A Perpetual Student Pursues Education to the Nth Degree


Benjamin B. Bolger's story seems like a hoax. At age 32, he says, he has just earned his 11th advanced degree: a doctorate that Harvard University awarded him on Thursday.

He distributed a news release for the occasion, proclaiming himself the most credentialed person "in modern history." The release lists 10 master's degrees, in various disciplines, from Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, Columbia (two), Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Brandeis, and Skidmore—as well as 14 other colleges where he has taught in the past decade.

Mr. Bolger's unlikely story has another twist: He is dyslexic. He titles his tale "The Boy Who Couldn't Read Gets a Doctorate from Harvard."

Proud but winsome, Mr. Bolger is an education addict—and his résumé is real.

"I don't think he's looking for trophies to put on his mantelpiece," says Sheldon Solomon, a professor of psychology at Skidmore College. "I just think he has a childish—in the very best sense of the word—interest in everything."

After finishing an associate degree at Muskegon Community College and a bachelor's at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Mr. Bolger went on to earn a master's or two a year, while his mother read aloud his assignments and transcribed his essays. He has studied sociology, education, and real estate, among other subjects, and juggled a few teaching jobs at a time.

"I'm kind of an intense person," Mr. Bolger says. "I guess not kind of. I am an intense person."

In part, he is defying the low expectations he says teachers had of him as a child. And he is driven by a keen sense of mortality.

When he was 2 years old, his family car was struck by a drunken driver. The accident nearly killed his parents and left them physically disabled. "I saw life as being very short," Mr. Bolger says, "and I wanted to make the most of it."

Caring for his father, who has a malignant brain tumor, slowed his progress on his doctorate, from Harvard's Graduate School of Design. But Mr. Bolger kept at it, writing his dissertation on public participation in large-scale construction projects like Boston's Big Dig. As of now, he has six more master's or doctoral degrees pending—in fields like higher-education administration, international development, and organizational dynamics. This fall he will take a yearlong job as a visiting assistant professor of sociology at the College of William and Mary.

And after that? "I'm very tempted to find a tenure-track position," says Mr. Bolger, who aspires to be a college president. At the same time, he is attracted to politics and public service. "I'm trying to decide which direction to go," he says.


'A Dyslexic Doogie Howser'

Mr. Bolger was an unusually curious baby, says his mother. When he started school, he would begin the year in gifted programs but struggle to read and end up in special education. He was diagnosed as dyslexic in first grade, and his family moved around Michigan trying various public and private schools. In fourth grade, Mr. Bolger says, his progress hit a wall, and his mother, Loretta J. Bolger, decided to home-school him.

The retired teacher took her son to museums and historical sites. She never allowed him to think that he wasn't smart, says Kay Howell, a co-founder of the Michigan Dyslexia Institute, a service organization. When he was 12, Mr. Bolger began taking classes at Muskegon Community College. He considered himself "a dyslexic Doogie Howser," he says.

At 17, Mr. Bolger transferred to the University of Michigan, where he majored in sociology and finished his bachelor's degree in two years. He listened to textbooks on tape whenever he could and requested special accommodations in his courses: computer-based exams, for example, and extra time for assignments. When he graduated, he moved to Washington for an internship in the press office of the Clinton White House. Then he started law school at Yale University.

The volume of reading there overwhelmed him, and the techniques he had developed to manage his dyslexia didn't hold up. After a semester and a half and a few failing grades, Mr. Bolger left Yale. He began an intensive instructional program for students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities, Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. Then, intrigued by the University of Oxford's tutorial system, he moved to England.

His mother went with him, serving as his reader and scribe in a master's program in sociology. "As a mother," she says, "it's one's responsibility to nurture a child."

Mr. Bolger thrived at Oxford and was accepted to a doctoral program there, as well as a master's program at the University of Cambridge. "When I was contemplating which do I turn down," he says, "it occurred to me that that may not be necessary." But after completing the Cambridge master's, he became restless and enrolled in Stanford University's Graduate School of Education.

Then Mr. Bolger's crusade began in earnest. After the master's at Stanford, he started another one in education at Columbia University, where he was attracted to the program's focus on politics. He became interested in how property taxes finance public education, and he picked up another master's in real estate.

