phd harvard extension school

Harvard Extension School: Is It Really Harvard?

Lead Higher Education Analyst

• Harvard Extension School offers an accessible route to a Harvard bachelor's degree.
• The school offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, along with certificate programs.
• Some question the degree's legitimacy based on the relative ease of admission and the fact that some faculty come from outside Harvard.
• Opinions vary regarding the value of a Harvard Extension School degree in the marketplace.

What if I told you there's a secret passageway into Harvard allowing you to earn a bachelor's degree on the cheap — and you don't even have to sport stellar grades and standardized test scores to get in? Too good to be true?

It's quite true. Welcome to Harvard Extension School.

But is it really Harvard?

What Is Harvard Extension School?

One of 12 degree-granting institutions at Harvard, Harvard Extension School is part of the university's continuing education division. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, along with certificates and a premedical program.

Current students range in age from 18 to 89. The average age of an Extension School undergraduate is 32, and 91% of students work full time. Students can take classes online and on the Cambridge campus in the evening.

Harvard Extension School traces its origins to 1910. Despite its tradition-bound reputation, Harvard was actually a pioneer in continuing and distance education. Extension courses were offered via radio in the late 1940s and on television in the 1950s.

Taking advantage of new online technologies, the Extension School expanded considerably in the 1980s and '90s and is now one of the university's largest schools, enrolling almost 800 undergraduates and 3,100 graduate students in fall 2021 and serving more than 14,000 students each year.

Not that this makes Harvard unique by any means. Similar continuing education programs exist among Ivy brethren Penn , Columbia , and Brown , while Yale offers the Eli Whitney track for nontraditional undergraduates .

Harvard Extension School expanded considerably in the 1980s and ’90s and is now one of the university’s largest schools, serving more than 15,000 students each year.

Other elite private colleges such as Stanford , the University of Chicago , Duke , NYU , Georgetown , and Northwestern also have continuing education divisions, as do public schools like UC Berkeley , UCLA , the University of Texas at Austin , the University of Virginia , and the University of Wisconsin-Madison .

Some of these institutions allow you to earn a bachelor's degree, as Harvard does, while others feature only graduate degrees and professional certificates.

On its website, Harvard makes an obvious effort to legitimize the Extension School. "We are Harvard — extended to the world for every type of adult learner," it states. "We are a fully accredited Harvard school. Our degrees and certificates are adorned with the Harvard University insignia. They carry the weight of that lineage."

Extension students hold Harvard ID cards, get a Harvard email address, study in the university's libraries, and work in its labs. They have access to academic and career services. They attend sporting events and participate in community service activities.

They also march at Harvard's commencement and, after graduating, become members of the Harvard Alumni Association, reaping all the associated benefits.

How Harvard Extension School Differs From Harvard College

So what's the problem? The answer lies in how Harvard Extension School operates compared with the rest of university.

Less Competitive Admission Requirements

Harvard College, the undergraduate school at Harvard University, can be difficult to get into, to say the least, much like Harvard's graduate and professional schools. For the class of 2027, Harvard received almost 57,000 applications and accepted 3.5% .

Admission to the undergraduate Extension program is … less stringent. Anyone can sign up for a course at any time. If you want to enroll in the degree program, however, you must take three courses, including a class on academic writing and critical reading, and earn at least a B in each.

Anyone can sign up for an undergraduate Harvard Extension course at any time. If you want to enroll in the degree program, however, you must take three courses and earn at least a B in each.

That's it — no consideration of high school transcripts or SAT and ACT scores. No essays or teacher recommendations. Three B's and you're in. Think you're Harvard material? Prove it.

A 2016 Harvard Gazette article noted that 32% of those seeking entry into the undergraduate degree program earned sufficient grades for admission. While that might seem like a competitive acceptance rate, it's more a reflection of attrition than selectivity.

What it actually reflects is the percentage of students who took three courses and met the threshold — a minimum of three B's — for admission. So, in theory, the acceptance rate of those who accomplish this task is 100%.

Many Faculty Don't Hold Harvard Appointments

Harvard Extension offers a wide range of courses across the three areas in which students must concentrate: humanities , sciences, and social sciences . Some fields, such as journalism, are exclusive to the Extension School and don't exist elsewhere within Harvard.

