Harvard Extension School

Hi everyone,

I got an email this morning that Harvard has launched a new extension school website and included this URL which I'm passing along.

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/

 

Looks good...

While I am certainly no expert, the prices on a course basis seem reasonable. Many of the courses are $675 for 4 hours of undergrad credit. I could not get that price for a US History course if I ran down to the University of Texas.

 

Harvard DL!

Harvard courses by DL can be found here:

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/DistanceEd/

 

I don't mean to veer off topic. But I am watching the late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live right now. His guest tonight is teen pop star Hillary Duff. She said that she just took an online course through Harvard in Environmental Science. I am guessing that the online course that she took must be through Harvard's extension school.

 

I have done a course with Harvard Extension and it is definitely not a TTT. The subject I did require many hours of reading and quality of teaching is very high. The competition between students is very intense, and evening getting a C isn't easy if you don't put in the time and effort.

 

Steve -

Just curious. You are enrolled in GWU? I hear that program is pretty good if not one of the best in the field of Education. You would have taken Harvard over GWU?

 

I'm guessing you're correct. Since HES is a part of Harvard University there is no contradiction.
Jack

 

Harvard Crimson vs. Harvard Extension

Sadly, the Harvard Crimson does not appear to be impressed with either Harvard Extension or with Hillary Duff as a student there.

 

Re: Harvard Crimson vs. Harvard Extension

Well. of course,
1) they're snobs
2) if she went out for a beer with them they'd be writing a very different story.
Jack

 

I have to say it since nobody else has...

I don't really think Harvard (non extension) will accept Harvard (extension) as a "one of us" type of student as evident in that rather juvenile rant, however I am willing to bet that behind all that snobbery and exclusion, there is a gremlin of truth.

 

There's certainly a gremlin of truth regarding one who casually takes a class through Harvard Extension. Means nothing--it's open admission. I don't think that even gives you the right to go out and buy the crimson sweatshirt or the coffee mug.

But gaining admittance into the program by proving your mettle in three courses (in the case of the Masters programs), and even more so, actually getting through the program intact with a degree in hand (as only about a fourth do)--that's something. And from what I've heard, they're just as tough on the Extension students as on the regularly matriculated students--perhaps more so.

Any snobbery at that point is pure lunacy.

 

I've never taken a regular Harvard course so I can't really compare the two but I've know several people (myself included) who were accepted into various graduate departments at Harvard based on our Harvard Extension degrees. That's close enough for me.
Jack

 

Ha! I didn't want to be socially accepted by the brahams, I was just intrigued with the availability of courses and their (hopefully obvious) high quality and like learning from smart professors.

The larger point here seems to be that the efficacy of DL as an accepted method of course delivery continues to grow. That's a good thing because it opens many doors for a huge number of people.

 

Re: Harvard Crimson vs. Harvard Extension

A rebutal of sorts appeared a week later: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=506197

 

Re: Harvard Crimson vs. Harvard Extension

Typical Harvard elitist snobbery. Nothing particularly surprising.

 

Attacker = 0

Rebuttal = 1

 

Re: Re: Harvard Crimson vs. Harvard Extension

I remember a brief conversation I had with a Harvard Business School professor several years ago -- he said that while there are (non-Extension) people who look down on Extension's programs, the degrees awarded by the Extension School are as "Harvard" as any Harvard degree can get. Officially, they carry the same weight as Harvard degrees earned from any of the university's other schools.

 

Re: Re: Re: Harvard Crimson vs. Harvard Extension

As with many other things in life, the students and alumni of Harvard have allowed a vocal minority of snobs at the Crimson to speak for them.

My sister-in-law is a graduate of both Harvard College (A.B. Comparative Religion) and Harvard Business School (M.B.A. Strategic Marketing). When I asked her about the Extension School, she was briefly puzzled, then she said "Oh, the night school". When I asked her what she thought about it, she shrugged her shoulders, and said "Yeah, I saw them (students) around a lot at night".

I then asked her if a Harvard Extension degree was a "real" Harvard degree. She said "It says Harvard on the diploma, doesn't it"?

Her nonchalance is probably the prevailing attitude, but she obviously couldn't have cared less, so that allows the snobs at the Crimson to take center-stage.