<p>How tough are the graduate level classes at Harvard?</p>
<p>I am a graduate student enrolled at the Harvard Extension School. I've just finished two classes so far and I think I did well (I'm still nervously waiting for my grades to post). BUT, I had to work my backside off for my classes (pun intended). On this website, there were some postings about grade inflation at the Harvard undergraduate level. However, I asked a few fellow students taking graduate level courses and I've been told that grade inflation is minimal, at least in grad school. But I've only just begun. I've also been told that Harvard professors are aware of the "talk" about grade inflation and some professors have already revamped their curricula rather dramatically to make it more "painful" than in the past.</p>
<p>I am interested in hearing from other GRADUATE students on how hard the upcoming graduate level classes are going to be, particularly the thesis and capstone level classes. I've heard that some students have actually failed out after two years of really hard work.</p>
<p>By way of background, I've already earned an MBA from a second-tier NY business school and I have also earned a post-graduate Certificate from a top school in NY in Finance. Graduate school in NY was considerably easier and I knew what to expect.</p>
<p>While I did find the subject matters at Harvard interesting and challenging, I discovered that the workload was very heavy. For each class, I had to read, on average, about 500 pages a week of really boring academic research level books and (truly) abstract papers. I also had to spent an incredible amount of time in the library each week researching arcane topics. I do work a full-time job and have family responsibilities too. I figured by adding another Masters from Harvard to my resume would increase my chances of qualifying for a senior level position in this stagnant job market. But the workload is really tough on an old fart like me!!</p>