That's partly why not all Extension courses are taught by faculty holding a Harvard appointment. Almost half of Extension instructors teach at nearby institutions or are industry professionals offering real-world experience. The bachelor's program mandates that students take only 52 credits of the 128 required with Harvard professors.

"This means that while you do get to carry the Harvard brand, the coursework is not as rigorous," noted one observer .

If the assumption is that a “Harvard education” means learning solely from Harvard faculty, then the Extension experience falls somewhat short.

Whether or not courses taught by faculty from Boston University , Boston College, and Northeastern University are as challenging or valuable as those taught by Harvard faculty is a matter of opinion.

Many institutions offer courses taught by adjuncts and faculty from other colleges, so the situation at the Extension School is not that unusual. Still, if the assumption is that a "Harvard education" means learning solely from Harvard faculty, then the Extension experience falls somewhat short.

"If you are looking for a real Harvard experience," an Extension graduate suggests , "take as many classes on campus with real Harvard instructors as you can."

That experience can include up to two courses at Harvard College, learning alongside traditional undergraduates.

A Peculiar Degree Designation

Students who complete the baccalaureate program earn a bachelor of liberal arts in extension studies. Harvard stipulates that resumes must show the degree as "Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Harvard University Extension School" or "Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Extension Studies, Harvard University."

Only recently did Harvard suggest graduates could list their field of study as well. Presumably, one does not major in "extension studies."

Harvard makes this distinction to signal the difference between a bachelor's degree from Harvard Extension and one from Harvard College. Evidently, some Extension graduates exclude "extension" from their resumes to try to suggest their bachelor's degree is from the college. That's tantamount to fraud in the minds of many employers.

Harvard stipulates that resumes must show the degree as “Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Harvard University Extension School” or “Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Extension Studies, Harvard University.

"Keep this important point in mind as when you present your resume to a potential employer listing Harvard University," recommended one writer, "as your alma mater will be easily understood by employers who have actual Harvard University graduates there."

Nonetheless, Extension students have petitioned the university to remove "extension studies" from their diplomas.

"When the name of a degree does not state the subject in which a student has specialized, it diminishes the academic work that the student successfully completed while at Harvard," opined a Harvard Crimson editorial .

Other Differences Between Harvard Extension and Harvard College

Harvard Extension School students can also expect the following when it comes to variations from the college:

• Because of its focus on the adult learner, Harvard requires Extension School degree students to have earned their high school diploma or equivalent five years before enrolling.
• About 90% of Extension School courses are offered online , but students must take at least four courses on campus, with weekend, January, and summer options. So if you don't live in the Boston area, you'll have to plan to be there at some point to earn your degree.
• The Extension program is a relative bargain. For 2023-2024, Harvard charges $2,0240 per undergraduate course (typically 4 credits). You can transfer up to 64 credits from other schools. All told, Harvard estimates the cost of an undergraduate Extension degree falls between $32,000 and $65,000. In comparison, tuition at Harvard College is about $54,000 a year.
• There is financial assistance for degree candidates, including institutional aid. Nondegree students don't qualify for aid, however, leading some to suggest that the Extension School is nothing short of a " cash cow " for the university.

Perceptions Vary on Harvard Extension School's Quality

So is Harvard Extension School truly Harvard? Opinions vary.

A few years ago, a Boston.com article referred to a particular Extension School student with questionable judgment as a "Harvard student," which drew criticism from readers who called the term "misleading and sensationalist."

The article summarized the prevailing opinion as "The Extension School = not the real Harvard."

Others agree.

"While it is associated with the Harvard 'brand,'" wrote one critic , "the coursework is designed primarily for people who are more casual in their pursuit of a formal education. This gives a certain number of 'regular' Harvard privileges to enrolled students, but you are definitely not a regular Harvard student."

A current Harvard Extension School student confirmed this belief. "I've had a sense that I don't really belong at Harvard sometimes," he said in a YouTube video , "and I'm sure there are lots of other students at the Extension School who would feel the same way."

While Harvard Extension School might offer access to quality, prestige is another matter. The elusive concept of prestige is closely associated with exclusivity, which is not the Extension School's mission.

Yet another student held a different opinion . "This is Harvard's best-kept secret," he said. "As a kid on the steps of Widener Library, I dreamed of going in one day. And when that day finally came … I knew I finally belonged. Harvard is possible."