"I don't know if there's any secret Ben Bolger strategy beyond a lot of hard work," he says. Over the past decade, he has spent about 10 hours a day studying and five teaching. He has worked as an adjunct instructor or a teaching assistant at one college in California, three in New York, and 10 in Massachusetts. He also taught a few online courses for the University of Phoenix. "By a few," Mr. Bolger says, "I mean about 50."

The jobs helped to finance his tuition—and made him feel as if he was giving back, he says. Where he saw gaps in his knowledge, he pursued more master's degrees.

"He came to Skidmore very unassuming," says Mr. Solomon, the psychology professor. "He wanted the opportunity to explore certain questions."

As part of Skidmore's program in liberal studies, Mr. Bolger chose an independent study in psychological trauma, for which Mr. Solomon suggested five to 10 books. "Ben sent me back a list, four pages single spaced. It had to have 10 times what I had proposed," Mr. Solomon says. "I was like, 'Hey, it's your nickel, man. You'll probably be in this program for a few years just doing this course.' And he did it in one summer."

Mr. Bolger listens to some books aloud—from live readers or as digital audio files—and others he skims. "He has a really fine eye for extracting critical details from very difficult texts," says Mr. Solomon. Mr. Bolger dictates most compositions, and his mother, girlfriend, a volunteer, or a hired stenographer types them.

A few of his professors contacted for this article did not know Mr. Bolger was dyslexic. "I'm still a slow reader, and I'm still a tremendously horrible speller," he says. "But I've found out ways to become gradually more independent."

With his finely honed strategies, Mr. Bolger mines master's programs for all he can. When he pays by the semester, rather than the course, he banks credits and transfers—but never double counts—them, he says.

"If you can take an unlimited number of credits ... then why not?" he asks. "I like to take advantage of the resources that are there. What's the alternative? Go home and eat pizza and watch a rerun of Knight Rider?"


Cheating Time

Mr. Bolger hardly sleeps. "You really can, psychologically, just will yourself into staying awake," he says. He usually gets four hours of sleep a night—between midnight and 4 a.m.—and he encourages others to give up at least two. "It's good, trust me," he says. "You'll find that you end up doing a lot more."

Mr. Bolger also figured out a few years ago that he could save an hour by eating just one (big) meal a day. But that didn't turn out to be such a good strategy, he says. He gained 140 pounds.

He has lost some of the weight, and his quest to cheat time continues. "Even when I am so-called relaxing," he says, "I tend to overschedule myself."

Some of his students have noticed. Several comments about Mr. Bolger on RateMyProfessors.com, from apparent students at Boston University, Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts at Boston, say he habitually canceled classes or cut them short. "He actually had his mother come show a movie every Thursday!" wrote someone from the University of Massachusetts.

Mr. Bolger offers a careful explanation. His mother was also an adjunct instructor, he says, at Suffolk University. "There were one or two occasions when I did want to show a video," he says. "I may have asked her to show that, but it was in the context of her being a professor."

Other former students have raved about Mr. Bolger. He drew them out and challenged them to think critically, says Darrell Penta, who took three courses with Mr. Bolger at the University of Massachusetts. "It's like this magic powder sprinkled on the class," Mr. Penta says in an interview. "You know that you've learned something." A couple of professors at Harvard, where Mr. Bolger was a peripatetic teaching fellow, remember that their students loved him. He won several teaching awards that were based on student evaluations there.


Official Fan Club

Mr. Bolger presents himself with characteristic flair. He loves telling stories, especially about his brushes with fame, but he puts people at ease, says Mr. Penta. "He isn't the kind of guy who would say, 'When I was at Harvard,' 'When I was at Oxford,' 'When I was at Stanford.'"

As he wrote his dissertation, Mr. Bolger was a model student, says Jerold S. Kayden, professor of urban planning and design at Harvard. "He was fully and completely open to criticism, taking it in the best possible spirit, taking it seriously, and reworking what he had done," Mr. Kayden says.

Sidney Verba, a professor of government at Harvard who served on Mr. Bolger's dissertation committee, was stunned to learn that he had so many degrees. "You've got to be kidding me," he said. "Good grief."

But the same Mr. Bolger tirelessly accumulates markers of status. In addition to the degrees from brand-name institutions, he has collected hundreds of photos of himself with politicians and celebrities. His personal Web site includes pictures with Al Gore, John Kerry, Lance Armstrong, MC Hammer, and Dr. Ruth.

