such school and CSU Long Beach (my alma mater and not part of the UC system) only offers four doctorates jointly with other schools, none of which are Microbiology. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956/20 "2021-01-08T02:23:28Z")
I was basing off of this - [Top Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Programs in California - Niche](https://www.niche.com/graduate-schools/search/best-microbiology-and-immunology-graduate-programs/s/california/) It absolutely was CSU Long Beach, my mistake. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-question-about-bernadette/929956.md?page=2)