Extension School certificate vs. degree programs

A student who is considering the Certificate in Management program emailed me a good question:

"I've noticed that the difference between a certificate and a degree program at [the Harvard Extension School] is about 2 classes and a thesis. Is there any way that I can go for the ALM while emphasizing the better part of my classes in business subjects?"

Unfortunately, I had to tell the student that the answer is no, according to my understanding of the program. There are 19 fields of study for the ALM listed here, but none of them are business focused. This student could do a government concentration, and try to take as many government classes as possible that touch on economics -- trade, development, finance, policy. But the finance courses in the EXT catalogue don't count as in-field classes toward the government ALM requirement, only as electives, which can be no more than two classes. The finance classes are really geared toward people doing the Certificate in Management program, as far as I can tell. It is probably worth asking someone in the ALM program, however. I have seen Government and History theses related to business issues, and the in-field coursework of the people who wrote them was probably more economy- and business-focussed than my own coursework thus far.

Additionally, there is the ALM thesis requirement to consider. It's not just like taking another class, or simply writing a big term paper. It is a very time-consuming and research-intensive process. I've been conducting research and working on my thesis proposal for six months, and still have at least one year to go before I complete my thesis.

One other thing that I should mention to people considering the certificate programs at the Extension School is that several of them do have closely related masters programs -- the Certificate in Environmental Management and the Master of Liberal Arts in Environmental Management, and the Certificate in Publishing and Communications and the Master of Liberal Arts in Journalism. Of course, there are some significant differences between a certificate program and a masters program, most notably the thesis/masters project, proseminar requirement, and additional coursework. Contact the Extension School if you are interested in comparing the various certificate and degree programs.