While the Extension School might offer access to quality, prestige is another matter. The elusive concept of prestige is closely associated with exclusivity, which is not the Extension School's mission.

"Just about anybody who has the money to spare can buy entry into the Extension School," noted a Harvard alum , "but the undergrad and grad schools at Harvard are highly selective, which is entirely the point of an Ivy League name."

On a podcast , Huntington Lambert offered his own unique summation. Lambert was dean of the Extension School until 2019, and his mother attended Extension classes when he was a child.

"Most people who know our students and our alumni know that they did the same courses that are just as hard as Harvard courses," Lambert said. "They just can't take the time or don't have the money to enjoy a full-time residential experience. And so the credential is not the same as Harvard College or Harvard Law School or Harvard Business School, but it is Harvard."

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Special Students

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Individuals with academic or professional reasons for pursuing graduate-level study without entering a degree program may apply for special student status and, with approval of the instructor, engage in coursework or a combination of coursework and research for academic credit during the fall or spring term or for one year. Summer coursework is not offered; those interested in summer study may consider Harvard Summer School as an option. Special students may only affiliate with one department or program, based on their proposed plan of study. 

While they are not candidates for any degree, special students are admitted to the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS) and are eligible to enroll in graduate or undergraduate courses, depending on their academic record. They have access to most student privileges and may request an official Harvard transcript of courses and grades received. They may also, with instructor consent, enroll in courses at other Harvard Schools via the cross-registration process.

Special students may submit a new application to extend their program. Extension is not automatic.  Reapplications are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Harvard Extension School ALB and ALM Candidates

Harvard Extension School students working toward an ALB or ALM degree who wish to take courses not offered at Harvard Extension School or Harvard Summer School may apply as a Harvard Griffin GSAS special student and may enroll in up to two courses per term for one academic year.

To qualify, candidates must earn a minimum number of Harvard Extension School credits with a specific GPA and obtain recommendations from their program director and two Harvard Extension School instructors. For more information, review the special student status information on the Extension School’s Earn Credits from Other Harvard Schools page.

Admissions Requirements

To qualify for the program, you must hold a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent and must present evidence of fitness for admission at the graduate level. Current undergraduates who would like to study at Harvard should contact the Visiting Undergraduate Student Program.

Full tuition is charged and cannot be waived or reduced. Special students are not eligible for institutional financial aid. Visiting students are typically either self-funded, by home country or home university scholarships, by third-party scholarships, or a mix.

For information about tuition and fees, see the Cost of Attendance section.

Before applying, you must select one department to affiliate with based on their academic interests.

Restrictions

• Admission cannot be deferred.
• Special students are restricted from participating in a select group of departmental offerings.
• Individuals denied admission to a degree program at Harvard Griffin GSAS cannot apply as a special student for the same academic year.
• Special students may not transfer to a degree-seeking program but may apply to Harvard Griffin GSAS in the future. If admitted, they may petition to apply their academic and financial credit toward their degree requirements.
• Special students may not cross-register for more than 50 percent of their classes outside the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and may not work on an independent research project if it exceeds half of the courses they are enrolled in.
• The visiting students program does not offer premedical coursework or advising.
• Special students cannot benefit from Harvard-administered financial aid programs and do not qualify for Federal Student Aid.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

Is the Harvard Extension School a Harvard degree?

• What's the average cost of a Harvard Extension School program?

What are the most popular Harvard Extension programs?

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• Harvard Extension School is an accredited online Harvard school geared towards working adults.
• You can take a single course, earn a certificate, or enroll in a degree program.
• I spoke with Harry J. Pierre, the Associate Director of Communications of Harvard Extension School, to answer FAQs.

If you're looking to advance your career and need further education to do it, you've probably run into Harvard Extension School. It offers a wide range of graduate programs and certificates in such subjects as sustainability , creative writing , and back-end web development . 

Like Harvard Divinity School, HES is a fully accredited Harvard school — though it's predominantly remote and specifically designed for working adults. The average student's age is 32, though people as young as 15 can enroll in undergraduate credits.

Courses are meant to be rigorous, and students are required to achieve a B minimum grade in two prerequisite courses before they're officially enrolled in a program. The average Harvard Extension School tuition ranges from $5,760 for an undergraduate certificate (3 courses) to $61,440 for an undergraduate degree (16-32 courses). 

