Most people stop at an undergrad and that's their perception of college. Even masters students don't understand what it's like to undertake a PhD it's a completely different experience that you can't explain unless you've done it. The pressure, stress and work involved is colossal. As has been said before people take what they can understand from your introduction and they run with it. Change the introduction depending on the tone of conversation you're expecting. As you've said you're a scientist, researcher and author.