# Were Jerry, George, and Elaine College Grads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737 "2009-06-14T16:11:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/1 "2009-06-14T16:11:35Z")
On the show _Seinfeld_, for some reason, I always thought George and Elaine had graduated from college. But yesterday I saw the episode where George quits his job in real estate and is discussing his future with Elaine and Jerry. Elaine says “To teach something you have to have a degree,” which may imply George didn’t graduate college. Unless of course she meant you’d have to have a degree in that particular subject. So my question is was it ever established if Jerry, George and Elaine ever went to college or graduated from college? I assume Kramer did not. Perhaps I’m wrong there Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/2 "2009-06-14T16:13:51Z")
Pretty sure I remember Jerry and George specifically referencing their time in college together. Not sure about Elaine, but she seems to get the types of jobs you’d need a degree for. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/3 "2009-06-14T16:20:27Z")
Elaine went to Tufts. “It was my safety school.” ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/4 "2009-06-14T16:29:24Z")
It’d be funnier if Kramer was the only one who graduated college. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/5 "2009-06-14T16:35:33Z")
To teach in most US public schools, you need a Masters in Education, or in the field you’re teaching. (There are exceptions, but none of them would apply to George Costanza.) A BA in any liberal arts discipline wouldn’t cut it, and I can’t imagine George with any other kind of degree. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/6 "2009-06-14T16:38:32Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > To teach in most US public schools, you need a Masters in Education, or in the field you’re teaching. (There are exceptions, but none of them would apply to George Costanza.) A BA in any liberal arts discipline wouldn’t cut it, and I can’t imagine George with any other kind of degree. George would probably get the job by accidently killing the teacher, then sleep with the principal’s daughter only to find out she’s a student 😃 In the meantime, he’d try to teach architecture by telling the kids to write about his addition to the Guggenheim 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/7 "2009-06-14T16:40:27Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > It’d be funnier if Kramer was the only one who graduated college. This is very true, the writers should’ve thought of that. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/8 "2009-06-14T16:41:30Z")
Apparently, [Costanza](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=111285&page=1) went to Queens College. ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/9 "2009-06-14T17:04:09Z")
I think, in the scene the OP is describing, Jerry said something along the lines of, “You have to have a degree _in broadcasting_ for that.” In the episode where George becomes a hand-model, I believe he, disgusted with his mom for suggesting he take a civil service test, states, “You want me to be a mailman? I’m a college graduate!” I will look for the transcripts of that to be sure, though. ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/10 "2009-06-14T17:10:16Z")
OK, that didn’t take long at all. For one thing, the OP is right; Elaine, when discussing George’s future, does say, “You need a degree.” From [this](http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/) website, here’s the exchange: GEORGE: Drink up. I like history. Civil War. Maybe I could be a professor, or something. ELAINE: Well, to teach something you really have to know a lot about it. I think you need a degree. However, like I said, in “The Puffy Shirt,” this is said: ESTELLE: Why don’t you want to take a civil service test? GEORGE: To do what?! Work in a post office? Is that what you want me to do? FRANK: Would you believe when I was 18, I had a silver dollar collection? ESTELLE: I don’t understand. You get job security - you get a pay check every week… GEORGE: I’m a college graduate. You want me to be a mailman? Maybe Elaine meant that he needed a degree in history to get a job as a history professor? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/11 "2009-06-14T17:15:38Z")
> [@mshar253](#): > > Maybe Elaine meant that he needed a degree in history to get a job as a history professor? I’d assume so. George and Jerry’s time together at Queens College was mentioned in a few episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/12 "2009-06-14T17:24:30Z")
