Article bashes Harvard Extension ALM Grad

[Thorne]

If people are having that reaction to HES, then that is the reputation HES has whether members of this forum agree with it or not. UTD actually has a pretty well-ranked business school with a good reputation. I think people get too caught up in the name recognition of a university among the general public, but what really matters is the reputation of a specific degree program or department among peers within your field. UTD attracts a lot of international students.

The problem with such a determination is sample size. I only know two HES grads beyond what I would consider an acquaintance. One has problems because sometimes IT managers like to be...erm...precious about their education. My old coworker had a degree from UT Austin and was mocked for not having a UNT degree from our friendly neighborhood power trip in a suit who got his degree from UNT. The other got his ALM in Cybersecurity and a BSBA from WGU, he swears no one has ever hassled him.

Of the people I've met who discuss HES, very few even mention having real problems with the degree unless they're interviewing for a role with someone who went to Real Harvard and thinks that HES isn't Real Harvard

[sanantone]

That is a first: North Texas and UT Dallas land equal to WGU in Cali unless there is a personal connection to Texas, and even then neither is moving the needle unless you played sports.

I doubt that. WGU has a reputation for being 100% online, a lot of people think it's a for-profit college, and word has gotten out that people have finished master's degrees in three months. In general, an unknown public university that's traditional will get less scrutiny than an online university. 

In certain fields, UNT and UT Dallas are actually highly-regarded. UNT is well-known for its jazz program having produced Grammy nominees, and UTD is well-ranked in criminology. Regardless of where you are in the country, professionals will be aware of which schools are highly-regarded in their field. Texas State University is a podunk university, but it attracts top applicants for professor positions in the School of Criminal Justice, and they are one of the major training centers for active shooter situations.

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Such an exciting niche for UNT and UT Dallas, and other than Jazz professionals or enthusiasts, not a lot to hold on to after that. Business schools outside the top tier don't move the needle unless you are leveraging at a corporation with an alum. Once the box is checked, your talent and interview skills will outway most degrees.

Most HM have little emotional influence from where you earned your degree. Your degree matters early in your career, and your experience devalues it more and more over time. Of course, an MBA or Doctorate will always represent value as they are positioned well in the market, and as those become easier to achieve, they can become less valuable.

That's more reason to choose a cheaper school than HES. Ironically, there are people choosing HES for snobbish reasons because they think the Harvard name is something to brag about and will give them an advantage in the job market. I don't feel sorry for them when they get a reality check. They're being subjected to the same snobbery they bought into. The quality of education between traditional universities is not drastically different within tiers. When I say tiers, I mean tiers of hundreds of schools, such as top 100 or 200. Professors who graduated from the very top schools are overrepresented in professorships. So, you have a lot of people at non-Ivy Plus schools learning from Ivy Plus professors because there are only so many job openings at Ivy Plus schools. Other universities will trip over themselves to hire someone with a doctorate from an Ivy+. 

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022...stitutions

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If people are having that reaction to HES, then that is the reputation HES has whether members of this forum agree with it or not. UTD actually has a pretty well-ranked business school with a good reputation. I think people get too caught up in the name recognition of a university among the general public, but what really matters is the reputation of a specific degree program or department among peers within your field. UTD attracts a lot of international students.

The problem with such a determination is sample size. I only know two HES grads beyond what I would consider an acquaintance. One has problems because sometimes IT managers like to be...erm...precious about their education. My old coworker had a degree from UT Austin and was mocked for not having a UNT degree from our friendly neighborhood power trip in a suit who got his degree from UNT. The other got his ALM in Cybersecurity and a BSBA from WGU, he swears no one has ever hassled him.

Of the people I've met who discuss HES, very few even mention having real problems with the degree unless they're interviewing for a role with someone who went to Real Harvard and thinks that HES isn't Real Harvard

I believe that hardly anyone has issues with their HES degrees. No one has ever hassled me over my TESU degrees or one of my master's degrees from a podunk state university. The question is - would any of those schools get someone a job in an industry or at companies that care about prestige? It doesn't matter to me, personally, because I make good money working in the public sector. But, it does matter to some others, so they should research whether an HES degree holds as much weight as a degree from one of the traditional Harvard schools.

[ifomonay]

In my opinion, anyone who bashes HES are those who tried the program and flunked out, or knows that they don't have the IQ to do a degree there. I mean, if Harvard says it is a bona fide degree from Harvard University, then who is anybody else to dispute that?

[durain]

They claim Christopher Rufo's Harvard ALM is "misleading".  At this point, I honestly feel sad for Extension students constantly having to prove they are not fake Harvard students.    

https://newrepublic.com/article/170647/c...misleading

Lesson learned. Description of  Degree gained from certain university has to be exact. 
.... degree from Harvard is not the same as a ....degree from Harvard extension school.

Similarly: ....degree from Purdue Global is not to be mentioned as... degree from Purdue.

[ReyMysterioso]

The author compares the subject's grad program with the admissions rate of the College undergrad program. Comparing grad and undergrad admissions criteria would be silly at any school.

The author also claims Harvard College does not accept HES credits toward their degrees - which is untrue. They do.

As for the charge of "it's misleading." Well, maybe only if you don't know how universities work. Apparently, many people don't. That's okay. We'll educate them! ?

[durain]

The author compares the subject's grad program with the admissions rate of the College undergrad program. Comparing grad and undergrad admissions criteria would be silly at any school.

The author also claims Harvard College does not accept HES credits toward their degrees - which is untrue. They do.

As for the charge of "it's misleading." Well, maybe only if you don't know how universities work. Apparently, many people don't. That's okay. We'll educate them! L

Well the reality remain as mentioned in the initial post  : ....sad for Extension students constantly having to prove they are not fake Harvard students.

[ReyMysterioso]

The author compares the subject's grad program with the admissions rate of the College undergrad program. Comparing grad and undergrad admissions criteria would be silly at any school.

The author also claims Harvard College does not accept HES credits toward their degrees - which is untrue. They do.

As for the charge of "it's misleading." Well, maybe only if you don't know how universities work. Apparently, many people don't. That's okay. We'll educate them! L

Well the reality remain as mentioned in the initial post  : ....sad for Extension students constantly having to prove they are not fake Harvard students.

The proof is in the pudding.

[origamishuttle]

The proof is in the pudding.

In the Hasty Pudding?  

I'll see myself out...

[ReyMysterioso]

The proof is in the pudding.

In the Hasty Pudding?  

I'll see myself out...

EXACTLY!!

[smartdegree]

The weird thing is that Harvard extension students are the only extension/continuing education students who are "shot down" whenever their university affiliation is mentioned. You don't hear anyone at NYU bashing NYU SPS students nor do you hear Upenn's LPS being thrown under the bus by other Penn students. Heck, no one ever calls UCLA extension classes as fake UCLA courses. It's just Harvard extension that has this stigma. It's weird - almost like a strictly Harvard thing.