IMO, if it pings their douchemeters it says more about them than about her.
It just sounds like so much clutter, quite apart from whether it is pretentious or not.
The Illinois Supreme Court, when one is sworn in as a new attorney, gives out this ungodly-sized certificate (like 18in by 24 in) in blackletter typeface. Now, I can imagine situations where hanging this would not be particularly offensively pretentious (such as a venue where one normally does one’s lawyer things). However, this certificate has long since disappeared to somewhere in the recesses my storage space because I need less useless crap in my living and working spaces, not more.
It’s harmless. Though you should put up a sign: “In case of business problems, break glass.”
First congrats to her. As said, at work = bad, at home = maybe okay but not my style. I passed on the hooding for my master’s, and that’s a more advanced degree than an MBA (the proof of the latter is your higher paycheck!) I would say that if it’s part of an ensemble of her/both of your history, it is better than just a box full of tassels and college shot glasses or whatever.
Do you mean like:
Jane Smith, MBA
123 Fake Street…
Or,
Jane Smith
MBA '06 Haas School of Business
123 Fake Street…
The latter is stupid. The former can be useful in a professional context, but I wouldn’t put it on my personal “p1mpdaddy@blah.com” account.
Why would you want those types in your home?
Yes, I would think it’s pretentious. I have a PhD and a Masters and there’s no way I’d display either hood. I do have the diplomas framed and hanging in my home office, though.
There’s a car that I see often with the vanity plate “THE PHD”. Whoever it is obviously works at the university and they need to get over themselves.
I don’t know that I’d be that proud to have an MBA from UC Irvine. At least not enough so to put it on my license plate. It’s not like it’s Harvard Business School.
An unfortunate side effect of our awkwardly large incomes.
Also, I’m not a big fan of putting an alphabet soup of degrees and certs after your name.
I’m an ex-college faculty person and I’ve never, ever heard of this or would even consider it a good idea in the least.
I never displayed a diploma on a wall and very rarely saw a faculty member’s office that did. And these are people who really care about degrees.
Hood and tassel? Completely tacky.
(Some people would have their robes hanging someplace like the back of the door, but that was for “official uses” and they were too lazy to put them away.)
To the OP: Your wife either cares what others think or she doesn’t. If she does, don’t do it. If she does, whatever she wants is up to her. The advice of the neighbor shouldn’t factor into it.
I’ve never heard of this. I have my two highest degrees framed, the others are in a box or something. Personally, I too was really proud when I finished grad school, and I think I had the stuff sitting out for a while, but over time, I didn’t really care anymore. So, I might have thought it was kind of cool to put it in a shadowbox at first, I’d look back at it now as over-the-top.
I don’t think it’s really comparable to veterans either. A Master’s degree is an accomplishment to be proud of, but it’s still only a couple years worth of work. Working as a contractor for the military now, I’ve been to plenty of retirement ceremonies, and shadowboxes are often a big part of it, but that’s celebrating 20+ years of service; that’s an order of magnitude more of an accomplishment than a Master’s degree. I also know more than a few who did their 4 years or so, and got out, no ceremony, no shadowbox. They probably have a few pictures framed and their uniform stashed in a closet.
So, personally, I’d say probably if it makes her happy, put it up in your office or something for a while, but chances are after six months or a year, particularly if it helps lead to a promotion or a better job, it’ll probably start to seem pretentious and tacky by then.
I’d like to thank everyone who responded thoughtfully, and even the people who responded thoughtlessly. The thoughtful responses informed the decision, and the thoughtless ones were good for a laugh.
Ducati wins the thread. The boss also thoroughly enjoyed dracoi’s post.
Much appreciated!
Wow, people don’t know what pretentious means.
Displaying the hood is not pretentious, because she did in fact earn the MBA. What exactly would the pretense be? But it sure would be tacky.
Pretentious as a synonym for tacky is poor usage.
I don’t mind it a bit when I see credentials displayed in a medical professionals office. Quite the opposite, I find it reassuring and I like learning about the person who’s about to see me in the altogether. The more qualifications to poke around a body the better, and I assume that works the same for other professions as well.
I also don’t mind the marathon trophies displayed in my dad’s house or my mother’s shot put awards, or my husband’s golf trophies. If you are good at something and work hard at it, why not have a reminder of it around?
An amusing language difference – over here, “displaying it in the toilet” suggests actually dropping it in the bowl. That would be rather informal. 
With just the right lighting it could be made to look pretentious.
In our grandparents’ home they are. Rurals in our country are kinda big on college degrees. Parents will throw a thanksgiving party if a child passes the bar or some board exam.
In the cities, it’s different. Young professionals like to put college stickers on the rear shields of their vehicles (one stuck on a cheap vehicle will of course look cheap.) I threatened the wife with confiscation if she ever does that to her car.
Whatever, you get a MBA, you deserve to brag a little. (Which, I really don’t classify this as bragging. I’d call it pride.)
I say it depends on how educated your visitors are. Do they all have advanced degrees? Or in your social circle is having an advanced degree a major deal?
If it’s the first, displaying the hood won’t be pretentious, but it could be seen as a little weird. Most people do not do this. At most, they’ll hang up the diploma. I have a picture of my graduate advisor hooding me, but the hood itself is long gone.
If it’s the second, it could seen as pretentious–if by pretentious, you mean “making a big deal out of something we could care less about”. At least a diploma is something everyone understands. A hood in a shadowbox begs explanation.
If you don’t have any visitors, then it doesn’t matter. Displaying a hood is not inherently pretentious or tacky. It depends on who’s looking at it.
I voted “harmless” although my diploma’s seldom see the light of day. One of the requirements for a work visa here is a copy of your last degree, so every two years I dig through the closet and take it to work to get scanned. During visits to the US offices, I have noticed that the younger folks ( < 10 years out of school ) have their MS/PhD on the wall in their office. I never think to ask why that is. Perhaps they are thinking back to the good old days.
I’m curious, where did you teach? Because every faculty member I’ve ever known at my institution (and my grad school) had theirs in their office. It’s an expectation, practically, especially for Ph.D. holders.
To the OP - frame the diploma, absolutely. She earned it. Most diplomas aren’t that ostentatious. You can have those crazy diploma frames with the campus quad pictures there (I actually have one that was a gift from my parents for my master’s). The tassel or hood is verging on weird. It might be a good family heirloom, especially if her degree is historic (first in the family to earn an advanced degree). But I would think it strange to have it mounted in the house. It’s not as if it’s a terminal degree.
But hey, YOLO and it’s your house, etc.
My vote was not at ALL colored by my profession as a picture framer. Not at all, nope.
Really, the diploma itself properly framed should be enough, or include the tassel. The hood or mortarboard or whatever is unnecessary.