The Harvard Extension School is not to be sneezed at. Many of its courses are more demanding than (or exactly the same as) regular Harvard courses. The average quality of teaching may be better than that at regular Harvard (although this is an admittedly low standard). Home-schooled teenagers take advanced biochemistry lab courses alongside 50-something career-changers. The distance courses generally work as distance courses.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Positive Extension School comment from Harvard alum
I just posted about the Harvard Extension School's response to Katrina. I wanted to add that I found out about this generous offer through Curt Monash's blog on Computerworld. Curt, who is a Harvard alum (PhD in Mathematics [Game Theory]) had some nice words to say about the Extension School offerings, and not just because of the disaster response:
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3 comments:
I've have nothing but praise for Harvard Extension since I took a German course there for fun several years ago. I was a lazy student during my college years, so I decided to try to redeem myself by actually learning the language now. I found the classes challenging, the instructor inspirational, and after a couple of years of hard work, I was delighted with my progress.
I'm not entirely sure how this led to my current pursuit -- a master's in biology -- but I can report that the ALM program in biology (or biotechnology, which is also offered) is extremely rigorous. The extension school also offers a pre-med program for students who wish to apply to medical school (but did not complete their pre-reqs in college). Many of these students turn up in the various biology classes, presumably to impress medical school admissions boards with their work in physiology, comparative anatomy, biochemistry, immunology, pathophysiology, etc. Many of these courses, which are all offered by the Extension school, are taught by Harvard med school profs. The result is that all biology classes are extremely competitive. Fortunately I enjoy competition, and it's rather fun to attend classes with a bunch of intense and earnest future physicians who are half my age!
Delighted to find your blog (which Curt directed me to). After taking 7 courses in my field, I'm about to begin focusing on my thesis. So far I haven't found many opportunities to connect with other grad students in the Extension School.
Thanks, Linda, for the comment. It's great to hear from someone who is pursuing an ALM degree in biology -- those of us in social sciences don't get many opportunities to talk with folks who are studying science or technology-related fields.
I hope this blog can serve as a forum of sorts for the scattered Harvard Extension School student body, but what would be really great would be some sort of online discussion forum, either run by the Harvard Extension Student Association or the Extension School itself. There really is a need for such a service, as many of us don't live anywhere near Cambridge, or have other family and career duties that keep us from hanging out on campus.
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