# Where did the guys on BBT get their Ph.Ds **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836 "2013-09-27T21:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/21 "2013-09-28T05:27:54Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > I am sure. It’s Season 3, Episode 5, "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary. " > > Howard: “So, Penny tells me you’re working as a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory to put yourself through graduate school.” > > Bernadette: “Yea.” > > Howard: “That’s great. What are you studying?” > > Bernadette: “Microbiology.” > > (Just pulled up the episode and ff’d to the conversation) Sorry, in the interest of 100% accuracy, it’s this (I was doing a quick attempt to get everything down as the episode played): Howard: “So, Penny tells me you’re working as a waitress to put yourself through grad school.” Bernadette: (nods) Howard: “That’s pretty great. What are you studying?” Bernadette: “Microbiology.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/22 "2013-09-28T15:17:58Z")
The vague impression I get is that Raj is a postdoc, but Leonard and Sheldon are research faculty. I’m not sure precisely where I get that impression, though Raj does seem to have a lower status at the school than the other two. As research faculty, they wouldn’t necessarily be teaching any classes, though Sheldon does teach at least one (taking it is one of the things one can do to remove demerits from him). He also takes on a graduate student in at least one episode (where the hot female student is totally infatuated with him, and he’s oblivious to it). There’s also no hint of a professor who’s superior to either of them, other than the department head. I’ll admit that we never see any of them applying for grants, but postdocs do that, too, and we also never see them applying for permanent positions, either. That’s probably just because applying for grants and jobs is boring, and so doesn’t get shown on TV. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/23 "2013-09-28T15:22:16Z")
They still go after general grant money though. Several episodes have focused on schmoozing for donations for the department. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/24 "2013-09-28T15:57:34Z")
Even though Sheldon and Leonard are playing characters several years below their real age, I think there’s no question that they are faculty. Sheldon got his doctorate at 16 but Leonard and Raj are ordinarily brilliant, so they wouldn’t be Ph.Ds until their early-to-mid 20s. They were already established at Caltech before the show started and it’s now in its seventh season. Can you imagine a world in which Sheldon is still a postdoc trying to get a faculty position? And never mentioning it? They are faculty. They have large individual offices, their own labs, and assistants. They are treated as faculty by the department head and by human services. They get national recognition - Ray as one of the 40 scientists under 40, Leonard being approached by Hawking, Sheldon in his own mind. The show treats Caltech the way it treats the Cheesecake Factory and role-playing games. Something in the background that can be used for humor but is never remotely realistic for a second. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/25 "2013-09-28T16:23:08Z")
The university where I work has several “research professors” and “visiting professors” who don’t teach or supervise grad students, but merely focus on funded research. All the BBT boys seem to fit those roles. Depending on the money situation, it can be a temporary position (one to three years) or quasi-permanent. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/26 "2013-09-28T20:16:37Z")
Anyway, if you are a TBBT fan and want to have a life, don’t click on [this link](http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/The_Tenure_Turbulence). It leads to a page on the TBBT Wiki (yes, it has it’s own wiki). This particular page discusses the episode [The Tenure Turbulence](http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/The_Tenure_Turbulence), wherein Raj, Leonard, Sheldon and Kripke were all vying for a tenure slot in the Physics Department at CalTech. Well down into the article it discusses some of the issues the episode presents regarding their status, CalTech’s actual tenure rules, etc. Basically these guys wouldn’t be in the running for tenure. While I have known people with titles such as “Research Professor” who have gotten tenure, that is not the norm and is apparently not the case at CalTech. A lot of places the rule is “When the money goes away, you go away.” for people with titles prefixed by “Research”. So Raj’s former job insecurity is a common issue. But many people spend their entire careers as research faculty thanks to consistent funding. The TBBT Wiki on schooling: It only mentions [Raj](http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/Raj) having attended Cambridge. No indication of what program or other college. But a PhD in Astrophysics from there is a safe assumption. (In general, when an academic mentions what school they attended, it’s for their highest degree.) [Leonard](http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/Leonard) and Princeton, ditto. For [Sheldon](http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/Sheldon), the only prior college mentioned is him being a visiting professor at the Heidelberg Institute in Germany. Germany commonly awards ScDs of some form but usually with a fuller title. A couple Swiss schools award just ScDs. More interesting is the UK where an ScD is a special semi-honorary degree for selected individuals. Rarely awarded to younger faculty. This situation could explain why Sheldon got a PhD and then a ScD. (In summary: Don’t use TBBT as a guide as to how any university remotely works.) ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/27 "2013-09-28T20:20:43Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > This particular page discusses the episode [The Tenure Turbulence](http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/The_Tenure_Turbulence), Should have called it “The Trouble with Tenure”. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/28 "2013-09-29T00:16:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As research faculty, they wouldn’t necessarily be teaching any classes, though Sheldon does teach at least one (taking it is one of the things one can do to remove demerits from him). But that’s not a class at Caltech, just a personal “class” Sheldon teaches to instruct others in how to behave properly around him (presumably things like “don’t touch food on my plate,” the action that caused Penny to get her second strike). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/29 "2013-09-29T02:28:32Z")
