History Main / PhonyDegree

* Disgraced Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias titled himself "Dr." despite having only honorary diplomas from a handful of Evangelical colleges. His bio claimed that he had been "a visiting scholar at Cambridge University," which sounded prestigious until it was revealed that actually he had just spent a summer in Cambridge, UK with a church group and listened in on a few university lectures without ever enrolling.

* ''Film/BootCamp'': According to Ben--who researched Hail and Camp Serenity before coming to the island--Dr. Hail isn't even a real doctor but bought his doctorate on the internet.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Dr. Doom is technically this, since he never finished college before his disfiguring accident[[note]]Latverian law demands that I clarify that said accident was all Reed Richards' fault[[/note]]. Instead, after conquering his homeland of Latveria, he simply awarded himself a degree.
* ''ComicBook/MarvelNowWhat'': A parody strip accuses [[Franchise/XMen Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Children]] of being one of these. "Like Phoenix University. But with an ''actual'' phoenix!"

'''Doofenshmirtz:''' [holding his diploma] They don't just give these out to anybody, you know.\\

Just one problem -- the person making these demands didn't actually ''earn'' that degree. It's either from a "diploma mill" (a usually-unaccredited school where the only requirement for a degree is "did the check clear?") or an honorary degree.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Dr. Doom is technically this, since he never finished college before his disfiguring accident[[note]]Latverian law demands that I clarify that said accident was all Reed Richards fault[[/note]]. Instead, after conquering his homeland of Latveria, he simply awarded himself a degree.

* During the period in ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' when Peppermint Patty was under the impression Snoopy was a "funny-looking kid with a big nose" who lived in Charlie Brown's guest cottage, she at one point manages to take an ''obedience class'' Snoopy recomended without noticing anything odd about it, and leaves firmly convinced that this certificate means she doesn't need to go to school any more, because she's graduated.

* An inversion in 1997's ''Film/{{Bean}}'' movie. In order to foist Bean upon the Americans for a few months, the National Gallery of Britain and two of their prominent art historians give him a glowing recommendation, so the Americans assume he is an academic doctor, [[NotThatKindOfDoctor and at one point his museum ID badge gets him mistaken for a medical doctor]]. His actual job is...somewhat unclear...but might have once been intended as museum security or a guide of some sort (He himself describes his job as "look[ing] at the paintings"). Bean himself is oblivious and does try to correct people, but in the end he stops bothering.

* ''Literature/HorseheadBoy'' by Rory Barnes has a variant: Rachel and Gazza both have legitimate medical degrees with brilliant marks, but were prevented from getting into the neurosurgery program they wanted due to a classmate's scheming. They end up getting a neurosurgery qualification from a correspondence school in Arizona, which only enabled them to find work with a MadScientist operating out of an abandoned sausage factory. The kicker is that it ''worked'', with both becoming sufficiently talented surgeons to be able to remove the brain of an effectively dead teenager, transfer it into a vat, keep him alive and hook him up to numerous cybernetic devices to allow him to see, hear, talk and move again. [[spoiler:They're also able to transfer him into the body of the now braindead aforementioned classmate and give him a somewhat normal life again. And in the epilogue, they're able to go back to medical school and get legitimate neurosurgery degrees.]]
* ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz'': Professor H.M. Woggle-Bug, T.E. "H.M" stands for "Highly Magnified" and "T.E." means "Thoroughly Educated." In-Universe everyone treats him as a learned professor - however, his only education was spending three years in a one-room schoolhouse as a non-Magnified bug surreptitiously listening to Professor Nowitall's lectures. He gave himself the T.E. "degree" after he became H.M.
* Zeb Carter, from ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast'', twists this trope into a pretzel. He holds a doctorate from a legitimate university, and met all the academic requirements for it. He also admits to the other protagonists that he got the degree by gaming the system, to show that degrees ''per se'' are worthless.

