<p>We have friends from Boston visiting this weekend, and we got talking about the Harvard Extension courses. I said that I'd read somewhere that Boston U. will take the credits and give you a degree, but our friends said that you can get a Harvard degree. (not Harvard College on the diploma, but Harvard Extension ) Is this true? Why wouldn't more people go in the back door this way if they didn't get into the regular college program? I'd think someone could fudge on a resume that they went to Harvard....and these friends of ours said they ARE the same classes, so what's the difference? Anyone know?</p>
<p>They aren't entirely the same classes, and they aren't the same degrees. Some other parents know the details better than I, so I will defer to them for more information.</p>
<p>You can certainly get a degree from the Harvard Extension School. In fact, you can get advanced degrees. And the courses costs a fraction of the regular college courses.</p>
<p>Some of the classes are indeed the same as those taught by profs during the day, although the scheduling may be different (eg. one two hour session instead of two one-hour lectures). Many, however, are not taught by Harvard profs, but by profs from some other schools. </p>
<p>The big difference to my mind concerns the range of courses offered and the college experience. In biology, for example, a range of courses are offered. In physics, there's nothing beyond introductory physics. The range of math courses is only marginaly better than for physics. In other words, the offerings at the Extension School lack the depth and variety of the College's.</p>
<p>The second issue concerns the lack of a social scene and sense of community. The age range is huge, from highschoolers (most get scholarships) from neighboring school districts to retirees, as well as working adults, students from other colleges, etc... As well, there is no social scene, no sense of community; people take classes, usually in the evening, then disperse. By contrast, the College has 300+ clubs and societies, and lots of events take place in the dorms and Houses.</p>
<p>In terms of receiving credit, it really depends on individual colleges. Harvard College will not give credit for college classes taken for high school graduation purposes, even if they were Extension classes and at an advanced level (eg Multivariate Calculus and above). But many other colleges will.</p>
<p>They award a Harvard University "Bachelor of Liberal Arts". Outside of a small coterie of insiders, no one will know the difference.</p>
<p>And it is not "fudging" in the least - it is a bonafide Harvard University degree. The school claims the classes are taught by the same faculty, with the same class requirements. Whether that is actually true, I have no idea.</p>
<p>The biggest differences by far are the wealth and age of the student bodies.</p>
<p>Check the Harvard website</p>
<p>dke, I have been studying this from afar for a very long time now - about five years. I started examining it because it seemed as if it might be a way for me to get a college education with low barriers to entry, classes at night, reasonable cost, high quality of education, etc. The requirement to spend time in Cambridge is another story altogether (too cold brrrrrrr) - but I would have done it if I could make a strong case for benefit. </p>
<p>Anyway, after five years of watching the program closely, I've decided to pass. From what I can see, and from email exchanges with various staff there over time (who are very nice and responsive by the way) it seems as if the selection of coursework is very restrictive and that it would take a very long time to make appreciable progress towards a degree; there is little or no flexibility in trying to take other courses within Harvard College, and it seems as if it might be an isolating experience from a social perspective - most of the other students appear to be adults who take a class or two or perhaps even several but then they stop, move on, drop out, etc. I forget the numbers but very few seem to hang in there long enough to actually earn a degree.</p>
<p>Last, in the time that I've been monitoring it, the program does not seem to have evolved or expanded in any way. No new courses, degrees, etc. - doesn't seem like Harvard has invested in it, and, during one email dialog with them a couple of years ago, I asked about future plans to add more degrees, etc. and the reply came back that no program changes were planned. </p>
<p>I think if it were an opportunity right in my back yard with the same level of prestige I would probably just default into it - actually it might be a real opportunity. But from this distance, I don't think so.</p>
<p>It looks like an interesting option for someone interested in teaching.</p>
<p>It's an extension school, just like any other night school. Classes taught by a collection of adjuncts, part-timers, and college profs looking to pick up a little extra cash.</p>
<p>Even though Harvard has a (well-deserved) patina of prestige, it is -- at the core -- just another big private university, with summer school, night courses, yadda, yadda.</p>
<p>I believe that having a Harvard Extension degree also makes you eligible to join your local chapter of the the Harvard Club.</p>
<p>If you are an extension student, do you have some kind of ID card for the school? Can you hang around the campus? Join clubs? There may be other ways to get the "college experience."</p>
<p>Diggi:</p>
<p>I expect that full-time students, of which there aren't that many, can have an ID card. But the majority are taking a class or two, and in the evening. Classes end at 9 or 9:30. After class, there's no incentive to hang around. High schoolers have already had a full day in high school, working adults have put in a full day in the office. And many have come from fairly far away.</p>
<p>I have taken several classes at Harvard extension, as has my son, so we have the multi-generational perspective. </p>
<p>If one is looking for a "college experience", this is not the way to go. People arrive for their class five minutes beforehand, and leave promptly when it is done. There is little to no milling around. For high school students, and adults, this probably isn't a problem. For a college student seeking a social life, it absolutely would be.</p>
<p>While some classes are taught by Harvard faculty members, many are not. Most teachers do not have typical office hours, or if they do, the students are in school elsewhere or working, when they are offered. Most of the teachers have jobs elsewhere during the day, and they can be hard to reach.</p>
<p>It it definitely a way to get a Harvard degree for a fraction of the cost (although it still isn't exactly cheap), but it still is "night school", without any of the perks or frills of college. People considering that as a degree option should enter with eyes wide open.</p>
<p>Allmusic, what do you think about the their online courses? Do you think it's worth the $600 - $800 for 3 credit hours, and do you think they would be comparable in quality to the onsite courses?</p>
<p>LTS:</p>
<p>The online courses are not developed specifically for the Extension school.
They are essentially taped regular College lectures, plus, of course, the regular assignments. In that sense, they are the same as the onsite courses. The quality of the taping varies. Some of my S's lecture classes are taped, even though they are not offered through the Extension school. But it's impossible to read what the prof wrote on the blackboard; and of course, the camera is trained on the prof, so if it's an interactive class, with students being involved, that would not be captured.</p>
<p>Marite, thanks for that. Do you have a sense of how that compares - in terms of paying $600-$800 per course - compared to MIT's open courseware, which is available online and free? </p>
<p>Or maybe a better question to ask is do you think it's worth paying for? Every time I get tempted, something makes me stop and say wait, maybe this isn't the best thing to do, but then a few months later I'll go back to look at the courses again...</p>
<p>LTS:</p>
<p>I may be wrong, but MIT's opencourseware allows you access to lectures, and probably problem sets, and even solutions. But I do not believe that people who access the opencourseware get to write papers and take the exams and have them graded and commented on. </p>
<p>If you just want to learn and don't care for the credit, then the opencourseware is the way to go. If you want to learn, take exams, write papers, in other words do the same thing as registered College students do, then perhaps the $600 is a bargain. </p>
<p>My S took a couple of courses that were offered to both regular College students and Extension School students--the classes were scheduled late in the afternoon to make that possible. For Extension School students (he happened to be the only one), it would have cost $600; actually it did not cost anything as he got a scholarship--lots of high schoolers do. For a College student, it probably cost $3k+ (total tuition divided by 8). The prof won a teaching award.</p>
<p>Thanks Marite...</p>
<p>marite is right. MIT OCW is essentially about making great course material (used in MIT) available for any self learners. Many professors (notably outside US) have adopted these material in their classes. Tufts, Notre Dome and many universities have joined the OCW initiative too. <a href="http://www.ocwconsortium.org/use/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.ocwconsortium.org/use/index.html</a></p>