Harvard Extension School Students Rally for Degree Name Change

[ReyMysterioso]

"So they actually are one of the 12 schools that comprise Harvard University.  They do use many of the same instructors but I do not think the Harvard College students generally attend HES courses."


I'm in an ALM program. Currently in my last semester. Over the course of 11 classes, I have probably been in class with about six or seven Harvard College students throughout various classes. This happens more often during Summer School than during the spring/fall semesters as in my personal experience it seems that many HC students pick up electives over summer to get ahead/stay ahead. 
I don't think the spring/fall HES classes are open to HC students in general. (Maybe they can get special permission.) However some HC instructors will open up their Harvard College classes for HES students in spring/fall and it will be listed separately in both catalogs, but they'll attend the exact same class. Sometimes it's hybrid where there might be 10 students in person and 20 on a giant screen in the back of the lecture hall and you could come in person or do it online from week to week or all one or all the other.

It goes the other way too. As long as your GPA is above a certain threshold, you can fill out a "special student" form (which is generally rubber-stamped) and be eligible to take classes from most of the other 11 schools (and even MIT!) as long as your advisor approves of class as a valid elective in your program.

I don't think PUG is a good comparison. That's a whole other school than Purdue. At HES, you pick up the the same ID as all other students from the same Smith Center. You get the same access to all the buildings, libraries, facilities, student centers, meal plans, dining halls (except the first-year only Mem) etc etc as any other Harvard grad student. HES students are eligible for clubs, club-level athletics and recreation. I've participated in a few club sports with kids from all over the world. It was a great experience.

Now obviously at the undergrad level there are significant differences. You don't go through the house system and all that. But at the grad level, I haven't found where HES is much different than any other grad school except that it has merit-based earn-your-way-in admission. 

Nobody once ever treated me like a second-class citizen anywhere in Cambridge. All I've ever heard any faculty say was that the wide variety of backgrounds, life experiences and professional expertise the HES students contribute to the University was an invaluable asset to the institution and student body. 

It's been a great experience and while I support the change to academically accurate degrees, I frankly don't care what the diploma ends up saying on mine. (It's in Latin anyway.)