Hello,
I am a transfer student currently in a community college. I have already been accepted to transfer to the University of Florida. I have received emails from several universities inviting me to transfer and I never payed attention to anyone. But recently I got an invitation from Harvard. My initial reaction was surprise and excitement, but then I read more and found out it was the Harvard Extension School. Of course the name Harvard can surprise anyone, but my question is: Is it really worth it to go to an extension school? What would you recomend me to do, to go to the State University or to the Ivy leage but Extension part. I am confused and I dont know what will work better for me.
My major is finance and I want to work in the Investment Banking industry (hopefully Wall St.)
Thank you very much!
Harvard Extension offers a very limited number of majors, and Finance is not one of them. The program is designed primarily for working adults who live in the Boston region, and who want to finish off an undergraduate degree. In your case, finishing up your degree at U of FL makes more sense.
I think it depends.
Your education is what you make of it and you’d want the environment that fits you best and motivates you most.
BTW, @happymomof1, IBanks hire far more than finance majors and HES does have a “Business Administration and Management” field of study (their equivalent of a major).
(Neither would be IB targets in any case).
What school/major at UF did you get admitted in to?
What are costs?
@PurpleTitan - I did see that field on the Extension website, but the OP specified Finance rather than a general business major. The Extension School is a terrific option for some students, but probably not for a typical undergrad age studen.
@SergioPavon - Why do you think you are getting the emails from colleges suggesting that you transfer there? How are they finding you? Does everyone at your CC recieve these, or did you catch the attention of the colleges/universities because you are super active in PTK? If you have top grades, PTK activity, and excellent recs, you could be a viable candidate for transfer admission to the colleges and universities with good Finance programs that do attract the IB recruiters. If you are that kind of candidate, run that by the Transfer Advisor at your CC.
@happymomof1: It would depends on what someone wants (and we don’t actually know the OP’s age). HES certainly isn’t the traditional undergrad experience.
Then again, some people may actually do better with serious adult learners than on a traditional big state school campus.
@PurpleTitan - So true! I see a lot of that in the adult ed classes that I teach. Some of the younger students become really motivated when they see how hard their older classmates are working, and the older students provide terrific life-in-general support for the younger ones.
Anyone can take classes at Harvard Extension. I took several while I was a young working person. There were always a mix of ages in my classes. Many, like me, already had a bachelor’s degree, but there were also a handful of older students who were pursuing degrees. Discussions were fun and a bit different from the average undergraduate class experience.
I am now looking and Columbia School of General Studies and Cornell University, because I also received mails from both of this Universities encouraging me to apply.
@happymomof1 Yes, how did you know? Actually I am a member of PTK! And I have a 3.87 GPA now.
Actually I just received the Invitation for the Columbia School of General Studies, and an invitation from Cornell University, which both seem excellent choices. I am still very unsure on what to do, there are many options. Any advices?
@PurpleTitan Ive got admitted into the Warrington College of Business. The prices of tuiton are about 6500$ in UF.
Which is a huge difference from Columbia and Cornell that are close to 27,000$ and 23$ Respectively. Although I read that in Cornell they have an excellent Financial Aid program.
Columbia GS and Cornell are even more expensive than that without fin aid.
You could apply and see what fin aid package you get, I suppose.
Dude, you haven’t applied or gotten in yet.
These schools want as many applicants as possible, so it’s nice they want you to apply, but take it with a grain of salt.
If you’re interested in these schools, by all means apply and good luck. 
Investment Banking is not my area of expertise, you may want to check out Cornell’s or Columbia’s forums for more details and better responses to your career questions.
Cornell is pretty transfer friendly, and offers good financial sid. Whether it would prove affordable for you is another thing. So if you like the program there, apply and then see if the money would work for you. Ithaca, NY has long, dark, cold winters. You would need to budget for winter clothing. When I was in grad school there, I had a housemate from CA who found that what he thought would be good for winter, was what he was wearing in October.
Columbia School of General Studies is not an extension school. It’s one of the four undergraduate schools of Columbia University (the others are SEAS – engineering; Barnard; and Columbia College). It’s virtually the same education as Columbia College/ Barnard and it’s viewed as the same education by employers and grad schools.
