> On LinkedIn I frequently see Harvard listed on profiles, but upon digging in, it is Harvard Extension School which mostly seems to offer certificates. Harvar

> On LinkedIn I frequently see Harvard listed on profiles, but upon digging in, it is Harvard Extension School which mostly seems to offer certificates. Harvard Extension started in the 1830s and became a formal division of the university over 100 years ago. They offer real degrees to "non-traditional" students. People that get admitted get the same student ID card that everyone else gets, has the same facility access, etc. The biggest transgression is that Harvard gives those graduates a liberal arts degree in "extension studies" without naming the concentration. People also seem to have issues with the fact that anyone that applies and meets the requirements is admitted as a student. But if you count the number of people that start with one of the "courses for entry" and compare to the number of people who actually get admitted, their admission rate would be even lower than, say, the Harvard Kennedy School (which by the way is willing to grant a master's degree to someone that doesn't even have an undergraduate degree). Why it gets such flack for being "Harvard, but not really" doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Harvard College - the undergraduate school - is the super exclusive part. Harvard University - the collection of graduate schools plus the college - is huge with a wide variety of exclusivity and completely uncorrelated ability.