Finally, I am DONE with my ALM in IT from HES!

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to let you know that I am finished with my ALM in IT at Harvard University's Extension School. My last presentation was last week Tuesday, my last assignment was last week Friday, and I got my final grades this past monday.

I am flying out next week for graduation. That should be fun. I'll post pics. This last semester was spent on campus (I flew back and forth each week from Chicago to Boston). IMHO, it is critical to do at least one semester on campus to get the full Harvard Experience.

This was at once the most difficult, and the most fulfilling semester I have ever had. It really pushed me in my weakest area (working with teams) and made it one of my strong suits now. I am so glad that I chose this program and pushed through to complete it.

On a side note, after graduation I will be launching a startup with two of my classmates. It started out as a school project, but once we realized that the idea was great and we work so well together, it became obvious to take the next step and actually execute on the idea.

Thanks for all of the great info on this site. I won't be leaving here anytime soon. I may be one of those guys that has a degree addiction . Who knows? I keep finding myself looking at other programs to start next year. Only time will tell.

 

Well done!

 

Congratulations! Very well done. I had that weekly air commute idea to satisfy the HES residency a while back, and I'm glad to see someone who actually did it. I'm sure it was not an easy semester, but the short-term sacrifice was no doubt worth it. It is Harvard, after all. Enjoy your graduation!

 

Wow, congratulations! I can't imagine flying back and forth each week for the semester. How many days were you in Boston each week and how long was the semester? It sounds like it was worth it because of the connections you made.

 

Congratulations! Keep us updated on your new business.

 

Congrats! I hope you guys find fulfillment and make a ton of cash!

 

Congratulations! I'll second the - it's good to know it can be done. Good luck with the start up, I hope you find great success with the company!

 

Thanks! I would fly in Monday Morning and fly out Wednesday morning. I normally spent Monday night in a hotel and Tuesday night at the airport. The semester was 14 weeks long, but I missed 2 of those weeks, once due to illness, and once due to not being able to find a hotel or flight (the week of the Boston Marathon).

I stayed two nights because I had on campus classes on Mondays and Tuesdays. If I had to do it over again, I would have moved there for the semester. If I was only taking the Capstone class on campus I could have left Tuesday morning. In that case, flying would make sense. Once you start adding hotel fees in there (plus being stuck in Boston on occasion, due to weather) it starts to make more sense to just move there.

 

Was that 2 classes you managed? One Monday and the other Tuesday? My daughter needs to complete another 12 credits for her ALB, we have been contemplating how to do that. Hoping there will be a couple hybrids in the fall or another Washington Center offering, but no word yet. I'm curious to hear details on how this worked for you...

 

That is an impressive amount of determination to sleep at the airport almost every week for 14 weeks!

 

Congrats! You are now a Haaaavad man (or woman -- sorry I don't know and don't want to offend -- LOL).

 

Congratulations!

I will be proud to have you as a fellow Extension School alumni (your achievements at the graduate level far exceeding mine currently at the undergraduate, of course).

 

Yes, two on campus classes. The capstone course was monday night 6:30-9:40pm. The Tuesday course was a class on launching a startup. That one started at 5:30 and ended at 7:30. I was also taking a third class,m but that was online. My basic schedule went like this:

Monday
7:20am Drive to the airport shuttle
7:50am Airport shuttle to O'Hare airport
8:50am arrive at O'Hare airport
10:10am flight leaves for Boston
1:25pm flight arrives in Boston
2:25pm check in to hotel
6:15pm leave hotel and walk to class
6:30pm arrive at class
9:40pm leave class (and probably pick up dinner)
11:00pm back at hotel and sleep
Tuesday
7:00am breakfast at Hotel
11:00am check out of hotel and head to campus
Hangout on campus at library, or computer lab, or with friends
4:30pm meet with my team for the startup class
5:30pm class
7:30pm leave class and have dinner with my team from the startup class.
9:30pm return to the university computer lab
11:30pm leave computer lab for the airport (the computer lab closes at midnight and the last shuttle to the airport is at 12:30)
Wednesday
12:30am arrive at airport
4:00am TSA screening opens up an I am allowed to go to my gate
5:50am board flight
6:20am depart Boston
8:10am arrive in Chicago
9:15am shuttle from the airport to my car.
9:50am arrive at shuttle station and drive home
10:10am back home, fall asleep on my couch