Below, you'll find answers to FAQs, including input from Harry J. Pierre, the Associate Director of Communications of Harvard Extension School. 

Yes, Harvard Extension School is a fully accredited Harvard school, in the same way that a degree from the Harvard Divinity School is a Harvard degree. Your degree will say Harvard Extension School on it. 

Once you graduate, HES students join the Harvard Alumni Association (just like every other Harvard graduate) and can access social and networking events, Harvard Clubs, career services, recreation facilities, regional chapters, and more . 

What's the average cost of a Harvard Extension School program?

According to the website, this is the range you can expect to pay to complete a degree or certificate in the 2021-2022 school year. 

It's hard to say, but it's a rare and unlikely situation. The majority of Harvard Extension School students enroll in HES as an end destination — continuing education while juggling other responsibilities — rather than as a transitional step. 

There are teachers exclusive to Harvard Extension School and those who cross-pollinate and teach for both HES and Harvard. 

Depending on the course, your instructor could be a Harvard faculty member or another university or industry expert.

There's a HES Student Association , alumni groups, mixers hosted on campus for students from all Harvard schools to mingle, and networking events hosted through HES to connect current students with alumni. 

On a case-by-case basis, yes. According to Pierre, it depends on what the instructor thinks is important for the learning experience of the class: "Some of the on-campus classes are capped at 14 to 20 students. Some are capped at 40 students. Some are capped at close to 100 students, and then if it's online, there's a much higher threshold because you're online and don't have a space constraint to consider."

 Once you're accepted into a program, you'll be able to pick some electives à la carte from HES's online portal. 

Unless your sole concern is expediency, we'd recommend prioritizing the fall or spring semesters over the summer session. The summer session is shorter than the others, so your classes will be truncated and more intense; you may have double the work each week, so it could be more difficult to hit your requisite B average. There also may be fewer course offerings in the summer.

In terms of course availability and the length of time between classes going up and registration closing, spring may be the best time to register. But, the fall is also good — there just might be slightly more competition for courses.

Yes, though the details (how much, from where, and when) depend on the student. 

You're not likely to get assistance for a single course, but you may qualify for financial aid with a full graduate or undergraduate program. 

You can read more about financial assistance here . Once you're a student (technically after you've passed the two prerequisite courses with a B minimum and enrolled in a program), you can apply for FAFSA , too.

If you're a veteran or active military, you also may be eligible for funding .  

If you have questions or want clarity on the types of aid you are eligible for, you can also contact Student Financial Services . 

It's possible, and Pierre mentions that you can petition for one if you think your situation warrants it, but we wouldn't bet on it. 

If you decide to drop early in the session, there's a better chance you'll get some of your money back. But if you get to the end and change your mind (or fall short of the requirements), you likely won't get reimbursed. 

Having said that, Harvard assigns you a counselor to check in with you about your performance, so it shouldn't be a surprise if your academic standing is in jeopardy. 

Write "Harvard Extension School" as your university name. It would likely be a mistake not to distinguish between an in-person Harvard school and Harvard Extension School — recruiters and hiring managers may see the omission as misleading.

It depends. There are professional certificates, free courses, and undergraduate and graduate degree options available on e-learning platforms such as edX and Coursera . Many are comparatively affordable and sourced from other top universities . (You can learn more about edX here and Coursera here).

To Pierre, the main draw for HES is its Harvard affiliation. "Harvard Extension is Harvard," Pierre told me over the phone. "Students know they're going to get Harvard rigor, but also the excellence in academics that Harvard is known for." Plus, HES students can flexibly access the various advantages of a Harvard degree while working domestically or abroad, serving in the military, or taking care of their families. "Obviously, the name carries some weight with people, but it's also the learning that they get," said Pierre. "[And] you're building a whole set of lifelong and personal connections as well." 

• Main content

Harvard Alumni

Welcome to the Harvard Extension Alumni Association

As a member of the Harvard Extension Alumni Association (HEAA), you’re part of a global community of more than 40,000 alumni in more than 100 countries.

• Connect with fellow graduates and certificate recipients at HEAA events and programs.
• Access exclusive Harvard resources and facilities.
• Foster a lifelong commitment to education with your goodwill and support, or get involved on campus through mentorships and committees.

