4 ms·

Can you talk a little about your experience at the Harvard Extension School? What it is, what the experience was like, what courses you took, the cost, and the

by cggd3 9y ago

Can you talk a little about your experience at the Harvard Extension School? What it is, what the experience was like, what courses you took, the cost, and the job prospects post graduation.

ralmidani 9y ago
Harvard Extension School (HES) is an open-enrollment school at Harvard that lets you take individual courses, as well as pursue certificates and undergraduate and graduate degrees. My experience with HES has been very positive. I've taken 2 courses there so far: CS50 and Calculus 1. I took both as a remote student. This is nice if you're busy with other things like family and work, because you can watch the materials when you're free, alert, and most ready to learn. I intend to pursue the Masters in Software Engineering, but I'm taking things one step at a time. Undergrad courses in most subjects are currently $1,550, while graduate courses are $2,700. I believe only Computer Science and Digital Media courses are priced at the graduate level even if you take them for undergraduate credit. You actually get a Harvard transcript, and if you earn a degree, you get to participate in the annual commencement in May. To get a degree, you have to complete at least one course by going in-person to Cambridge (more for some degrees). I don't have any first-hand information on job prospects, but I would imagine the more you can make it to Cambridge, the more classmates and professors you can network with. For more information, please check out the HES website: https://www.extension.harvard.edu/ https://www.extension.harvard.edu/
- davidwihl 9y ago
  > I believe only Computer Science and Digital Media courses are priced at the graduate level even if you take them for undergraduate credit. It depends on the course. I've been very happy with HES and expect to graduate with my ALB May 2018. Besides the list of courses on the HES web site, I've taken advantage of many additional opportunities: a Teaching Fellow for the Intro Data Science class where I helped HES, regular college and grad students, and Head TF for Advanced Data Science class this Spring (CS109b). With a certain GPA and number of credits, you can get Special Student status opening up virtually the entire Grad level course space for HES credit. This past Spring I took CS280, a grad level AI class, where I was one of two non traditional students in a class of 20 consisting of mostly CompSci Phd candidates. HES opens up many opportunities. Like anything, it is what you make of it that counts.
dkennemo 9y ago
Harvard Extension's approach is, rather than have students jump through a lot of hoops to gain admission on the front end and hope that lightning strikes their application, let students prove they can do Harvard-level work through a number of so-called admissions courses (which double as courses in their degree program), and use THOSE as the basis for admission. It is a much better method than the very noisy GPA/GRE combo, in my opinion. Although the courses I take have a distance ed option, I fly to campus every 4 - 6 weeks and spend a week in lecture in person - it is a better way to connect with my classmates and the professors than doing pure distance work. It's great to be around so many smart, hardworking people - when I started class there I was taken aback a little because I thought: "Where do these people come from, who are involved in a dozen projects at a time and seem to work 24 hours a day." And then it hit me: Oh WAIT - that's ME! Most people either haven't heard of the Extension School and, if they have, have no idea it has been around for a century. Oxford University runs a similar concept - it is almost a bolt for bolt replica of the Extension School, but it's in England.

by cggd3 9y ago

Can you talk a little about your experience at the Harvard Extension School? What it is, what the experience was like, what courses you took, the cost, and the job prospects post graduation.

ralmidani 9y ago

Harvard Extension School (HES) is an open-enrollment school at Harvard that lets you take individual courses, as well as pursue certificates and undergraduate and graduate degrees. My experience with HES has been very positive. I've taken 2 courses there so far: CS50 and Calculus 1. I took both as a remote student. This is nice if you're busy with other things like family and work, because you can watch the materials when you're free, alert, and most ready to learn. I intend to pursue the Masters in Software Engineering, but I'm taking things one step at a time. Undergrad courses in most subjects are currently $1,550, while graduate courses are $2,700. I believe only Computer Science and Digital Media courses are priced at the graduate level even if you take them for undergraduate credit. You actually get a Harvard transcript, and if you earn a degree, you get to participate in the annual commencement in May. To get a degree, you have to complete at least one course by going in-person to Cambridge (more for some degrees). I don't have any first-hand information on job prospects, but I would imagine the more you can make it to Cambridge, the more classmates and professors you can network with. For more information, please check out the HES website: https://www.extension.harvard.edu/ https://www.extension.harvard.edu/

davidwihl 9y ago
> I believe only Computer Science and Digital Media courses are priced at the graduate level even if you take them for undergraduate credit. It depends on the course. I've been very happy with HES and expect to graduate with my ALB May 2018. Besides the list of courses on the HES web site, I've taken advantage of many additional opportunities: a Teaching Fellow for the Intro Data Science class where I helped HES, regular college and grad students, and Head TF for Advanced Data Science class this Spring (CS109b). With a certain GPA and number of credits, you can get Special Student status opening up virtually the entire Grad level course space for HES credit. This past Spring I took CS280, a grad level AI class, where I was one of two non traditional students in a class of 20 consisting of mostly CompSci Phd candidates. HES opens up many opportunities. Like anything, it is what you make of it that counts.

dkennemo 9y ago

Harvard Extension's approach is, rather than have students jump through a lot of hoops to gain admission on the front end and hope that lightning strikes their application, let students prove they can do Harvard-level work through a number of so-called admissions courses (which double as courses in their degree program), and use THOSE as the basis for admission. It is a much better method than the very noisy GPA/GRE combo, in my opinion. Although the courses I take have a distance ed option, I fly to campus every 4 - 6 weeks and spend a week in lecture in person - it is a better way to connect with my classmates and the professors than doing pure distance work. It's great to be around so many smart, hardworking people - when I started class there I was taken aback a little because I thought: "Where do these people come from, who are involved in a dozen projects at a time and seem to work 24 hours a day." And then it hit me: Oh WAIT - that's ME! Most people either haven't heard of the Extension School and, if they have, have no idea it has been around for a century. Oxford University runs a similar concept - it is almost a bolt for bolt replica of the Extension School, but it's in England.