This cat is a fraud!

Among the unwonderful schools we've found over the years at Degreeinfo.com that would probably be happy to issue a diploma to a kitty, there was

-- a "university" run out of a janitorial service office in Connecticut

-- a group of 4 "universities" operating out of a mobile home in a trailer park in North Carolina

-- a "law school" operated out of the back of an insurance agency in Kansas

-- a university with the same name as a legitimate school, but operated out of a wooden lean-to shed in the backyard of the proprietor's home in rural Pennsylvania

For most of these schools, the only evidence of academic achievement necessary was a Visa card with enough credit to pay for the degree. :)

Extra catnip to the first cat who attends on a football scholarship.

Some businesses-masquerading-as-schools have gotten sophisticated and have elaborate fake websites (sometimes lifted, with search-and-replace school names, from real schools.) Others set up fake accreditors to "accredit" their fake school. Still others make you do a tiny amount of work (write a book report on a 300 page popular book) to earn a Ph.D. All are worthless, but it is thought to be a billion-dollar-a-year industry.

At degreeinfo.com, there's a message archive dating back 8+ years that has information on just about every school, legitimate and fake.... including stories of animals with degrees and the like. It's sad how often otherwise intelligent people get suckered because a school *looks* legitimate, and equally sad how often people will knowingly get a fake degree, expecting it to help their career... but later having the fake degree get exposed, resulting in loss of job and often tarnishing an otherwise good career.

(Full disclosure: I am one of the owners of degreeinfo.com)

My cat fruitbat is currently going to school at night to get her GED and her associates in business management!

@Smashville_now with Monster Energy:

hey! you tryin to use some of that fancy book-larnin from your haigh-falutin' "accredited" college.

@Blueskylaw: Not my rabbit. Not since he took a trip to the vet a few years ago.

@Ayarkay: The majority of pigs in higher education tend to go into drama. They're such hams.

@Cogito Ergo Bibo:

You guys are right--Harvar, Stanford, et al. look out!

@Veeber: Trident layers!? No one ever pays me in gum. :(

@MostlyHarmless: Link/cite it to itself and create an endless loop!

@NatalieErin: That's experience for a real college. Not diploma mill college. This cat may be genius material!

@squinko:

Rabbits are not hard workers, they're always screwing around.

@squinko: The problem is all the dogs coming in and taking jobs away from the cats. Oh, and they smell bad, too.

@pecan 3.14159265: You mean I've been eating brain food?

@subtlefrog: You may have just decided what Alfred's field of study will be. If there is anything Alfred can do, it's argue.

At first I was thinking Linguistics.. but you may have nailed it better than that.

@Michael Belisle: Meh...I deleted that bit. Doesn't belong in the lead anywho.

i guess you are right having that many baby bunnies is definitely a full time job!

@Cameraman:

OMG!!! you have laughing so hard out here!!!

that said if i told my cat she couldnt "haz" something, i would be in the ER for bites and scratches!!

@Taliskan: I second that.

@subtlefrog: A list of all of them if you're interested...

[en.wikiquote.org]

@dadelus: Ahh, good point. Good, good point. But then again, wouldn't hamsters, mice, gerbils, and rabbits end up shredding their homework for bedding?

"now there's a Wikipedia page to keep track of animals with fraudulent diplomas"

Ahem...this article's been there since December 7, 2004.

@squinko: You're missing the obvious here. Dogs are admitted, but they don't last long in academia because they keep eating their own homework.

@subtlefrog: Well if you're going to include Pinky and the Brain, squinko is going to have to add a provision for labratory mice. Clearly, work experience has to factor in the admission process.

And now for a cat rap.


+ Watch video

I am thinking Stewie (6 months old) should get a degree in Otology

[img689.imageshack.us]

and Bella (7 Months old) should get a degree in psychology because she is crazy

[img689.imageshack.us]

"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so Brain, but the burlap chafes me so."

Particular attention is paid to deleting articles about internet cartoons. No ma'am, you shall not read about Charlie the Unicorn on Wikipedia. Unicorns don't exist, even if 42 million people have seen him.

@subtlefrog: But what are the hamsters and gerbils working for? Do they generate electricity? If not, they're just spinning around for nothing. At least rabbits understand the futility of this. Rabbits make the best agricultural engineers because of their focus on greens and their stake in a good carrot crop.

Clearly, Maru is meant to be a structural engineer.

@treimel: Wait... your cat has experience sleeping, vomiting, and destroying someone else's furniture, and you don't think she's ready for higher education? You clearly did not go to the right college!

@Michael Belisle: Wikipedia is the ultimate time-wasting resource. A few weeks ago, I spent an entire afternoon reading articles on memes. It's amazing how long the Leeroy Jenkins page is, considering how relatively obscure the meme is.

This is really mean, you know. How could the pet owners put their cats through such shame?

I imagine that Colby Nolan was extremely proud of himself when they told him he qualified for an Executive MBA. Now he knows it was all a lie.

Shame on them.

@Cameraman: Well, you can argue that cats make the best linguists. They did, after all, create their own language.

I HAZ SPITE.

Ironic, as most cats on the internet have terrible spelling and grammar skills.

Seriously, guys, cheezburgar? No you cannot "haz" one until you can spell it properly.

@Zenatrul: There's a cat down the hall who won't even lift a paw for less than a Big Mac. It's insane how these smart cats are so entitled.

@squinko: Well, actually, they are wild rabbits. All or at least most of those rabbits are descended from rabbits that were domesticated, and were released as pets in the 1970s. That part was obviously a bad thing, but these rabbits thrived in the wild and the current population of rabbits look domestic, but are actually all wild.

@MostlyHarmless: All of them! I demand a Wikipedia page full of cat photos!

@MostlyHarmless: Some rabbits choose not to have families. You can't stereotype.

Also, isnt it a pain when you search for something so you can find info to put on wikipedia, and then all that google gives you is wikipedia results?

Also: "Hmm... this article looks like it could use some more info. Let me check it out... on wikiped- UGH! nevermind!".

Everyone knows it but they're just afraid to say it.

@Donathius:

Either that or a Sex Ed degree so she could...

...BaDumDum

These diploma mill cats are giving real degree-earning animals a terrible name. Also, campus photos: [cuteoverload.com]

@pecan 3.14159265: Bunnies are smart, but they have poor study rabbits.

@treimel: University of Phoenix - Kitty Campus?

Well, this is all well and good, but I don't think my cat is ready for diploma-mill level work. Frankly her life experience amounts mostly to scratching furniture and vomiting hair-balls. And sleeping. Always with the sleeping.

I demand a remedial diploma mill for "special" kitties.

@Zenatrul: And Cheesburgerz.

@squinko: What about the bunnies? They're smart!

Thats one smart looking cat in glasses. I wonder if he would do my taxes and let me pay him in scratches, pettings and catnip.

Maybe Liberal Arts for Phoenix.

In several cases, pet animals (most often cats[citation needed]) have successfully been "enrolled" in suspected diploma mills

Ah, Wikipedia. Is there no topic about which you won't argue?

I propose that someone edit the article to state that elephants are most common type of animal to be enrolled in diploma mills.

I let out a very audible gasp when I saw the cat photo. That is just the cutest cat photo you guys have ever, ever posted. Holy crap.

I have a problem with the Wikipedia page - there are no photos. Anyone want to spend the afternoon helping me Google these cats to find photos so I can edit the Wikipedia page and add photos?

@RecordStoreToughGuy_IsBeing(pur)SuedByAMonster: I love this thread.