Help us foster personal and professional connections among alumni and establish a lifelong relationship between the school and its graduates.

Members, over 100 countries represented

Make a Gift to the Harvard Extension School

Your gifts and donations allow Harvard Extension School to continue serving students and graduates with world-class education, wide-reaching events, and resources for a lifetime. The Office of Advancement assists alumni, parents, and friends in making gifts to the school that fund scholarships, establish a legacy, and provide significant tax benefits.

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Update alumni.harvard profile.

Degree holders should keep your profile up to date in the University-wide Harvard Alumni Online Directory.

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Associate Members should update their MyDCE Account.

Upcoming and Past Events

Harvard extension school virtual alumni weekend, june 26 & 27, 2021, the global economy after covid-19 with peter marber, phd, the turning point: how pandemics helped conquer mexico 500 years ago, february 25, 2021, overcoming silos and divisions with evan r. bernstein alm '11, february 11, 2021, heaa puzzles and brainteaser social night, february 4, 2021, harvard division of continuing education.

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

• Editor's Pick

How Far Will Harvard Extend?

In spring 2011, as Theodore R. Johnson and his classmates walked through Harvard Yard to celebrate their graduation from the Harvard Extension School, an onlooker regarded their HES banner with visible confusion.

“What in the world is the Extension School?” the spectator asked.

“It’s the back door into Harvard,” Johnson’s classmate replied.

The comment stung, but it wasn’t surprising. The “back door” had been a running joke among his peers at HES since day one, Johnson recalls.

For his part, Johnson acknowledged that his college GPA and extracurriculars would likely not have gotten him into the Kennedy School or the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and he was “under no illusion” from the outset that a degree from HES would carry the same prestige as those from Harvard’s other schools. Nor did he need it to — by the time he enrolled in the HES master’s program as an International Relations concentrator, Johnson was a decade out of undergrad and an established officer in the U.S. Navy. He just needed another degree to be competitive for a promotion, and any school would do — HES happened to be the only one nearby that would allow him to take in-person classes while continuing to work full-time.

Even if the name “Harvard” wouldn’t make a difference to the military, Johnson saw it as a personal challenge, a way to prove himself at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

“It meant something to me,” he says. “To test myself. To see if I had what it took.”

Indeed, the Extension School’s official website practically dares its reader to take up this same challenge. The page is filled with photos of a diverse set of smiling students learning wherever is most convenient — on campus, at home, in a corporate office. “If you have the intellect and determination, you can pursue a Harvard education,” it promises.

With its open-enrollment policy, low tuition costs, catalog of more than 1,000 live and on-demand classes, and, of course, the Veritas crest displayed prominently in its advertising, the Extension School attracts thousands of students from around the world each year. It bills itself as “a Harvard education designed for you,” welcoming learners of all backgrounds into a sphere containing world-class resources, famous academics, and a venerated brand.

Yet a Google search for “harvard extension school” displays — directly below the school’s official website — a telling series of related search suggestions:

“Is Harvard Extension School respected?”

“Is Harvard Extension still Harvard?”

“harvard extension school a joke”

These questions indicate that, to the average person, an “accessible Harvard” sounds oxymoronic. The Extension School’s flashy marketing runs directly counter to the aura of exclusivity that lends the University much of its allure in the first place. If anybody can be a Harvard student, then isn’t nobody a Harvard student?

“It seemed too good to be true, that all I had to do was register for classes and now I’m a Harvard student; I get an ID and I get to go to Widener Library,” Johnson recalls.

And his doubts weren’t unfounded. In interviews and on online forums, many HES students express that, soon after arriving on campus, they begin to feel as though they don’t fully belong; that even as Harvard opens certain doors to its Extension School students, it keeps others firmly closed. The Extension School is carefully delineated as separate from the rest of the University in ways both large and small, ranging from hostile comments online to a diploma that students have called “dehumanizing” and belittling toward the work they’ve put in.

The complex relationship between the Extension School and the rest of the University — between the “back door” and the “real Harvard” it opens up to — highlights a glaring paradox: How can a school that’s famous for the number of students it rejects so boldly advertise a “Harvard education designed for you”? What exactly does a “Harvard education” consist of, and is it even possible to scale? And when the accessibility of an education is at odds with its associated prestige, just how far is Harvard willing to extend itself?