I’ll admit it could be interpreted that way, but that “class” is always in session, and everyone in Sheldon’s vicinity is automatically in it whether they want to be or not. It makes more sense if it means a class one can officially enroll in. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/30 "2013-09-29T02:49:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ll admit it could be interpreted that way, but that “class” is always in session, and everyone in Sheldon’s vicinity is automatically in it whether they want to be or not. It makes more sense if it means a class one can officially enroll in. Yes, I’m sure you can officially enroll in it, since we’re talking about Sheldon here, but it’s not a real university class, it’s one of Sheldon’s private things, like the Roommate Agreement and Relationship Agreement, or the live webchat he does every Tuesday called “Apartment Talk,” or his “Fun with Flags” series of Youtube videos. I think it’s pretty clear from the way they’re talking about it (granted, they only mention it three times) that Sheldon’s class to get “strikes” taken off your record early is supposed to be like the class you have to take to get points taken off your driving record early. It wouldn’t make sense if that were just an unrelated Caltech course that Sheldon happens to teach. Also, that would make the the 14th episode of season 4, “The Thespian Catalyst,” pretty strange, since it makes great sport of how bad Sheldon is at lecturing students, and how he wants to get better. Surely if he taught an actual class, that would have come up before, and they wouldn’t have to make him a “guest lecturer” to be put in that situation. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/31 "2013-09-29T04:14:22Z")
In Season Two, Episode 7, “The Panty Pinata Polarization,” Leonard mentions to Penny that she can take Sheldon’s “class” online, so I wonder if he is an online professor. Or maybe setting up an online version of “How to Successfully Cater to Sheldon’s Neuroses” appeals to him. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/32 "2013-09-29T05:48:46Z")
One more thing: In season 2 episode 7, where all this talk of the “class” occurs, Leonard asks Penny if she’d be open to taking Sheldon’s class. She slams the door in his face, and he says “You can take it online!” If they were talking about a real Caltech physics class and not a private “traffic school”-type class, would it even be possible for Penny to take it? I mean, wouldn’t that require Penny to apply for admission to Caltech and be accepted? Given their admissions statistics for incoming freshmen, it seems unlikely that she would ever be accepted. I just think the only way it possibly makes sense, and is funny, is if Sheldon is (as usual) setting himself up as an authority, and teaching a made-up class about following his “rules” … a class that will let you get strikes taken off your record early. Just like you can take a “traffic school” class to get points taken off your driving record early. Even though drivers are out in traffic every day and are exposed to that sort of “class” in driving, there’s still a special class you can take to get infractions wiped from your record. ETA: Ninja’d by **Kolka** , about the episode title and the online part. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/33 "2013-10-04T16:18:21Z")
In last night’s episode Amy said she went to Harvard. ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/34 "2013-10-04T17:13:40Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > In Season Two, Episode 7, “The Panty Pinata Polarization,” Leonard mentions to Penny that she can take Sheldon’s “class” online, so I wonder if he is an online professor. Or maybe setting up an online version of “How to Successfully Cater to Sheldon’s Neuroses” appeals to him. If I remember correctly, that episode was about Penny getting three strikes against her. A social rule of Sheldon’s requiring a friend who gets three strikes to take a class on what you did wrong and how not to do it in the future or else face banishment. That was the class she could take online, not some academic class. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/35 "2013-10-04T18:30:06Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > In last night’s episode Amy said she went to Harvard. If I recall correctly, Mayim Bialik could have gone to Harvard, since she was accepted there, but she chose to go to UCLA to stay close to home (and presumably so she could continue her acting career if she wanted to). So it’s almost autobiographical! ---
**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:** [October 4, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/36 "2013-10-04T18:49:12Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The show treats Caltech the way it treats the Cheesecake Factory and role-playing games. Something in the background that can be used for humor but is never remotely realistic for a second. And yet, their depiction of video games is often so spot on that they get ALL the details right. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/37 "2013-10-04T19:16:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Leonard and Sheldon probably didn’t get their PhDs at CalTech. It’s not uncommon for an academic’s first postdoc to be at the same school as their PhD, nor for a postdoc and a permanent position to be at the same school, but it _is_ uncommon for a school to hire one of their own graduates in a permanent position. It’s sometimes called “academic incest”: You instead want to draw people from other schools, to keep the ideas circulating and fresh. I can’t speak to CalTech practices, but I generally disagree with this statement. The number of MIT professors with MIT degrees is not small. Of course none of the main characters are professors anyway, but I would think professor counts as a permanent position as much as whatever their official positions are. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/38 "2013-10-04T19:39:44Z")
There is an episode where a whole bunch of Sheldon’s students slam his teaching style on some social media site, causing him to take acting lessons from Penny. Berkeley is in the right location, is prestigious and offers a doctorate program in microbiology. Maybe that’s where Bernadette got her mystery degree. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/39 "2013-10-04T21:44:24Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > There is an episode where a whole bunch of Sheldon’s students slam his teaching style on some social media site, causing him to take acting lessons from Penny. The episode you’re talking about is season 4 episode 14, “The Thespian Catalyst,” the one I mentioned in post 30. And Sheldon is a guest lecturer in that episode, as opposed to a regular teacher. There was also season 2 episode 6, “The Cooper-Nowitzky Theorem,” where grad student Ramona Nowitzki became infatuated with Sheldon and took over his life, and she met him after Sheldon and Leonard gave a presentation in front of a group of new grad students (or “labradoodles” as Sheldon calls them), so that wasn’t a regular lecture either. > [@](#): > > Berkeley is in the right location, is prestigious and offers a doctorate program in microbiology. Maybe that’s where Bernadette got her mystery degree. Isn’t Berkeley like 5-6 hours from Pasadena? The Cheesecake Factory in Pasadena was where Bernadette worked while going to grad school to finish her degree… ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836/40 "2013-10-04T21:51:53Z")
Incidentally, for a week or so before this thread started and up until the present, I’ve had all of the seasons of the Big Bang Theory playing on my TV in the background, 24/7. (I always keep a show on while working at my desk, so there’s some comforting background noise, and we keep it on at night so the regular noises of the cats and whatnot don’t wake up my wife. We usually play a single show over and over again until we get the urge to move on, and right now, it’s the Big Bang Theory’s turn.) Fun stuff! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-guys-on-bbt-get-their-ph-ds/669836.md?page=3)