Master's degree. Molecular Biology. I'm going for a PhD, because, let's face it, a Master's Degree isn't worth jack all these days. If you want even a reasonably well paying, stable job in research, you're going to need a PhD.
I honestly can't say that my education has actually made me any more intelligent - it has certainly made me more knowledgeable, and for that I'm grateful, but I can't say that I feel any "smarter" than anyone else. There's a system to beating academic work - you just need to use your memory, read questions carefully and build your volcabulary.
I can truthfully say that if I can get a science degree, YOU can get a science degree, provided you want one. A lot of people are scared off from a career in science because they believe "Only the eggheads can do well" - well, I have news for you: Many of the scientists I've worked with, while smart, aren't super-humanly intelligent. With a lot of hardwork and passion, I figure most people could become scientists. You CAN be taught to think in a scientific manner, and good universities will provided courses designed to do exactly that.
Higher Education is not useless - knowledge, for the sake of knowledge, is noble goal - but it's also not a sign of superiority. Yes, getting a science degree is not easy, but too many people I've worked with somehow believe that just because they have a science degree it marks them out as being "special" from the rest of the population.
Having a higher degree is also not a sign of infallibility. I've been wrong many times. We all have been wrong, it's part of the human experience. Also, having a degree in science might give me some weight when I discuss matters related to science (such as evolution, genetics, proteins and cellular biology) but it doesn't actually make my arguments in other fields automatically correct. This is a big mistake many academics make: They believe that just because they have a degree in a complicated field, such as, say engineering, it gives them the right to wade into other complex fields which they know little about. It really irrtates me when engineers (it's mostly engineers) start to question biological theory. It also irritates me when some biologists start wading into other fields like pharmacokinetics, while they know nothing of pharmacokinetics. Biologists also, like all humans, tend to view things through the lense of their own experience. This can be supremely frustrating - especially when some big shot geneticist starts trash talking developmental or bone biology folks for being "slow" with their research, not taking the time to realize that research in other fields is not the same as research their field.
Protip: If you don't have a degree in that field, YOU'RE NOT QUALIFIED TO MAKE ARGUMENTS IN THAT FIELD. So many goddamn scientists and engineers do this. If you're gonna start talking crap about evolution, READ A TEXTBOOK ON EVOLUTION FIRST! Just because you are good at math or chemistry does not mean you know everything. Engineering or chemistry or maths is not "harder" than biology, and just because you have a degree in it does not make your arguments automatically correct.
A lot of engineers and chemists do this with regard to climate science - few climate skeptics have degrees in meteorology or climate science - rather, their degrees are usually in other, unrelated fields. I really wish scientists would learn to stick to their fields. If you're gonna comment on someone else's field, take the time to educate yourself first in that field. All branches of science are extremely, EXTREMELY complex and take years of work to fully master. Have respect for fellow academics in other fields, by realizing that their subjects are just as complex as yours.
