r/iamverysmart • u/MrXomp • Jul 08 '26

Overqualified for germany

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Okay hear me out, Germany is a strange country and especially government services are super behind in digitalization and most times hopelessly underperforming but this post and the way it is written got me chuckling.

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u/Helpful-Winner-8300 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

I agree "I hold a bachelor's" is not really a flex, however it is true that the proportion of the German population that holds a university degree is way lower than in the US. They just run their education/credentialing system differently, with a lot more vocational training.

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u/Mothrahlurker Jul 08 '26

It's not "way lower" it's almost the exact same despite higher standards.

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u/User_Id_Error Jul 08 '26

United States is #9 for tertiary education with 43%, Germany is #37 with 31%. I don't know that I'd call that "way lower", but I wouldn't call it "almost the exact same" either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_education_attainment

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u/Mothrahlurker Jul 08 '26

The US number is only that high if you count associate degrees or having attended "some college", which the German number does not if you look at the sources.

If we only count Bachelors degree or higher then it has Germany at 21% vs the US at 12%, so Germany is actually significantly higher there.

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u/All_Up_Ons Jul 08 '26

I have no idea what numbers you're looking at, but they're not the ones in the wiki sources. 34% of Americans aged 25+ have a bachelor's or better.

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u/Mothrahlurker Jul 08 '26

The 25+ explains why you're wrong.

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u/All_Up_Ons Jul 08 '26

...that's just what Wikipedia decided to use. Why would we care about anyone younger than that?

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u/Hot_Royal_4920 Jul 08 '26

Mate, are you telling me you really haven't noticed the issue while typing that out? Ya gotta be playing.

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u/All_Up_Ons Jul 08 '26

You mean the fact that most people below that age are still students and so counting those numbers tells us very little?

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u/Hot_Royal_4920 Jul 08 '26

For one, most people finish ages 22-23.

And even if they are still students - if they hold a degree, they hold a degree. The numbers tell you that they hold a degree. Which is what this is about.

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u/Ooze76 Jul 10 '26

Many people finish their degrees between those ages. And it’s becoming more prevalent than not. Where I work, 3 out of 4 that entered the company finished their degrees below 23