I find your tangent interesting. I agree with much of what you said and never assume that someone without a B.A/S. is less intelligent than someone with a M.A/S. I am generally impressed by a PhD though, especially if earned before age thirty.
In the past year, I served on an interview board. The applicants primarily had MBAs and other management type post graduate degrees with perfect GPAs. The two 3.something GPAs belonged to the applicant with a MS in biology and the applicant with a MA/S from a prestigious university. The required standardized test showed great variance amongst all with the two non-perfect GPA applicants at the top of that stratification.
