From Community College to Harvard?

<p>^ I know what advice you have given here- “hope”, and I agree with you.</p>

<p>You guys need to get a life.</p>

<p>After reading your (dascholar and swingtime) replies and thinking it over, being an “introspective and self-critical person”, I do realize your points and understand my wording is extremely atrocious. Every human has the right to choose, I can not deny that.<br>
Sometimes the truth can be avoided, and we can look at the appearance and hope tomorrow will be better. If a person is “fat”, we can call them horizontally superior. Most people-up to this day, 99% of the people I’ve met, would find this term amusing rather than derogatory.
If you’ve read the Veritas post by the Harvard student, you have to realize, there’s no ultimate truth nor is there one right decision in every situation.
Words with a positive or negative connotation is not a determinant of the benefits or harms associated with it, rather it’s how you, as individuals in your situation, determine its meaning.
I do apologize to Erin for being an individual, you have rights to pursue your dreams.
On the other hand, as individuals, one thrives on the feelings of others. PLEASE, don’t look at the situation solely based on ERIN BEING AN INDIVIDUAL. If it means I have to be the person who tells a fat person that he/she is too fat because he/she is going to suffer a heart attack, I will stress the most effort in telling you straight because I do not know if I take even half a step back will it positively or negatively influence your decision. I will not allow my fear be another obstacle for you to overcome.
My perception of you may not be the truth, but that’s how I view you and my most sincere reflection of your situation. If it’s not, I apologize to you as an individual.
The decision is in your hands. I’m only reminding you to consider the impact of your decisions on the people who care about you.</p>

<p>PCness shall be the downfall of honesty and tough love!</p>

<p>TwinkieGirl, nothing you post is helpful or seems in any way informed about the college application process. Which isn’t surprising, as you have not yet applied to college. The adults on the Harvard Forum have been to college and grad school, and to a particular school you aspire to attend. Maybe we do know something about the processes at Harvard that you do not. So your snide interjections serve WHAT purpose, aside from making you look snide? Hope you don’t mind the “honesty and tough love.”</p>

<p>DingDz. Your honesty and introspection are DEEPLY appreciated and TRULY respected. You just have to be careful that someone can “hear” your truth; that your mode of truth-telling is conducive to the other person not only hearing it, but listening to it.</p>

<p>To DingDz:I really don’t care about what you just wrote here.Except for one thing:How dare you can mention my parents?My parents were the most abusive people in my life.That’s why I didn’t start my academic life as any any student does but I am trying to do that now in my late 20’s.I went thru things you cannot even imagine they exist.Not everybody had the chances in life you maybe had,so let me work on my dreams.Thank You!</p>

<p>Hi Erin,
Last year our office accepted 12 students and it is likely we will admit a
similar number next year. Harvard College certainly accepts community
college students and students from two year programs when they are
competitive in the pool, which is the same for any applicant applying. This
past year we admitted students from community colleges and 2 year
institutions as well as some from international and 4 year institutions.</p>

<p>Sincerely,
Harvard Transfer Admissions </p>

<p>Ok,this is the letter I got from the Harvard Admissions.It does say that my chances are really low,the number is 12,but they are!There might be more talented and better educated people than me but it doesn’t stop me from trying.If not thru Community College,then from other 4-year institution.But at least I will give it a try.
By the way,I am a girl:-)</p>

<p>[Historical</a> Facts | Harvard University](<a href=“http://www.harvard.edu/historical-facts]Historical”>http://www.harvard.edu/historical-facts)
1997 – Mary Fasano became the oldest person ever to earn a Harvard degree when she graduated from the Extension School at the age of 89.
<a href=“http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/05.15/89-Year-OldStud.html[/url]”>http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/05.15/89-Year-OldStud.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The OP doesn’t want Harvard Extension School.</p>

<p>^^ With regards to Harvard’s Extension School, in post 23, OP stated “I want to try regular school, I simply don’t trust online education.”</p>

<p>The OP may not be aware that Harvard’s Extension School is NOT an online program (although you can some classes on-line). Most Extension School students take classes along side regular Harvard students and receive their diploma’s on the steps of Memorial Church along with Harvard graduates. Yes, their diplomas say “Harvard Extension School” and not “Harvard College”, but if the OP is currently 29, at some point Harvard may consider her age a limiting factor for dorm living. And, let’s face it, who wants to live in a dorm on their 30th Birthday. If the OP wants to attend Harvard at an advanced age, and doesn’t have the test scores necessary for regular admittance, the Extension School may be her best option.</p>

<p>^ Agreed with you on HES option.</p>

<p>Gibby, question re: Extension. When I was at Harvard (90s/early 2000s), there seemed to be a fairly stark divide between Extension and the College (and between Extension and GSAS, as well), in that Extension courses were offered seperately. True, some FAS faculty did teach Extension courses. But, my memory was that Harvard College students did not take Extension courses, and that Extension students did not take courses in the College for credit. Has that changed, or is my sense of there being a stark divide overstated?</p>

