Hi there guys, someone explain this to me. I have a friend who goes to UC Davis, a school in Sacramento, CA. He is simultaneously taking online courses at Harvard. How does this work, and can you get a degree from Harvard like this? I would appreciate it.
While any student can take Harvard on-line courses through EdX or HES, many colleges, including Harvard College, do not give credit for on-line courses, so you can’t earn a degree from Harvard by doing so.
Harvard EdX: https://www.edx.org/school/harvardx
Harvard Extension School: https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/online-campus-courses
So the question becomes, how valuable is a Harvard certificate? Is it worth the money? If I apply at Harvard Law after my bachelors at __________(insert random school), will it carry more weight? Can you apply to a Medical school with a certificate from Harvard? So many questions.
The certificate student’s receive from taking on-line classes at EdX or HES is a certificate of completion. There are no grades attached, so an institution of higher learning has no idea how a student did relative to his or her peers. A student could have been at the top of their class or at the bottom of their class and no one would be the wiser. That’s why most colleges, including Harvard College, will not accept on-line course credits from either EdX or HES. You can’t earn a bachelors by taking on-line courses at EdX or HES, nor would any medical school accept a student with an on-line certificate from EdX or HES. So, in that sense, the certificate student’s receive from EdX or HES for on-line courses is worthless. However, the knowledge a student receives from those courses is not.
So, what is the benefit of Harvard Extension School? On Wikipedia it says that students have gotten into medical school through it, including Harvard Medical School. Here is the quote, "A pre-med program was established at the Extension School in 1980.[42] Two years later, in 1982, five students applied to medical school, and 3 were accepted at the University of Massachusetts, Tufts University, and New York University. Of the 19 students who applied to medical schools in 1985, 15 were admitted, including two women to Harvard Medical School
All 27 graduates who applied to medical school in 1989 were accepted, including three to Harvard Medical School and nine to the University of Massachusetts.[45] Five years later, 90% of students were accepted to medical school, including 5 to Harvard. Only one in three were accepted nationwide.[46] The Health Careers Program has sponsored nearly 1,000 students for admission to medical school since it was started in 1979–80, and more than 845 were accepted. This 85% success rate far exceeds the national acceptance rate of 35%
Students who successfully complete the pre-medical program are eligible for sponsorship through the program and a committee letter of support in their applications to medical school."
Those HES students did not receive a DEGREE from HES. Most had a bachelor’s degree from another school but did not complete the pre-med requirements. You CAN earn a degree from Harvard Extension, not from EdX. Those graduates are generally adults studying part time. HES is not a back door to Harvard College prestige for a 21 year old. .
What is better between a degree from HES and a UC? Because, I will move to Boston if I can go to school at Harvard. So long as HES is looked upon in the same light/higher prestige than the UC system.
The website states that Harvard Extension school is one of 13 colleges in Harvard University. This means that according to the University, it is not a “fake” Harvard. I really want to move to Boston.
HES is oriented for working adults, mostly classes in the evening. Knowing employers would view this in its correct context. Depending on your life situation (i.e. you seem to have many options), a UC degree probably will open many more doors than an HES degree. People pursuing an HES degree are doing it to bolster their career chances b/c they possess no BA. The idea of getting this degree alongside people with the avg age of 30ish, married with kids, while paying exorbitant Boston rent is a attractive to you as a young person, wanting a Harvard diploma at all costs – is simply a bad one. If UCs are a viable option, definitely pursue them.
You need to do a bit more research on Harvard’s Extension School. The majority of student’s enrolled at Harvard Extension School are working adults with families (the average age I believe is 33+) who have day jobs and attend school at night. Are you prepared to get a job during the day in Boston and go to school at night? In addition, HES does not offer housing or food, so student’s must find their own housing and food in Cambridge (very expensive) or nearby suburbs of Boston. Are you prepared to find housing in Boston? Please read over these threads and do some more research on HES
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1406155-harvard-extension-school-undergraduate-privileges.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1709126-harvard-extension-school-admissions-p1.html
I have a hard time wrapping my head around why it is not as good as a normal Harvard degree? You are getting the same education from the same quality instructors. It sounds like if you manage to get a degree, is it not the essentially the same thing as you have learned from the same professors at the same college? Is learning not the prize of education?
@gibby The age of my classmates is not a problem. If housing is all I have to worry about, Im okay. I have been through a lot worse. I just need to know if employers/graduate schools will think I am a joke. If going to UC Berkeley is a better option I will go there, but from the little I know so far I don’t think Harvard Extension is really any different than Harvard College.
Half of the experience of going to any college is living and learning on campus. You don’t get that experience with HES – you get the commuter school experience. Please, pick up the phone and talk to an HES counselor. That’s the only way you’re going to understand how HES works.
" Is learning not the prize of education? " Sure, Then why are you obviously pursuing HES because the H stands for Harvard? Why then not attend a UC?
HES has about a 45% admit rate. Those admitted no way compare to the students in Harvard College.
HES does not equal Harvard College. Twist it as much as you’d like to but it’s not going to change. If you applied for a job w/me and had a degree from HES, I’d be impressed that you were a late bloomer and later, got your degree. If then, you tried to fool me into thinking you were a typical Harvard College grad, then I’d toss your app into the shredder faster than you could jump.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that the HES instructors are not the same people as the Harvard professors. I know they pull people to teach their courses from Lynda.com and you don’t have to have a Ph.D. to teach. That said, HES is much cheaper than Harvard. While anyone can go to HES, you do have to apply and be accepted into the HES degree program. There is an audition, so to speak–you have to take a few classes that are open to the general public and you have to do well enough in them to continue, or “be accepted” into the degree program. It’s a viable opportunity for the local working adult population.
You cannot live in Harvard housing as an undergrad at HES. If you try to socialize with Harvard College students and pass yourself off as their peer you will be judged for what you are: a poseur. Employers and grad schools will also look at a 21/22 year old HES grad as a person desperate for a Harvard degree who did not qualify for Harvard College admission.
A 35 year old who earns an HES degree however would be highly regarded.
^ Bingo! Tom nails it.
But do the statistics mean nothing here? Out of 25,000 students, only 1,800 were degree candidates. That is 4.5%. Does this 4.5 degree candidate rate not filter out those who would be be considered “Harvard Material”?
No it does not!!! As you have been told in other posts most HES students are taking courses for personal enrichment or career advancement. The vast majority already have bachelor’s degrees and never apply for degree status at HES. Very few are like you and trying to get a Harvard degree through the back door.
I take it you have never studied statistics either.
In other posts, you’re a 3.7 GPA community college student in CA with ideas of transferring into a good 4 year program. You have many great options in CA.
UCB, if you can attain it, is a top 20 college. That, in no way, compares with a program set up by Harvard university basically as community outreach/community service with a 45% admit rate.