Mr. Bolger also started his own fan club on Facebook. Two groups of students had done so already, he explains: "I decided that I had to create an official one, so I could have some oversight."

The official fan club has 79 members, but Paul Marzagalli is not among them. "God bless him, I think he's a great guy," says Mr. Marzagalli, a former classmate at Boston College. "But I would never ever join a fan club started by its subject."

Thomas J. Linneman thinks he knows why some people are taken aback by Mr. Bolger. Reviewing the multiple-degree-earner's résumé prompted the chairman of the sociology department at William and Mary to reflect. "We're supposedly idealistically in this business because we're lifelong learners," he says. "Why am I not pursuing another degree?"

Mr. Bolger's path may be enviable—or excessive.

He compares himself to an automobile enthusiast who drives a Bentley but lusts after an Aston Martin. That, he says, is how he feels about learning. "I'm constantly aware of other options," he says. "I've taken it to an extreme, but there's nothing unhealthy in being well educated."

Following is a list of Mr. Bolger's graduate degrees.
University of Oxford (1997, M.Sc., sociology)
University of Cambridge (1998, M.Phil., sociology and politics of modern society)
Stanford University (2000, A.M., education)
Columbia University (2001, M.A., politics and education)
Columbia University (2002, M.S., real-estate development)
Harvard University (2002, M.Des.S., real estate)
Brown University (2004, M.A., development studies)
Dartmouth College (2004, M.A., liberal studies)
Brandeis University (2007, M.A., coexistence and conflict)
Skidmore College (2007, M.A., liberal studies)
Harvard University (2008, D.Des., design)
----------------------------------------------


 Damn... No life or living life through education?  That's one dedicated man...

I guess that is what they call a 'professional student'

Quoted: I guess that is what they call a 'professional student'

over qualified for any real job

Im dyslexic and never managed to get even one degree, I tried twice.  The math kicked my ass, Sucked.

20 years later Ive settled for having people with the Degree's working for me.

Quoted: Following is a list of Mr. Bolger's graduate degrees. University of Oxford (1997, M.Sc., sociology) University of Cambridge (1998, M.Phil., sociology and politics of modern society) Stanford University (2000, A.M., education) Columbia University (2001, M.A., politics and education) Columbia University (2002, M.S., real-estate development) Harvard University (2002, M.Des.S., real estate) Brown University (2004, M.A., development studies) Dartmouth College (2004, M.A., liberal studies) Brandeis University (2007, M.A., coexistence and conflict) Skidmore College (2007, M.A., liberal studies) Harvard University (2008, D.Des., design)

----------------------------------------

Correction: he has 11 advanced degrees, i.e. Masters or above. Not to take anything away, but he doesn't have 11 doctorates.

Hmmm... All that edumacation and I dont see a single degree that would land him a decent job in any competitive field. Better stay in school.

Guarantee you he's never kissed a girl.

Quoted: wow, who is paying for that waste of air?

Aren't you just a bright ray of sunshine?  

Quoted: Quoted: wow, who is paying for that waste of air? Aren't you just a bright ray of sunshine?

It's a valid question.
That list of degrees is worth a fortune.

All those degrees, and not one in Engineering or Physics.

Color me unimpressed. 10 masters and a doctorate in 14-15 years.

Most other people go out and get jobs and do something productive.

I applaud him for overcoming his challenges, but this is just silly. I also see he's cherry-picking the less....intellectually rigorous schools of the big-name institutions. He didn't last very long in law school. And what is the point of getting two degrees in the same content at the same level from different schools of the same level? Seems like you'd already know the material.

I see he aspires to politics and public service and to be a college president. Seems fitting.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: wow, who is paying for that waste of air? Aren't you just a bright ray of sunshine?   It's a valid question. That list of degrees is worth a fortune.

I am sure they are worth a bunch, but just think of all of the people who start college, get grants, and drop out!  At least he is completing them, all in spite of his disability.  

Quoted: I am sure they are worth a bunch, but just think of all of the people who start college, get grants, and drop out!  At least he is completing them, all in spite of his disability.

I'd like to know the idiot that sponsored him for his second Masters in education and liberal studies. I have some programs I'd like to fund.

Not a single degree in mathematics, engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, or medicine.

As long as he's enjoying it I guess.

Quoted: Not a single degree in mathematics, engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, or medicine. As long as he's enjoying it I guess.

yup..

