Don't misrepresent where you went to school.

[alexf.1990]

It tells them that there are two specific forms they can use:

"Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Harvard Extension School"

or

"Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies, Harvard University"

Again, I would encourage you to dig deeper into the links on the first page of this thread to see what the complaint is here about Harvard Extension. Here's a comment from one of the Harvard blogs:


The fact is that HES students are not part of the greater life of the University the way Harvard College students or grad students are – they are not part of the Student Councils, the orchestra or theater groups, the athletic teams, nor do they live in the residential colleges. They often do not list the fact on their resumes they are in fact Extension School students. Incidentally, no one at Harvard College or the graduate schools keep arguing that they are legitimate Harvard graduates like the HES students do.

There is your answer. The issue here isn't that Harvard Extension School isn't Harvard, it is as much a part of Harvard University as Harvard College is. The issue is that Harvard College alumni do not like the idea of someone who never lived in a dorm room, never wrote for the Crimson, never pahked their cah in the Hahvahd Yahd claiming to be a part of their community. In my first post in this thread I asked if someone should list that they went to Arizona State University online and the answer was an overwhelming "no". But ask yourself, is the ASU grad "part of the greater life of the University"? Does the Starbucks barista in Nebraska getting a degree from ASU take part in the student councils, the orchestra, the theater groups, the athletic teams? If not, then what makes it different than Harvard Extension? What makes it less okay for a real dyed in the wool Sun Devil to say "GTFO, you're not a part of my school" when they come across an online alumnus not openly admitting that fact?


I know Degree Forum is more or less based on a fairly niche model of college that revolves around three or four highly specific universities and that this topic is a bit outside the realm of the usual discussion here. But I think it's pretty illustrative. There is still immense bias when it comes to online education and toward non-traditional degree seekers. And while it is more or less impossible for someone to be denigrated as an inferior breed of Charter Oak State College alum, this is a real potential issue as distance learning continues to expand to more and more traditional and prestigious universities. People should remain cognizant of that at all times and try to fight theses biases when they encounter them in the name of promoting a more equitable college solution for all of us. 

So no, don't try to convince anyone that a business degree from CSU-Global is a business degree from the more highly accredited CSU. But when it comes to whether or not some kid with a diploma that looks like this (ie the same as any other Harvard diploma):



Well, I don't really agree with those who want them to be relegated to second class status. And nobody invested in non-traditional education methods should, imo.

HES claiming their degrees are in "Extension Studies" was a real hanging point for me when I was deciding whether or not I wanted to attend. They don't use "Extension Studies" in any of the promotional material, and they are consistent in their claims that HES courses are as rigorous as their HC or HBS counterparts. Putting HES on a second tier also runs counter to the principles of the new "One Harvard" campaign. On top of that, successful HES students are allowed to cross register for an HBS or HLS course towards the end of their degree. Admitted HES students can also attend the same Summer School courses that students from the other Harvard schools attend. The effort to relegate HES to a second tier has more to do with protecting Harvard's brand and the piles of cash the other schools bring in.

I decided not to attend HES for my undergrad, but I do plan on attending HES to get an MLA in Finance. Luckily, the MLA diploma is in latin, so nobody will be able to read it anyway. If the issue comes up in conversation, I will have no problem claiming that I earned a Masters in Finance from Harvard Extension School.