Crucial differences are that 1) the FA packages are not as generous (if you’re applying OOS to Florida it’s also going to be expensive); 2) General Studies (GS) is not guaranteed housing – and in NYC that could be an issue; 3) the diploma is written in English rather than Latin. But the GS students have access to the same educational opportunities as the other schools; 4) you can take classes less than a full load, and that’s not okay at the other colleges. Also the students of GS are older than the rest of the Columbia undergrad population and their average GPA is higher. These factors combined make the application pool self-select and that accounts partly for why the admission rate is so high – about 30%. Many potential applicants don’t apply when they see, for example, that they’d have to secure their own housing in NYC.
You may want to google the “notable alumni” of GS because it includes some interesting people.
They do have a track record of taking people who transfer from community college.
Cornell also takes a lot of transfers. There are several colleges at Cornell, like at Columbia. Just google “Cornell” and find the link that lists its various sub colleges. CALS and the Hospitality college are probably the most famous after the college of arts and sciences. Some of Cornell’s colleges require that you apply directly into your intended major there. So research that carefully. Cornell has many interesting and unique majors. Also, Cornell has “articulation agreements” with several NYState community colleges. This suggests that it would look favorably on transfer from other community colleges. If you look at some of the articulation agreements, you can maybe see the classes that Cornell requires to transfer into specific programs. If you can’t find that, call the program. Cornell is very friendly about answering questions about specific programs.
Hi @SergioPavon,
While I can’t give advice to you on which school you should attend, I thought I would provide a little info about Columbia GS, that I think is relevant to your decision. While the name can be misleading, GS is not an extension school. It is one of 3 undergraduate colleges at the University, and as you mentioned, students take the same courses and fulfill the same requirements (with a few very minor differences/exceptions, like physical education) as students at Columbia College. Your degree, while signed by the School’s dean, is still granted by the University and is a Bachelor of Arts degree. As an alum, I can attest that my own experience, and that of the many peers I’ve spoken to (including several who work in investment banking), is that employers do not care that you went to GS - it’s a BA from Columbia and that carries a certain weight, especially in that industry, regardless.
All that said, the schools you’re considering are obviously all very different and only you can decide what is best for you. I just wanted to clear up a common confusion about GS. Best of luck on whatever path you choose!
Hello,
I am a transfer student currently in a community college. I have already been accepted to transfer to the University of Florida. I have received emails from several universities inviting me to transfer and I never payed attention to anyone. But recently I got an invitation from Columbia. My initial reaction was surprise and excitement, but then I read more and found out it was the School of General Studies, which is like another way to get in Columbia. The good thing about it is that you basically take the same courses that people Columbia, but when you graduate your degree says: School of General Studies. Of course the name Columbia can surprise anyone, but my question is: Is it really worth it to go to an extension school?
I also got invited to apply to Cornell, which is another excellent university, and I will apply for that as well.
What would you recomend me to do, to go to the State University, to Columbia School of GS or to the real and normal Cornell University? I am confused and I dont know what will work better for me.
My major is finance and I want to work in the Investment Banking industry (hopefully Wall St.)
Thank you very much!
BTW, Columbia does have an extension school, but it’s Columbia SPS.
The issue for someone from Florida at GS is finding housing in NYC - so, @sergiopavon, do you have family in NYC?
I would recommend you apply anyway and apply to Cornell, too.
Your high GPA and activity with PTK are creating these opportunities, but you’re not in yet. So, save the Warrington acceptance, apply to GS and Cornell (and while you’re on a roll, see if you can throw in Wharton
http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/transfer-admission/wharton-school ). Know that no matter what, you’ve got a place to transfer to. 
“Columbia School of General Studies is not an extension school. It’s one of the four undergraduate schools of Columbia University (the others are SEAS – engineering; Barnard; and Columbia College). It’s virtually the same education as Columbia College/ Barnard and it’s viewed as the same education by employers and grad schools.”
It is my understanding from being a long time member here on CC that Columbia doesn’t not report the scores of students entered in its school of General Studies to USNWR. For those who say its not an extension school, it seems Columbia treats it as one in this devious practice. Not sure why Columbia needs this school at all to be honest, if these students are as qualified as those in the other colleges.
@rjkofnovi: Lots of colleges engage in games like this. The USNews stats are of fall freshmen entries in to the “traditional” undergrad program.
Middlebury and some other colleges have winter entry. Those stats don’t get reported. USC (and many publics, including UMich) take in a lot of transfers. Their stats don’t get reported either.
^^^^Do these same colleges put these students in a different school too, even though they take the same classes?