Sounds like he OCD more than anything though...

Wonder what the bill for all that looks like?

Sleeping 4 hours a night and eating one meal a day I bet has done wonders for his body.

Those who can't do, teach......

Quoted: Quoted: Following is a list of Mr. Bolger's graduate degrees. University of Oxford (1997, M.Sc., sociology) University of Cambridge (1998, M.Phil., sociology and politics of modern society) Stanford University (2000, A.M., education) Columbia University (2001, M.A., politics and education) Columbia University (2002, M.S., real-estate development) Harvard University (2002, M.Des.S., real estate) Brown University (2004, M.A., development studies) Dartmouth College (2004, M.A., liberal studies) Brandeis University (2007, M.A., coexistence and conflict) Skidmore College (2007, M.A., liberal studies) Harvard University (2008, D.Des., design) ---------------------------------------- Correction: he has 11 advanced degrees, i.e. Masters or above. Not to take anything away, but he doesn't have 11 doctorates.

If you want to call an M.A an "advanced degree", I guess....  

Now that's somebody who likes school!

Quoted: Not a single degree in mathematics, engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, or medicine. As long as he's enjoying it I guess.

+1

If he wants to impress me, get a doctorate in science/engineering.

10 advanced degrees in sociology, education...and underwater basket weaving don't impress me much.

Quoted: Wonder what the bill for all that looks like?

little to nothing, hes been teaching classes the whole time.  Which means the college hes taking classes at pays him a living wage if he teaches so many classes while working on his degree.

Most of these sound like fluffy, one year master's degrees to me. The Columbia one in real estate development for one.

Quoted: Quoted: Wonder what the bill for all that looks like? little to nothing, hes been teaching classes the whole time.  Which means the college hes taking classes at pays him a living wage if he teaches so many classes while working on his degree.

I doubt Columbia or Harvard would let him teach.

I have to agree that it appears he's chosen quantity over quality.  Many of those degrees are overlapping and he probably did not have to put much time into them.  He must be a dedicated guy though and I can't disrespect him for his achievements.

No Ph.Ds?

wasting his time on masters level education.

The article doesn't say if the woman pictured follows him around making the "duck" hand gesture all of the time... Or if she mixes if up and does a bird or perhaps the dog.

The guy looks like Pee Wee Herman's nemesis Francis Buxton.

Quoted: I have to agree that it appears he's chosen quantity over quality.  Many of those degrees are overlapping and he probably did not have to put much time into them.  He must be a dedicated guy though and I can't disrespect him for his achievements.

sums up quite well.

Glad to see he's actually using his training and intelligence to provide much in demand services.  Oh wait.

Reminds me of why I changed from a Liberal Arts major.

Quoted: Quoted: I guess that is what they call a 'professional student' over qualified for any real job

Actually, I'd make the argument for the converse.  He seems terribly UNDER qualified for any real job.  Sure he can pontificate on the minutiae surrounding the societal implecations of midgets in New Gunea buggering migratory water fowl in Denmark, but what can he produce other than reams of paper?  Is he going to cure cancer? Develop a new algorithm? Kill a Communist?  Perpetuate an endless cycle of career students? Bugger Danish migratory water fowl?  Only the latter two options are remotely plausible.

When I was a freshman in 1983 we had a guy on the grad student floor who had been a student since the dorm opened..in 1967...poor bastard was so nerdy he couldn't even make eye contact when he spoke to someone

Quoted: He distributed a news release for the occasion, proclaiming himself the most credentialed person "in modern history." . . . Following is a list of Mr. Bolger's graduate degrees. University of Oxford (1997, M.Sc., sociology) University of Cambridge (1998, M.Phil., sociology and politics of modern society) Stanford University (2000, A.M., education) Columbia University (2001, M.A., politics and education) Columbia University (2002, M.S., real-estate development) Harvard University (2002, M.Des.S., real estate) Brown University (2004, M.A., development studies) Dartmouth College (2004, M.A., liberal studies) Brandeis University (2007, M.A., coexistence and conflict) Skidmore College (2007, M.A., liberal studies) Harvard University (2008, D.Des., design)

I think if you add all those up - it equals one Ph.D. in a real college major.

