Reply to Anyone following the viral Harvard University *Extension School* controversy?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I know someone who did this exactly but with Princeton. Wears his Princeton colors everywhere 🙄[/quote]

This is fine. But if all you have to show for yourself is where you went to school, that says something about you. On the other hand, if the school gives you opportunities and inspires you to do more and be more -- who gives a *** whether it's HES or Princeton. I think too many people on this forum don't know anything about Harvard, HES, and are *shocked* that the real Harvard doesn't live up to whatever their ill formed expectations are for the institution.

For example did you know both the Education and Div. school have a very high admit rate? You don't see the level of online vitriol mostly by people who never set foot on campus. Did you know Oxford, LSE, Columbia, Northwestern, and Brown all have extension programs too? Yet, you don't see the ridiculous "university of phoenix" accusations at them. Did you know many adcoms at top universities have gone on record that they consider an ALB with extension to be equivalent rigor (academically) with the college?

And yet, the bumbnuts who never had the privilege to piss on the statue; come on occasion, to the yard, and rub the foot and take pictures as if tourist in a foreign land. They are faced with the prospect that someone could participate what they consider to be unattainable and elite, it threatens them. Frankly, getting a Harvard degree is Hard. Yet, they condemn the alternative pathways, such as the Extension School, for the prospect of potential failure looms as a harbinger of their own intrinsic limitations, a threat far more insidious than any external barriers. For in the realm of their imagination, the specter of one's own inadequacies casts a longer shadow. Thus, they retreat into the comforting embrace of the external gatekeepers, mocking alternative paths, and seeking solace in the safety of being barred from entry into her hallowed halls.[/quote]

Ok you are full of sh&t. I went to MIT. Harvard is not hard at all. Most of the kids graduate with 4.0s. That's why MIT students would take classes there. Super easy.[/quote]As a side note, the HES classes are 100% the same fine-by-ordinary-standards-but-easy-by-MIT-standards difficulty as the "real" Harvard classes, according to Harvard professors who teach both courses. Obviously you wouldn't find this hard to believe - it's not as if the in-person Harvard courses are exceptionally difficult, after all.[/quote]

Your statement can be somewhat ambiguously read but I think we are in agreement. HES classes are generally structured identical to Harvard College (and sometimes GSAS) courses. In some cases it is harder or easier than the equivalent course depending on the material. These classes would be much easier for a MIT student. Their are also classes offered at the college/GSAS that are highly specialized and outside the realm of a liberal arts education (Math 55, Gov 2002) that would not generally be offered to HES students and which even an MIT student could find challenging.

1. For most courses, HES and the college tend to be equivalent in what is offered and the rigor. Their are also examples in which the HES graduate section is harder than the equivalent college work.
2. GSAS _graduate_ degrees tend to be very specialized in a way that it is possible that a MIT might find it challenging depending on the subject matter.
3. We aren't comparing to MIT students, but we are asking if HES has similar rigor to the college which it does.
4. Good HES students can petition to take around 4 classes at the other schools if they have something with less liberal arts and deeper depth. I do not consider rigor and depth to be equivalent.

I would also say for about at least 95% of the educated public, the rigor of Harvard or MIT is too much. For example there is a professor that teaches at extension and the college and for just one class:
Had to read The Iliad.
Had to read The Odyssey.
Had to read The Oresteia Trilogy: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides.
Had to read The Apology.
Had to read The Republic.

That's about 450,000 words. Which is about 30 hours of serious reading. And had to read these text close enough and reflect to do some serious close reading essays --skimming isn't going to cut it. We also used the Socratic method to discuss in class so you're going to look like an idiot in front of your peers if you don't absorb the readings. This is something that most college students aren't going to do for a 4 credit hour class. For this reason I think it's unfair to say Harvard is 'easy'. It is certainly not MIT, but it is still one of the top places for a quality education.[/quote]

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