# How much education have you had? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084 "2011-05-16T13:42:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/41 "2011-05-16T20:55:30Z")
Master of Music. I’ve considered going on to a doctorate, but I would need to move as there are no DMA programs in St. Louis. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/42 "2011-05-16T21:46:30Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > No, it is because people could conceivably be embarrassed to admit their lack of educational accomplishments. You hope not, but you never know. I happen to think that, whatever their educational accomplishments, people on the boards are more interesting than average. Ok, I’ll assume you meant ‘lack of _formal_ educational accomplishments’. If someone had made acquiring a degree as a personal goal and failed they might be embarassed. I would tend to think anyone embarassed for other reasons has been influenced by a concept of formal education that has no basis. There are a lot of people in this world who have college degrees, yet never accomplished anything more meaningful than those who have not. They should be far more embarassed by that (assuming they attributed something else to obtaining the degree besides personal satisfaction). ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/43 "2011-05-16T22:11:37Z")
M.A. in English and 20 hours toward another Master’s degree. Why don’t I finish it, you ask? Well, I would if the program still existed. I had to drop out for a few months but fully intended to start back up, but unfortunately the program was dropped while I was out (I got a book series contract plus was starting a new job and needed a breather from school) and it was so esoteric that the credits don’t transfer anywhere else, at least not as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/44 "2011-05-16T22:28:21Z")
Yesterday I became a college graduate with a BA. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/45 "2011-05-16T22:51:33Z")
Is an MBA considered “professional degree” because technically it’s a Masters (while a JD is technically a Doctorate)? Also “school of hard knocks” should be separated from “associates / vocational degree”, “some college”, “high school”, “some high school”. If you want to get technical about it. It might be interesting though if someone did a survey for people who achieved no more than “some college” as to the highest level of professional acheivement. How many started their own business, how many sort of back-doored their way into pretty serious jobs, that sort of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/46 "2011-05-16T23:03:40Z")
Bachelor’s in Anthropology. I plan on going to grad school at some point, but it hasn’t happened quite yet. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/47 "2011-05-16T23:11:48Z")
M.A. in Clinical Psychology, with about half of the coursework toward a second M.A. in Counseling Psychology. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/48 "2011-05-17T00:23:17Z")
One year of community college before immersing myself in the job I found at the time. I’ve taken a scattered community college course here or there, but I’ve made no real attempt to get a college degree since 1994. I may not have a fancy degree, but I can still out-bowl most of you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/49 "2011-05-17T00:32:09Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I may not have a fancy degree, but I can still out-bowl most of you. 😉 Your average? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/50 "2011-05-17T00:54:05Z")
Ph.D. in Ecology for me. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/51 "2011-05-17T01:16:38Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Is an MBA considered “professional degree” because technically it’s a Masters (while a JD is technically a Doctorate)? > > Also “school of hard knocks” should be separated from “associates / vocational degree”, “some college”, “high school”, “some high school”. If you want to get technical about it. > It might be interesting though if someone did a survey for people who achieved no more than “some college” as to the highest level of professional acheivement. How many started their own business, how many sort of back-doored their way into pretty serious jobs, that sort of stuff. Technically, my MLIS is also a “professional degree” but I voted “Masters” instead. I figured that the poll was aiming at JDs and MDs with the “professional degree” option. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/52 "2011-05-17T01:47:28Z")
Some high school, and some college but I only picked some high school. I dropped out in tenth grade, then got my GED and went to college. A couple times. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/53 "2011-05-17T01:53:37Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Yesterday I became a college graduate with a BA. Congrats! Another BA here. Edit: And like a lot of people, my degree has fuckall to do with my career. Majored in English and worked a finance job at a bank for years, and am now doing something else entirely unrelated to literature. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/54 "2011-05-17T01:54:20Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > Stats lifted from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_States). These are for US only. Sorry - I’m Americentric. > > Education Percentage > High school graduate 86.68% > Some college 55.60% > Associates and/or Bachelor’s degree 38.54% > Master’s degree 7.62% > Doctorate or professional degree 2.94% Really? That number seems really low to me. I work for an organization (medical/pharmacological) within which approximately 70% of the employees and contractors have at least one advanced degree. All of our clients’ product and marketing directors do as well. I understand that credentialed academic achievement is weighted toward my industry, but the veritable sea of postdocs I interact with on a daily basis suggested to me, before I saw your numbers that is, that it was closer to perhaps 20 percent. 3 percent. Wow. Well that was my shock for the day, possibly the entire month. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/55 "2011-05-17T01:54:28Z")
I managed to select the wrong button. So much for an advanced education. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/56 "2011-05-17T01:58:24Z")
I dropped out after one year at a public state 4 year college. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/57 "2011-05-17T02:47:48Z")
Masters in Educational Technology ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/58 "2011-05-17T02:55:56Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > Jeez. There’s one in every crowd. :rolleyes: One what? I truly don’t understand why taking a few college classes gets an entire category while graduating from a vocational school doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/59 "2011-05-17T02:58:22Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Really? That number seems really low to me. I work for an organization (medical/pharmacological) within which approximately 70% of the employees and contractors have at least one advanced degree. All of our clients’ product and marketing directors do as well. > > I understand that credentialed academic achievement is weighted toward my industry, but the veritable sea of postdocs I interact with on a daily basis suggested to me, before I saw your numbers that is, that it was closer to perhaps 20 percent. > > 3 percent. Wow. Well that was my shock for the day, possibly the entire month. I’m pretty shocked that only 38% of people have either an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree. I would’ve thought that number considerably higher. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084/60 "2011-05-17T03:52:53Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Your average? In the league I just finished, 188. I did say _most_ of you, for the record! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-have-you-had/582084.md?page=4)