Quoted: Quoted: He distributed a news release for the occasion, proclaiming himself the most credentialed person "in modern history." . . . Following is a list of Mr. Bolger's graduate degrees. University of Oxford (1997, M.Sc., sociology) University of Cambridge (1998, M.Phil., sociology and politics of modern society) Stanford University (2000, A.M., education) Columbia University (2001, M.A., politics and education) Columbia University (2002, M.S., real-estate development) Harvard University (2002, M.Des.S., real estate) Brown University (2004, M.A., development studies) Dartmouth College (2004, M.A., liberal studies) Brandeis University (2007, M.A., coexistence and conflict) Skidmore College (2007, M.A., liberal studies) Harvard University (2008, D.Des., design) I think if you add all those up - it equals one Ph.D. in a real college major.

Gotta agree, if he enjoys education, that's one thing and I applaud him for it. But, I'm failing to see the point in multiple advanced degrees in the same discipline. It seems kinda selfish if he isn't contributing to the field inwhich he is getting the multiple degrees, it seems pointless.

Quoted: Those who can't do, teach......

Aristotle said:

Those who can, do.  Those who understand, teach.

Quoted: Quoted: Those who can't do, teach...... Aristotle said: Those who can, do.  Those who understand, teach.

I think in this case, the former is more accurate.

The guy needs an afternoon at the range. Sheeesh...

How many more before his head explodes?

I love this site

"Working for the school, and using the benefit package to get 11 degrees! What an idiot!"

He shall heretofore be known as, "Doctor Loser".

Quoted: I love this site "Working for the school, and using the benefit package to get 11 degrees! What an idiot!"

Those who can, do. Those who can't, get eleven fucking Doctorates.

Whatever Dyslexic bitch, what's your Arfcom post count?

Slacker.

RR

at 17, Mr. Bolger transferred to the University of Michigan, where he majored in sociology and finished his bachelor's degree in two years. He listened to textbooks on tape whenever he could and requested special accommodations in his courses: computer-based exams, for example, and extra time for assignments. When he graduated, he moved to Washington for an internship in the press office of the Clinton White House. Then he started law school at Yale University.

liberal fruitcake,

first degree in sociology and worked with the clintons.  

whatever else he did in life doesn't make up for that.

When he graduated, he moved to Washington for an internship in the press office of the Clinton White House.

Who did he have to blow to get that job?

Quoted: Mr. Bolger also figured out a few years ago that he could save an hour by eating just one (big) meal a day. But that didn't turn out to be such a good strategy, he says. He gained 140 pounds.

FAIL.

When I was getting my MS it seemed hard.  After 20 years of REAL work, I realize it  was easy.  And there is world of difference between a masters and a PhD.   Masters is still a trade based degree while a Doctorate means you have contributed a something unique to the field.  I cal FAIL.  Wonder what his D. Design.Des covered.  Probably how to design a career that did not include a real job.

So has the guy ever had a job outside academia?  Frankly, I'm not all that impressed given the subjects.

Brian

Quoted: When he graduated, he moved to Washington for an internship in the press office of the Clinton White House. Who did he have to blow to get that job?

He probably managed to keep his dress clean.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Following is a list of Mr. Bolger's graduate degrees. University of Oxford (1997, M.Sc., sociology) University of Cambridge (1998, M.Phil., sociology and politics of modern society) Stanford University (2000, A.M., education) Columbia University (2001, M.A., politics and education) Columbia University (2002, M.S., real-estate development) Harvard University (2002, M.Des.S., real estate) Brown University (2004, M.A., development studies) Dartmouth College (2004, M.A., liberal studies) Brandeis University (2007, M.A., coexistence and conflict) Skidmore College (2007, M.A., liberal studies) Harvard University (2008, D.Des., design) ---------------------------------------- Correction: he has 11 advanced degrees, i.e. Masters or above. Not to take anything away, but he doesn't have 11 doctorates. If you want to call an M.A an "advanced degree", I guess....

Jesus what a bunch of crap degrees. After I got my JD you couldn't pay me to go back to school. Like the man says:

"Intelligence appears to be the thing that enables a man to get along without education. Education enables a man to get along without the use of his intelligence."
Albert Edward Wiggam

Quoted: ...Mr. Bolger went on to earn a master's or two a year, while his mother read aloud his assignments and transcribed his essays. ----------------------------------------------  Damn... No life or living life through education?  That's one dedicated man...

Let's see him do it without his mom.  What a tool