Graduate degrees are not a bad thing, but many with grad degrees are with similar people and generally, not always, live in a higher standard of living. And after losing a spouse, its rather hard to get back into that.. I was just reading it as someone who wanted someone with a higher income, kind snotty of me I guess.
Actually, women with graduate degrees probably can fend for themselves financially - meaning they may feel free to date someone who doesn't make as much as they do - and they are probably more focused on finding someone who is an intellectual match.
My BFF, who has nothing but her low-income job and a meager social security widow's check, is the one who really should be looking to date a guy who has at least a home and a pension or some such. Otherwise she could end up impoverished in her old age or financially dependent on her college-aged only child. I, on the other hand, can provide for myself in retirement, and have the luxury of choosing to date for love alone if I want to. (My minimum actually is that the guy be able to live within his means and provide for himself, but I don't care about much above that - I just don't want his financial worries to become mine. )
I also don't need a guy to have the same educational level as me, but I do need him to be intelligent. And more important than that, they have to be not intimidated or bothered by MY intelligence. Crazy ex-BF was the least educated guy I ever dated, but he was actually pretty intelligent although uninformed. And he never ever made me feel like my intelligence was a problem (unlike my surgeon ex who had a chip on his shoulder because I did better on med school exams than he did. I NEVER thought I was smarter than him - intelligence takes many forms - but HE was bothered by it. )
Sounds like you're making some pretty broad - and possibly erroneous - assumptions.
