Seven Degrees of Separation

It's that time of the year again when I have a bunch of university work to do, so I took the day to catalogue some more of the educational qualifications of some of my favourite fictional characters!

Honourable mentions:

Brian Griffin from Family Guy: One paper short of completing his BA from Brown University (he was too honest to cheat). Still working on that novel...?

Rupert Giles from Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Incomplete history degree from Oxford. Giles dropped out of Oxford to rebel against the family tradition of being a Watcher to the Slayers.

Arnold Judas Rimmer from Red Dwarf: BSC and SSC (Bronze Swimming Certificate and Silver Swimming Certificate respectively)

Anna Greens from Failure: Certificate in Google Adwords.

Bertie Wooster from Jeeves and Wooster: Unknown degree from Oxford (possibly Scriptural Studies, taking Latin as this was a mandatory subject for all undergraduates at the time), unknown if completed. Wooster was also educated at Eton before attending university.

Clarice Starling from The Silence of the Lambs: BSc (presumably) double-majoring in psychology and criminology from the University of Virginia, graduating with honours.

Walter White from Breaking Bad: BSc (presumably) majoring in chemistry from Caltech. As a New Mexico high school teacher at the start of the series, he would also have been certified in Secondary Education (which involves 24 credit hours in a Secondary Education program including student teaching, 3 credit hours of reading education, and 24 credit hours in a specific content area, 12 of which must be upper level classes).

Frank Underwood from House of Cards: LLB from Harvard Law School.

Perry Cox from Scrubs: MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (interestingly, the character of Gregory House was inspired by Perry Cox and also attended John Hopkins). Cox also attended Hale University, a fictionalized version of Yale University.

Dr Evil from Austin Powers: MD from Evil Medical School.

Bunsen Honeydew from The Muppets: PhD or MD (unknown which, or both) from Carnegie Mellonhead University.

Temperance "Bones" Brennan from Bones: PhDs (one each in anthropology, forensic anthropology and kinesiology)

Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth from Futurama: Unknown, but he does hold a tenured post at Mars University (when asked what he is teaching, he responds: "The same thing I teach every semester, the mathematics of quantum neutrino fields. I made up the title so no student would dare take it"). The title of 'professor' derives from one's teaching or research post at a university (a professor is a "person who professes" in their field). A professor usually holds at least one higher degree (Master's level or higher) as the series is primarily set in the year 3000AD, the standards of academia may be different than modern ones.

Emmett “Doc” Brown from Back to the Future: PhD or SD (institution unknown).

Ross Eustace Gellar from Friends: PhD in paleontology from Columbia University.

Barbara Gordon from Batman/Batgirl: PhD in library science, likely from Gotham University.

Amy Wong from Futurama: PhD in Applied Physics (received in the episode “That Darn Katz!”)

Robert Langdon from The Da Vinci Code: PhD (presumably) in Symbology from Princeton University. As a professor at Harvard University, the least Langdon could hold would be a PhD. Symbology is not a real academic discipline.

Charles Francis Xavier (popularly known as Professor X) from X-Men: BSc (presumably) age of 16 from Harvard University. In graduate studies, he receives PhDs in Genetics, Biophysics, Psychology, and Anthropology with a two-year residence a Pembroke College, Oxford University. He also receives an MD in Psychiatry while spending several years in London

Gregory “Greg” House from House: MD with a double-speciality in infectious disease and nephrology. Completed at University of Michigan Medical School (where he would meet his future employer, Dr. Lisa Cuddy, MD) after he was expelled for cheating during an exam at John Hopkins Medical School.

Lisa Cuddy from House: MD specializing in endocrinology from the University of Michigan Medical School where she would meet the man she would later hire as Head of Diagnostics and date, Greg House.

James Evan Wilson (the Cy Young of medicine) from House: MD specializing in oncology, an undergraduate degree (presumably a Bsc) from McGill University. Wilson references having degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.

Eric Foreman from House: MD specializing in neurology from John Hopkins Medical School where his future employer Greg House attended. Undergraduate degree (presumably Bsc) from Columbia University.

Robert Chase from House: MD having a double-speciality in sports medicine and critical care, Bsc in pre-med from the University of Sydney.

Allison Cameron from House: MD specializing in immunology (institution unknown).

Dr. Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, PhD from The Big Bang Theory: PhD (likely in particle physics), Bsc from Princeton.

Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper, from The Big Bang Theory: BS, MS, MA, PhD, and ScD

Dr. Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali from The Big Bang Theory: PhD (likely in astrophysics)

Mr. Howard Joel Wolowitz from The Big Bang Theory: M.Eng