The only frequent variation to this routine was the time of my monday flight. During my first week I took a ridiculously early flight that required me to leave my house at 3:00am, I only did that once to learn it was a bad idea. The latest was a flight that got me into Boston at 5:00pm. The upside was that I left later. The downside is that I went straight to class without checking in (and resting) at my hotel.

The biggest pain was that the weather was just horrible for over half the semester. I had 2 or 3 delays and one cancelation due to weather.

If your daughter is taking two classes, give serious consideration to just having her move down for the semester. Hotels are ridiculously expensive in Boston, and be aware that the price for some hotels spikes up in March or April, and all hotel prices spike up by May. At one of the places I was staying, the May rate was almost double what I was paying in January and February.

 

Thanks guys! Although I knew that other people had done the weekly flying commute before, I thought I would be the only one in my class to do it this term. I figured that it couldn't be that common. It turns out that it was. Of the 18 people in my class, 4 were making a weekly flying commute. 2 from Chicago (including me), one from Northern Virginia, and one woman was flying all the way from San Francisco every week (IIRC, she only missed one class).

If that wasn't crazy enough, on the morning of the final presentation we met some alumni of the program who had stopped by to watch. One guy was from Slovenia. Apparently, because HES doesn't grant student Visas, he had to fly from Slovenia to Boston each week for class. That is insane!

Of the 18 people in my class, here was the breakdown:
4 flew in each week.
4 moved to Boston for the semester
4 did fairly long driving commutes (3+ hours each way) from around the East Coast
6 were local to the Boston area.

 

Thanks again for all of the congratulations and well wishes.

 

Congrats!

Just wanted to put my 2 cents in and say congrats!

I wish I would have known about your travel difficulties. I would have recommended Hosteling International in Boston. I stated there when I attended the Academy of Management conference 2 summers ago:

Hostelling International - Boston (MA) - Hostel Reviews - TripAdvisor

Again, congrats!

Shawn

 

Actually I stayed at Hosteling International for the first half of my trip. I had factored in Hostel costs ($29-$49 per night) when I did the math on this semester.

This is where one insidious cost reared its ugly head, "comfort". The first night, I booked a bed at the Hostel in one of their shared rooms. When I got there, they only had top bunks available. I am a big guy, and I don't do top bunks. That bed was $49. The alternative was one of their private rooms for $99 per night. I went with the private room and loved it. I stayed in a private room at the Hostel From January through February.

I booked my March reservations in person, rather than online. I just ASSUMED that the hostel had the same rate all year. It turns out that March is the begining of their Hi season. When I spent the first night in March there, they told me that the rate was $169 :yikes:. I paid that night, but found a small inn just a few blocks from Harvard's campus for $135. I stayed there for the rest of the trip (it went up to $145 in April).

As a side note, by May the Hostel's private room rate had shot up to $189 per night. The shared rooms were pretty much the same price that they had been before.

If you are willing to sleep on a bunk bed in a shared dorm, as opposed to a private room, you can easily knock off $1,500 worth of expenses for the semester.

Another place where I spent more than I had planned was airfare. Because of my long legs, I need to get seats with more legroom, unless no one is sitting next to me and I can spread my legs. That extra leg room (called economy plus on American) runs about $40 extra each way. Usually, I only needed it for the monday flight (which was always packed) and not the Wednesday flight (which was usually half empty).

 

Wow. Congratulations! I probalby would have bought a used van and slept in that!