<p>Did anybody see the article on Today's New York Times Website about "backdooring" into Harvard via their extension program or know if anyone who took this route?</p>
<p>There's a thread on the Parents' cafe "Harvard at bargain basement prices." I know lots of high schoolers who've taken classes at the Extension School (including my S), but no one who managed to transfer from the Extension School into the College, if that's what you are interested in. </p>
<p>It would be theoretically possible, provided the student were a full-time registered student at the Extension School. Courses taken while being a high-schooler do not count for credit in the College.</p>
<p>Bill Mayher wrote about the Harvard Extension in his book, but it was not presented as a backdoor entry. He stressed that one could get a wonderful education, have access to most of Harvard's facility, and graduate with a degree that is only slightly different from the "real" thing. This said, posters on a different board did not seem to agree and lambasted a Extension student for having the audacity of claiming to be part of the family. The attackers went as far as pointing some subtle differences in the student ID. </p>
<p>As usual, if something sounds to good to be true, it usually is. If it was THAT easy, close to 20,000 students would simply salve their rejection wounds with a trip to the Extension registration desk. A number of selective schools offer programs for "special" students, but they do not seem to that the programs come with any backdoor entrance tickets.</p>
<p>But at least at Harvard, you don't need a "backdoor". You can stay in the extension school and get your Harvard degree. Apparently it says something slightly different than a degree from the College, but how many people are going to notice the difference, let alone care? You get a bachelor's degree from Harvard.</p>
<p>"You get a bachelor's degree from Harvard."</p>
<p>Yes, you do. But you may not be able to major in specific fields.
Number of Extension courses in Physics: 4.
Number of Physics courses in the College : 26 (not counting cross-listed and graduate courses).
The discrepancy in math is equally striking.</p>
<p>So on your diploma would it say that you got your bachelor's degree from the Harvard Extension School instead of their College?</p>
<p>I took courses from the Extension School. The transcript does say very clearly Harvard Extension School.</p>
<p>Oh well.</p>
<p>"So on your diploma would it say that you got your bachelor's degree from the Harvard Extension School instead of their College?" Something like that, apparently. But on your resume, you just list "B.A., Harvard"</p>
<p>Two Harvard Extension Stories:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Teen queen Hilary Duff currently bills herself as attending Harvard but is actually taking extension classes. For this she has been universally mocked in the press and on-line for being a phony.</p></li>
<li><p>Back in the 70's - a time of heavy feminism, Playboy did a "Women of the Ivy League" pictorial. But they failed to convince a single Harvard coed to pose for them (I think they would have far more success today). The other Ivy schools did have women in the piece, and they did get one girl from the Harvard extension to pose too. Both the school and most of the Harvard students disavowed any real connection to the woman who appeared in the mag. To them she was not a "real" Harvard student.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Having said that, however, I believe that a degree from the Harvard Extension qualifies you for membership in the Harvard Club and other alumni stuff.</p>
<p>A resourceful student who is willing to take initiative can get a wonderful education through the Extension School. As Marite points out, the school does not have a great depth in its course offerings, but there are opportunities for Extension students to go above and beyond the Extension Course listings.</p>
<p>After accumulating a sufficient number of extension school credits, they can petition to take up to two regular FAS courses per term as special students as part of their extension school program. (They will be charged full FAS tuition rates for those courses, though "limited financial aid is available" through the Extension School.) They remain Extension School matriculants while taking these FAS courses.</p>
<p>The Extension School also offers their students the option to work as research assistants to FAS faculty (subsidzing their pay of $12 per hour) and to do directed reading supervised by faculty.</p>
<p>They do miss out on the opportunity to live in the dorms and they are not eligible to participate in Harvard College extracurriculars, but they have the same right to join university-wide clubs as do the students of the professional schools, for example. </p>
<p>Extension students have the right to list their degrees as issued by Harvard University, so they can write "Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Harvard University" or "ALB, Harvard University" on their resumes while a Harvard College student can write "Bachelor of Arts, Harvard College" or "AB, Harvard College." They do not need to use the words "Extension School" on their resume.</p>
<p>Extension school graduates march in the June graduation ceremonies just like graduates of every other school at Harvard.</p>
<p>There are FAS professors who genuinely enjoy teaching in the Extension School. </p>
<p>I also know some regular Harvard College alums living in the Boston area who enjoy taking Extension School classes AFTER they've graduated from Harvard College.</p>
<p>It ill-behooves Harvard College students and alums to turn up their noses and say that Extension School students are not "real" Harvard undergrads. They are indeed "real" Harvard University undergrads, but they are not Harvard College undergrads. </p>
<p>The two schools are different from one another. Each has some things to offer that the other school lacks.</p>
<p>Harvard University embraces a wide world beyonod the college. Some of the non-traditional students in Extension School classes have had life experiences most Harvard College students can only imagine and they bring a vauable real world perspective to class discussions. </p>
<p>Some of their classmates are juggling families, children, jobs, and eldercare; some have done military service including combat. </p>
<p>A young person who has experienced none of these things can learn a lot if they are willing to sit and listen to those who have. It may be hard to catch such students after class to talk to them--they have many commitments and they must often rush off quickly. But a skillful Extension School instructor will draw out such students to share their experiences and perspectives in appropriate classes, particularly in the social sciences.</p>
<p>This isn't just a 'harvard' thing. I have been looking at the extension, night school, etc options at a number of very selective schools and have been amazed at the education one can receive, often cheaper, with the same professors, and most of them do not signify on the diploma that your degree is 'different'. The School of Continuing studies at Northwestern's degrees are confered through their college of arts and sciences. Nobody would ever know one was a continuing studies student. Columbia's school of continuing ed. is another one that grants degrees that don't seem to list the 'continuing studies' tag on them. </p>
<p>I don't think this should be used as a 'back door' to attending these schools, for traditionally aged students, but I do think these are all wonderful places to learn, especially for students who haven't completed a degree at their first start. </p>
<p>I wish I lived in Boston. I would love to take some classes at Harvard.</p>
<p>Sorry - the phone rang as I was editing, and I missed my window of time to edit, so..</p>
<p>edited to answer your question: while I didn't take this route, a good friend's daughter is. She is a very young recovering substance abuser, and her first and second year in college were a washout; a few Fs, everything else incomplete, several starts and stops. Now, just a few years later and sober, she is going to be graduating next year from a top 20 university's extension program, with a diploma that won't indicate whether she was a day or night student, and a new lease on life. I think it is marvellous - she never would have gotten into a good school's day program after her first two years of college, but this program didn't care about what happened the first time, just about her attitude towards making it work the second time.</p>
<p>I love that there is such a thing as a second chance.</p>