* Despite being a legit education center, private college Universidad Santa María in Venezuela got a fame of dispensing these after an infamous scandal in TheEighties when it was discovered that one Ms. Blanca Ibañez, secretary and mistress of the then president Jaime Lusinchi, had received her Licenciature in Law barely weeks after receiving her High School diploma. All of this, while she was a high government officer in her thirties.
* Creator/ScottWolter, host of the pseudo-documentary ''Series/AmericaUnearthed'' had an honorary Master's Degree from the University of Minnesota on his resume until 2012 and had mentioned it as part of his credentials in media appearances when it was discovered by a [[http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/scott-wolters-apparently-non-existent-degree blogger]] that the university in question had never granted an honorary degree to Wolter. Wolter explained it as a token of sympathy from his professors after the death of his father and was given to him in the form of a whipped-cream topped coffee. Wolter has since removed it from his resume and ceased using it as an academic credential. It may be the first instance of an honorary honorary degree.

Compare to BackAlleyDoctor, QuackDoctor, and PhonyVeteran. Contrast to WorthlessForeignDegree, which is academically valid, just from the wrong country. Since many of these degrees are doctorates, this can overlap with NotThatKindOfDoctor. See UncertifiedExpert for when someone doesn't have the degree or license for something they are clearly competent in, and CorrespondenceCourse for a (sometimes) more legitimate but still not entirely respectable way of acquiring a qualification.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode [[Recap/PhineasAndFerbIScreamYouScream "I Scream, You Scream"]], Dr. Doofenshmirtz's daughter Vanessa questions her dad calling himself "Dr.", to which Doof shows Vanessa his diploma, with the price tag still left hanging. Provides the page quote as seen above.

** Homer is seen putting a diploma on his wall from Oral Roberts University. He crosses out Ned Flanders' name to substitute his own.

Compare to BackAlleyDoctor and PhonyVeteran. Contrast to WorthlessForeignDegree, which is academically valid, just from the wrong country. Since many of these degrees are doctorates, this can overlap with NotThatKindOfDoctor. See UncertifiedExpert for when someone doesn't have the degree or license for something they are clearly competent in, and CorrespondenceCourse for a (sometimes) more legitimate but still not entirely respectable way of acquiring a qualification.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Helping Handis", Francine earns a medical degree from a diploma mill. She then proceeds to work as a doctor for the Handicapped Mafia, despite having few medical skills.

* Becomes part of [[Film/BackToTheFuture Doc Brown]]'s diss against [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] in ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'''s "Doc Brown vs. Doctor Who".

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' both plays this trope straight and averts it simultaneously with Billy Quizboy's medical degree. While it was provided to him illegally by the supervillain lawyer Monstroso as payment for his services, his medical expertise makes him fully qualified to practice medicine. His lack of a legitimate degree is largely the result of supervillain interference in his life that prevented him from completing his diploma on his own.
** Also, Dr Venture, often addressed as "Doc", actually doesn't have a legitimate doctorate; he's a college dropout who acquired an honorary doctorate from a Tijuana community college (one where the academic standards are honestly a little too good for him). His tenant and friend Dr Orpheus also only acquired his doctorate from "a higher power than a mere college professor" (though he apparently holds a legitimate undergraduate [[ADegreeInUseless degree in Communication, with a Minor in Women's Studies from a community college]]), which is implied to mean it's some mystical mumbo-jumbo that counts for absolutely nothing, and yet [[HeyYou addresses Dr Venture as "Mr Venture"]]; he apparently looks down on bogus doctorates [[HypocriticalHumor besides his own]].

** The season 5 premiere establishes that Greendale College is barely a step away from being a diploma mill. They have a quota on how many degrees they have to hand out each year to maintain accreditation and funding. To meet the quota they will give degrees out to people who should never be allowed to graduate. A major bridge collapse is attributed to an incompetent architect who only got his degree from Greendale due to this practice. The final season reveals that they once almost graduated a dog (A ''normal'' dog, not some sort of super-intelligent TV character) because many of their classes are only graded on attendance, and the college only withheld his diploma because of an outstanding library fine.

* ''[[ComicBook/FantasticFour]]'': Dr. Doom is technically this, since he never finished college before his disfiguring accident[[note]]Latverian law demands that I clarify that said accident was all Reed Richards fault[[/note]]. Instead, after conquering his homeland of Latveria, he simply awarded himself a degree.

* Fantastic in ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'' was able to bluff his way into a position of power at the Helios One Solar Power Plant because, when asked him if he knew anything about Theoretical Physics, he responded that he had a [[ExactWords theoretical degree in physics]].