No offense Chaoscat, but I don’t think you have any idea what is involved in getting a Ph.D. You make medicine out to be distinctly different than Herpetology. Why? Medicine is one of the shortest doctorate degrees one can obtain and admits far more applicants than other doctorate programs. Most other doctorates require an average of 6 years (post bachelor’s degree) to complete. Many things learned in graduate school such as advanced research methods and advanced statistics do not become quickly outdated as you implied. Many Ph.D.s don’t even work in their given fields because their knowledge is so valued by other industries. Many end up as consultants for government agencies, think tanks, consultant firms and other private industries. The day you meet someone who is self taught conducting research for the CIA or for a major university will never come. Show me a self taught person with tenure at a research university or a 7 digit government research grant. No one should be belittled for not having certain levels of formal education, but please, please do not belittle those of us who have spent countless hours and effort obtaining our degrees. My department was recently awarded 7 million dollars in grant money! It is ridicules to suggest that this type of money is given to us just because we have a “sheet of paper” as you stated.

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• Completely Unscientific Assumptions...................... much more............ - Hoppy, Fri Feb 18 07:41:27 2005
• exactly!!! everybody wants to be a true herpetologist without any of the - CE, Fri Feb 18 08:04:43 2005
• RE: exactly!!! everybody wants to be a true herpetologist without any of the - PBM, Fri Feb 18 09:02:31 2005
• RE: regarding locality bred boas and their usefulness in science... - g.gartner, Fri Feb 18 12:33:54 2005
• RE: exactly!!! everybody wants to be a true herpetologist without any of th - chaoscat, Fri Feb 18 16:02:51 2005
• well maybe I should read a few books and then perform open heart surgery - CE, Fri Feb 18 16:32:25 2005
• RE: well maybe I should read a few books and then perform open heart surger - chaoscat, Fri Feb 18 16:37:20 2005
• RE: well maybe I should read a few books and then perform open heart surger - callmedaddie, Fri Feb 18 16:59:39 2005
• RE: exactly!!! everybody wants to be a true herpetologist without any of th - callmedaddie, Fri Feb 18 16:53:22 2005
• RE: exactly!!! everybody wants to be a true herpetologist without any of th - chaoscat, Fri Feb 18 17:01:48 2005
• RE: exactly!!! everybody wants to be a true herpetologist without any of th - callmedaddie, Fri Feb 18 17:16:03 2005
• RE: exactly!!! everybody wants to be a true herpetologist without any of th - chaoscat, Fri Feb 18 17:39:17 2005
• RE: exactly!!! everybody wants to be a true herpetologist without any of th - callmedaddie, Fri Feb 18 17:57:31 2005
• RE: exactly!!! everybody wants to be a true herpetologist without any of th - chaoscat, Fri Feb 18 18:49:43 2005
• RE: what constitutes a herpetologist? Plus, issues of scale in the great boa debate! - g.gartner, Fri Feb 18 18:53:22 2005
• Chaoscat.... - callmedaddie, Fri Feb 18 17:33:00 2005
• RE: Chaoscat.... - chaoscat, Fri Feb 18 17:52:09 2005
• Chaoscat.... - chicagopsych, Fri Feb 18 20:41:03 2005
• Dang it, Jim, why did you have to go and.... - sonoranreptile, Fri Feb 18 08:05:39 2005
• great post!.......more - chicagopsych, Fri Feb 18 09:58:51 2005
• I'm het for, "My Mom." Proven genetics...roflmao - snakepimp, Sat Feb 19 20:48:31 2005
• I am not a Phd, but ... *PIC* - snakepimp, Mon Feb 21 09:35:06 2005
• RE: I am not a Phd., but ... I do have poor punctuation. n/p - snakepimp, Mon Feb 21 09:36:10 2005
• I agree 100%, but your clear, pure logic is probably due to you being into - tcdrover, Fri Feb 18 10:04:30 2005
• Both agree and disagree - callmedaddie, Fri Feb 18 13:30:27 2005