New from Harvard Extension School

[Jonathan Whatley]

I'd rather take that money and go to UPenn and get the same degree as everyone else. After reading a Dallas forum, I've learned that more people than expected know that Harvard Extension is a "special" school.

Which Penn online or hybrid degree is "the same degree as everyone else?"

Penn's College of Liberal and Professional Studies, Penn LPS, is a separate unit for adult students within Penn like HES is within Harvard University. The Penn LPS online undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS), which doesn't seem to be offered elsewhere within Penn.

Whereas the HES undergraduate program has a rich schedule of evening and intensive on-campus courses alongside online courses, Penn is eliminating evening and weekend on-campus classes for LPS adult undergraduates and replacing them with the BAAS, an online degree with two short residencies "similar to orientation days." There's one admission pathway based on prior transcript review, and a "prove your way in" pathway based on taking open enrollment courses, and that's like HES.

Things seem similar among Penn's online or blended graduate degrees. For instance, the engineering department has an online master's on CourseRA, but it's a Master of Computer and Information Technology (MCIT) for students from a non-CS background. Again, a differently titled degree from on-campus students.

I take the fair point that some people will prefer a program where online and on-campus students are awarded the same degree from the same academic unit. I'm not seeing where Penn does things differently from Harvard in that respect. There could be some other program within Penn where online and traditionally admitted on-campus students are awarded the same degree.

Actually, I would spend less at a school that is ranked higher in its field than an Ivy League school i.e. Georgia Tech or University of Texas for computer science.

With Harvard Extension, you also have to factor in the cost of being in Cambridge for face-to-face classes.

Also fair points!