<p>Today I got a rejection from Harvard Extension School. I am really upset because I think the ALB program would suit me. :(</p>
<p>Why did you get rejected by the Harvard Extension School? What were your grades in the first few classes that you had enrolled in? This is the first time that I ever saw a person get rejected by HES, unless their grades were not very good.</p>
<p>I went back from Iraq a while ago and I felt that HES is a better option for me as a non traditional student than many ivy programs. I did an okay job for the first few classes (A-,A and B), but they said they can’t let me enroll in the program right now, because the unprecedented number of qualified candidates this year…they encouraged me to try again in spring 09 though…</p>
<p>There goes my chance to go to HES. I guess I’ll have to focus my attention on Northwestern’s continuing studies program. Someone did tell me that a lot of folks are applying to the HES degree program, and that the school is going to tighten their requirements. Thus, I heard that they are going to take less than half the applicants who apply. I am very surprised that HES is becoming super competitive.</p>
<p>sorry to hear the bad news landon.</p>
<p>That’s pretty disheartening; I wonder what other admissions criteria they’re using besides grades at HES.</p>
<p>What kinds of recs did they require? Any chance there could have been a marginal rec in the mix?</p>
<p>HES is acting somewhat duplicitously if that’s true. </p>
<p>Until HES releases information allowing prospective applicants to guess their chances of admission (something like the SAT or GRE ranges for the regular Harvard admissions) they are dangling false promises to the effect that “pay for classes here and with good grades you have a likely shot at (something that sounds like) Harvard”. That’s unless the admission is largely automatic. </p>
<p>But HES can’t release that information publicly, because it would also allow calibration of HES’ selectivity and the quality of its student body. Although HES in its own right is nothing to sneeze at academically or otherwise, allowing for a public and relatively objective understanding of its student body compared to Harvard College (and more to the point, UMass Boston or other institutions closer in nature to HES) would forever dispel the blurry aura of “pseudo Harvard” prestige that HES so carefully cultivates in its marketing, and which drives a good deal of their enrollment.</p>
<p>HES really does not want market forces to operate here, which is odd because it offers something that many people would find appealing even if disclosed accurately.</p>
<p>What is your problem? You don’t have anything better to do than to bash HES? Did your significant other run off with an HES grad? Did you try and fail at HES? Are you a College student who has their head so far up their own ass that they can’t show respect to students of other Harvard schools?</p>
<p>Harvard Extension School is part of Harvard University as much as any other school under the Harvard name. College, Extension, Law, Business, Education, Kennedy, Divinity, Medical, ect. are all Harvard.</p>
<p>If they weren’t part of Harvard would they be able to graduate with the other schools, use the same facilities, access the same libraries, and even take the same classes? ALM candidates must write a Harvard thesis for Harvard professors.</p>
<p>Degrees granted through the HARVARD Extension School are Harvard degrees granted to Harvard graduates. Those graduates are Harvard Alumni.</p>
<p>Don’t believe me? Ask Harvard University and the Harvard Alumni Association.</p>
<p>You are free to have an opinion, but you can’t have an opinion about a fact, and the fact is that you are wrong.</p>
<p>youre allowed 2 classes per sems… its like getting an executive certificate. hardly a genuine degree. now columbia GS is a degree granting college not a continuing ed like HES</p>
<p>I think the point is that HES is in effect running a scam with its admissions process, and that were any other entity (or a third tier college) doing the same it would be shut down by the Attorney General.</p>
<p>HES’ application fee for its undergraduate certificate programs (AA and ALB) is several thousand dollars and several hundreds of hours: the cost of at least four courses plus attendance and work required to earn high enough grades in those courses. For that they don’t promise anything except to consider your application.</p>
<p>That’s almost two orders of magnitude costlier than any normal college degree granting program in the United States. It’s a scam if they don’t provide information that allows people to get a realistic idea of their chances. Thousands dollars to CONSIDER you for admission, then string you along for one or two more semesters (“try again in Spring of 09”, as with the poster above)?</p>
<p>Insofar as HES is selling this to the college applicant population with the fewest other options, the “nontraditional students”, it is exploiting the circumstances of those students. To the extent that HES’ lack of candor leads applicants to miscalculate the cost/benefit and engage in fruitless, time consuming and extremely expensive attempts at Harvard Extension degrees instead of getting cheaper and universally understood credentials (GED’s, SAT, GRE, AP, etc) that would get them into many other programs, it’s destructive. </p>
<p>This being a scam has nothing to do with HES’ academic qualities compared to the rest of Harvard. However, the motivation and probable reason for the continuation of the scam have everything to do with the marketing game that HES plays using the Harvard brand.</p>