Dumb, dumb question!

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by mdg1775, Aug 19, 2004.

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  1. mdg1775

    mdg1775 New Member

    Mid life crises has me asking this question:

    1. Which would hold more weight...a Phd from NCU or an Undergrad BA in Business from Harvard Extension School? I am guessing that if I am in the job market as an entry-level to junior management I would be better off with the Hah Vaaad Degree. If I want to ever be a director of a Government Agency the PhD would serve more utility.

    What yall think?
     
  2. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    The only undergrad Bachelor's degree available from Harvard Extension is the A.L.B. (Bachelor of Liberal Arts), and I don't believe that Business is one of the available concentrations.
     
  3. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    But the question is an interesting one. A friend of mine took a B.Chem.E. from a state school and a law degree from the University of Utah, becoming a patent lawyer in the process and making (I guess) oodles of money.

    She then went to HBS and got her M.B.A. I asked her about the value of that degree being from Harvard; she said that she remained an "outsider" even among her classmates because she wasn't "one of them". She hadn't gone to their prep schools or gotten a Yale B.A. So the contacts weren't really all that helpful.

    This was strictly anecdotal, of course, but it made me wonder.
     
  4. mdg1775

    mdg1775 New Member

    Well, lets say its the Harvard ALB...NOsborne makes an interesting point. Maybe its the contact points of the undergrad Harvard Degree sometimes more than the prestige that holds more weight.
     
  5. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    Assuming things haven't changed substantially since I went through the program, there are no concentrations. Now there are certain requirements (a foreign language requirement, etc.) there is considerable flexibility in the degree requirments, perhaps even a bit more than many other Bachelors degree programs. This, I believe, is because it is a Bachelor of Liberal Arts program. They expect people to take lots of different stuff. Now I don't know how many business courses they actually offer. Maybe you could take a whole bunch and when people look at your transcrpts they will see you've got a solid business education. The diploma, however, does not list a concentration, even if you take 90% of your courses in one subject area like I did (Psychology). To answer the original question, I'd do the PhD program.
    Jack
     
  6. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

  7. adireynolds

    adireynolds New Member

    So is the Harvard Extension ALB diploma the same that is issued for an ALB from the Arts & Sciences Faculty?
     
  8. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I believe that the only undergraduate degree offered by Harvard College is the A.B. (Bachelor of Arts). The A.L.B. is unique to the Extension School, and IMO, intentionally so.

    My sister-in-law is a Harvard College grad, and she told me that the Harvard College diplomas are in Latin, while the Extension diplomas are in English.
     
  9. adireynolds

    adireynolds New Member

    Ah, okay. I would assume, then, that the Extension diplomas also state "Extension" on them.
     
  10. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Or maybe they fold out to fit availavle wall space??
     
  11. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Yes, they do.
     
  12. mrw142

    mrw142 New Member

    You know, I'm 98% certain that the Harvard Extension diplomas are in Latin; in fact, I believe in the Q & A area of the Extension School website they hilight this fact ostensibly for the purpose of assuring students that no casual observer will be able to make out "extension" in Latin, they'll just notice the "Harvardus"--or whatever it is--and be wowed by that.
    Those Extension School courses are the same, for the most part, as the courses taught at Harvard College, often by the same profs, there's just less selection and they're one whale of a lot cheaper. Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, NYU and Columbia also offer extension school or adult ed courses Summers or evenings, and supposedly the degrees are a little more straightforward to obtain than the Harvard Extension degrees, not so many nitpicky requirements.
     
  13. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I believe that Jack Tracey has stated that his Extension diploma is in English.

    Knowing Hah-vuhd, they're not going to let the hoi-polloi of the Extension School be too closely associated with the "real" Harvard grads. :rolleyes:
     
  14. italiansupernova

    italiansupernova New Member

    So, the extension school is evening study for local residents and distance learning with recidencies for all others correct?
     
  15. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Harvard Extension offers many resident classes in the evening in Cambridge, and does have some DL courses. However, it's not possible to earn a degree without some residency at this time.
     
  16. aikna

    aikna New Member

    The individual college is listed on all the diplomas at Harvard, so having Extension on the diploma is no different than having Harvard College listed.
     
  17. Howard

    Howard New Member

    Somehow I find this difficult to accept. I would have started Liberty University a couple of years earlier but, at the time, it was called Liberty University School of LifeLone Learning(LUSLLL) and I just could not see myself looking at a diploma that had such a name on it. When they dropped that silly LUSLLL and simply gave everyone a Liberty University diploma (no distinction) I enrolled and, according to some resources, so did a lot of other people.

    I bet if Harvard gave a diploma that looked just like all the others the numbers would go up --- what do you think?
     
  18. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    All other considerations being equal I would give more weight to the PhD if hiring for a job in the aerospace industry.
     
  19. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

  20. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    Is Penn State an Ivy League school?
     

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