<p>I believe one can receive an undergraduate degree from Extension, but isn’t the course load exclusively WITHIN Extension, making actual, sustained academic contact with Harvard College students extremely infrequent? Or, can Extension students seeking that undergraduate degree cross-register with the College?</p>

<p>I agree, that if credentials are not as strong, Erin’s best opportunity for an undergraduate experience at Harvard MAY be through the Extension school. However Extension will not meet her expressed personal need to feel a certain kind of arrival at “the top” as, no matter what the PR may be, Extension’s reputation within the University community is, fairly or unfairly, as something of a poor relation.</p>

<p>That being said, exceptional students with Extension undergraduate degrees DO, indeed, go on to successful admission to, for example, Ph.D programs in GSAS, and to other top-tier graduate programs at Harvard and elsewhere. Many do spectacularly well, and are driven intelligent students who took an alternative path in life and later took full advantage of what was offered by Extension within the context of the vibrant, stimulating University culture.</p>

<p>There are pros and cons, then, to Extension that Erin would have to weigh if she pursues this path. However, if she does, I question whether she will have the sustained contact with Harvard College students – in Harvard College classes – that your post suggested. She will have to determine, ultimately, whether just being at Harvard is more important than WHERE at Harvard one is. But, again, there are brilliant and determined older students who earn the undergraduate degree in Extension and are then admitted to top Ph.D. and professional school programs on the same terms as more traditional college graduates, including those from Harvard College.</p>

<p><em>WINK</em> Is 29 REALLY an advanced age? And, more seriously, would adherence to the requirements of Title VII, as prohibiting age discrimination, limit Harvard’s right to consider “her age a limiting factor for dorm living”?</p>

<p>I seem to be 10-15 years older than swingtime, but that description also applied to the College and the Extension School in the early to middle 1980s.</p>

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<p>For a college freshman it is! Can you imagine a 29-year-old happily shouting back and forth “Thayer sucks” and “Holworthy bites” long into the night? I can’t.</p>

<p>For Sikorsky:"…happily shouting back and forth “Thayer sucks” and “Holworthy bites” long into the night?.." is this ALL people at Harvard do?Isn’t it more about education?Your concerns are ridiculous…</p>

<p>If possible I would like to live outside the dorms BECAUSE my advanced age.</p>

<p>@swingtime and Erin1988</p>

<p>Harvard courses and their availability vary by term. </p>

<p>During the summer, any student – Harvard undergraduate, Extension School student, students from other universities, high school students – take classes together through the Summer School Program, which is run by the Extension Office. See: [Undergraduate</a>, Graduate, and Noncredit Status | Harvard Summer School](<a href=“http://www.summer.harvard.edu/register/options/credit.jsp]Undergraduate”>http://www.summer.harvard.edu/register/options/credit.jsp)</p>

<p>During the school year, Extension students take classes at night, which are taught by Harvard professors. (I suppose Harvard figures most adult students work during the day.) See: [Ask</a> a Question: Harvard Extension School](<a href=“http://harvard.intelliresponse.com/extension/?requestType=NormalRequest&source=4&id=2039&question=What+courses+do+you+offer]Ask”>http://harvard.intelliresponse.com/extension/?requestType=NormalRequest&source=4&id=2039&question=What+courses+do+you+offer)</p>

<p>Instead of Harvard look into Columbia’s school of general studies.</p>

<p>Aren’t the Extension School classes taught by Harvard professors, among others? When my wife was taking her pre-med classes in the Extension School, her professor for Physics 1 was Paul Bamberg, who also taught Physics 1 in the College, but her professors for biology and chemistry did not have day jobs teaching at Harvard.</p>

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<p>[Ask</a> a Question: Harvard Extension School](<a href=“http://harvard.intelliresponse.com/extension/]Ask”>http://harvard.intelliresponse.com/extension/)</p>

<p>Can we please drop that thing about Extension school?I am not really interested in that kind of education.My concern is money,that’s why I am not still decided if to go for Community college or 4-year university.Seems I will have better chance with the second option,do my bachelor’s degree at some university and for master’s try for Harvard.</p>

<p>As you don’t want to live in a dorm, how are you going to live off campus if you are concerned about money? How will you pay for rent? I’m not aware of any four-year college giving a financial aid stipend for living off campus. Rent in Cambridge, even with roommates, is expensive.</p>

<p>If you are concerned about money, a community college is the way to go.</p>

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<p>I don’t want to be exceedingly rude, but, no. Gibby seems to have more current knowledge of Harvard than I do, and I’d really like to read Gibby’s answers.</p>

<p>I mean, *you *are welcome to tune out discussion of HES, but I’d like to get an answer…here on this public message board.</p>