In “The Marine Biologist” Jerry runs into a former college classmate while at an ATM. She mentions that she remembers his friend George but says she never sees him in the alumni magazine. (Jerry then claims that George is a marine biologist.) No particular school is mentioned, though. Wikipedia claims that Jerry and George attended Queens College together, although it doesn’t cite an episode. It may be that this is an assumption based on the fact that the real Jerry Seinfeld went to Queens and had a classmate with the last name Costanza, as **TWDuke** ’s link shows. Based on what little information the show provided, the two definitely went to A college together and George probably graduated. (I say “probably” just because, knowing George, it’s always possible he’d been lying to his parents for years about having graduated.) It’s not clear to me that Jerry graduated, though. It’s implied that Jerry was featured in his college’s alumni magazine, but a person doesn’t necessarily need to have graduated to be considered an alumnus and plenty of schools would be happy to play up a connection to a former student who became famous. Unless there’s some quote where he says otherwise, it seems equally possible to me that Jerry graduated or that he dropped out to pursue comedy full-time. Oh, when Kramer appeared in a bachelor auction it was established that he was not a college graduate. Elaine introduced him as a high school graduate, but he corrected her and said he in fact had a GED. ETA: If George wanted to be a college professor and not a schoolteacher then he’d almost certainly need at least a Master’s degree or more likely a Ph.D., not just a Bachelor’s degree. That may have been what Elaine meant. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/13 "2009-06-14T17:25:40Z")
> [@mshar253](#): > > Maybe Elaine meant that he needed a degree in history to get a job as a history professor? To be a professor, you need a doctorate. To be an adjunct, you need a Masters. I see no evidence George has either. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/14 "2009-06-14T17:33:39Z")
For some reason I think that Elaine even had a Master’s, but I don’t recall a specific episode. She definitely would have had to have had at least a B.A. for the job she had in publishing when the show started. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/15 "2009-06-14T17:37:04Z")
So we assume Geroge graduated, do we know if Elaine graduated? Or did she just attend? Jerry says he never had a “real job.” But I know he sold umbrellas before getting his break in comedy. So Jerry may or may not have graduated. Is this correct? ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/16 "2009-06-14T17:42:28Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > So we assume Geroge graduated, do we know if Elaine graduated? Or did she just attend? Jerry says he never had a “real job.” But I know he sold umbrellas before getting his break in comedy. So Jerry may or may not have graduated. > > Is this correct? I’m almost positive Elaine graduated (like someone said above, it seems unlikely she would have gotten the job at Pendant Publishing without a degree), but no proof springs to mind like it did with George. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/17 "2009-06-14T17:42:57Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > To teach in most US public schools, you need a Masters in Education, or in the field you’re teaching. (There are exceptions, but none of them would apply to George Costanza.) A BA in any liberal arts discipline wouldn’t cut it, and I can’t imagine George with any other kind of degree. Not for High School and below. In California all you need is a teaching certificate which takes about a year after a BA or BS. It’s definitely not a Masters Degree. My aunt used to teach in New York and I think that it’s the same there. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/18 "2009-06-14T17:54:58Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Not for High School and below. In California all you need is a teaching certificate which takes about a year after a BA or BS. It’s definitely not a Masters Degree. My aunt used to teach in New York and I think that it’s the same there. New York state began requiring a Masters Degree for high school teachers sometime in the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/19 "2009-06-14T17:58:54Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > New York state began requiring a Masters Degree for high school teachers sometime in the 90s. OK. My aunt would have been grandfathered. She retired in the late 90’s with twenty years in. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737/20 "2009-06-14T18:14:04Z")
Searching the [Seinfeld Scripts](http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/) site, I see that Elaine refers to herself as being a college graduate in “The Parking Garage”. **Claire Beauchamp** , a woman Jerry was dating in the episode “The Van Buren Boys” says she has a Master’s degree from the Sorbonne, so you may have been thinking of her instead of Elaine. Wikipedia specifies that Elaine studied French Literature, but I can’t find any reference to that in the scripts. Searching on the word “college” shows that Jerry, George, and Elaine all mention their college days several times, but Jerry doesn’t seem to have ever mentioned graduating. Elaine appears to be the only one who mentions which school she attended (Tufts, as stated upthread). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-jerry-george-and-elaine-college-grads/499737.md?page=2)