1. I have to agree with “I think that’s sort of going to Harvard the wrong way for the wrong reasons.” I feel like it would just be very difficult to go through college full-time just taking night courses with a shaky connection to the University community. It’s great for people who are working full-time like yourself, but I feel like full-time undergrads my age would get lost a lot easier.

   What I’d like to know is why Harvard can offer these courses for an eighth of the price of regular courses!

2. Yeah, I completely agree, its silly. They are priced differently because they’re a different type of course, towards a different degree, targeted at a different cohort. And the extension school dates back to Harvard’s founding. The idea was to offer comprehensive learning opportunitites to people who otherwise wouldn’t have them. It was for giving back to the community, for letting people who so chose to better themselves and participate in intellectual inquiry. It wasn’t meant to be a substitute for the college and shouldn’t be. And I frankly don’t want to take classes that have to be geared to high school graduates rather than college graduates, it cheapens my experience.

3. Let me assure you, these classes are not geared toward high school students at all. I don’t believe it is very fair that they stereotype us all and catagorize us all as failures and ‘brilliantly milking the Harvard University cow’ as it is not in my list of reasons for attending the university. I am there to learn as are my fellow students so I hope that you will afford us the respect we deserve. I have worked very hard and dilligently to attend Harvard. I can remember walking 9 miles to and from just to be able to go to work, or watching my mother pass and her only hope was that I go to college… now I am there, so you will see the future unfold before your eyes. We are a select few, strong and passionate. I am attending the Extension School in order to learn ad eventually I have hopes to be an ALB Liason as well as eventually a PhD. Anyone who goes for an education, for the right reasons, should be congradulated… I recall a quote I once heard, ‘many are called, but few are chosen’-(Author Unknown) I can sit here and try to justify myself all day long, but in reality, I do not need to… my fellow students and I will press on and attain our degrees with vigor and passion and we will be the future leaders, not because we will be Harvard graduates… but because we have passion and hope, and hope is an anchor and just a my mother told me before she passed… this is my gift and my responsibility. Coming from Harvard, be it Med school, College, Extension it is all the same, we represent a select few in the world’s population and must live to those standards. We are holding ourselfs to that level, I ask that you give us liberty which in case you’ve forgotten is something which all of us strive for… we are here to learn, not to accept childish arguments about our education from people like you. When my fellow students and I make our mark on the world, then maybe you will give the credit that is due to the institution which is education us. Regards, and have a wonderful day! Thank you for taking the time to read my response.

4. I would tend to agree. I’ve been looking at Harvard Extension, and everything I have read leads me to think that there is no difference between extension classes and regular classes. Same teachers and, in mostcases, you’re in a class with students admitted to the regular undergrad\grad school. Best of all, when you graduate, you can put ALM, Harvard University in your resume. It says so right in the FAQ of the website. Harvard classifies the degree as a harvard degree presented in extension. No problem here.

5. Degrees earned at Harvard Extension are real Harvard degrees, according the FAQ page at its official website.

6. In this discussion and others, I have observed that people usually pass on comments about ALM without attending any course or going through the rigours. I am not yet an ALM candidate but I have attended a few courses, and to me they looked very rigorous. I have been to the best technical school in India and I can endorse that the amount of original thinking and analysis required to do most ALM courses is unparallel. One misnomer is the ‘open enrollment’ policy which really means rolling admission and not ‘open’ to all!! You still have to prove English capabilities, have a good resume and personal essays, along with ‘B’ or above in 3 ALM courses.

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