‘As Good as my Extension Students’

The Harvard Extension School was born out of a progressive spirit to make education more accessible for adults who could not leave the workforce to continue formal schooling. In 1835, businessman John Lowell Jr. laid out in his will his wishes for half of his wealth to be used for “the maintenance and support of Public Lectures […] for the promotion of the moral and intellectual and physical instruction or education of the citizens.” He proposed that half of the courses be offered free of charge and the other half be “not exceeding the value of two bushels of wheat” each semester, the equivalent of less than $300 today.

The Lowell Institute of Boston, founded from this trust in 1839, soared in popularity over the subsequent decades. Crowds would form across multiple streets to obtain tickets to lectures, and as many as 10,000 people applied for a single course.

The lectures attracted a diverse and engaged sector of the Boston public. “At the stroke of eight every lecture evening notebooks were spread and until nine o’clock not a glance wandered to the clock nor was there any sign of wavering interest,” one student wrote of his philosophy course in 1910. “Young and old, black and white, artisans and teachers, men and women — who had questioned the meaning of life, and the universe, were eager to compare their thoughts with the questioners of all time.”

When A. Lawrence Lowell, the third trustee of the Lowell Institute, became president of Harvard in 1909, he set to work transforming the original lecture series into a systematic program for adult education. And thus, in 1910, the Harvard Board of Overseers approved the formation of the Department of University Extension. In 1985, University Extension became the Division of Continuing Education within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, comprising the Extension School, the Summer School, and the Institute for Learning in Retirement.

Today, there are 15,000 students enrolled at the Extension School, 4,000 of whom are admitted degree candidates. HES is open-enrollment — anyone can enroll in any course. However, those hoping to pursue a bachelor’s or master’s degree are first required to earn a B or higher in three HES classes, including a writing course. In 2016, 32 percent of applicants to the undergraduate degree program met the requirements. (By comparison, the College had a 5.2 percent acceptance rate that year.) The Extension School serves a diverse population of nontraditional students, who range in age from high schoolers to retirees and the majority of whom (62 percent) are employed full-time.

Nowadays, HES programs cost more than two bushels of wheat, but they remain much less expensive than their counterparts at other Harvard schools. A single undergraduate course at the Extension School costs $1,920, so the undergraduate degree program, which requires 16-32 classes, costs between $30,720 and $61,440 in total. In contrast, tuition for the 2021-2022 school year at Harvard College is $51,143, averaging over $6,000 per course. Graduate degree programs at the Extension School are similarly much more affordable than those at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

The Extension School’s relatively low cost and straightforward, ostensibly meritocratic admissions process puts higher education within the reach of many.

Six years ago, Kody Christiansen was living in homeless shelters in New York City and struggling with addiction. As he recovered, the dreams that had long been suppressed by his cravings for drugs and alcohol returned.

Christiansen applied to NYU, his “original dream school,” and was admitted into its associate’s degree program. He started acting for TV shows and movies like “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” “The Blacklist,” and “A Lover Scorned,” and wrote an award-winning memoir detailing his experiences with substance abuse. Despite realizing his acting and writing dreams, though, there was still one goal that he hadn’t quite achieved.

“I was a straight-A student at NYU, and my dream was Harvard,” Christiansen says. “So I got my associate’s degree at NYU. I applied for Harvard College, and unfortunately, I didn’t get in, but I knew that Harvard was still part of my next phase of life.”

To achieve that long-held dream, Christiansen decided to take classes at the Extension School, starting last summer in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Christiansen had good friends at HES, and they all encouraged him to attend.

To partially cover the cost of his undergraduate degree program, the Extension School is giving Christiansen financial aid. Several options exist to help students pay for HES tuition, including merit-based scholarships, need-based aid, government grants, and private loans. For University staff, faculty, part-time employees, and retirees, the Harvard University Tuition Assistance Program reduces Extension School costs to only $40 per course.

Taking classes at Harvard Extension School helped Christiansen endure the challenges of the pandemic and provided a supportive community. “I started learning more about the amazing students, the diverse types of students that we have at the Extension School,” he says. “It just made me fall in love with it even more.”

Students’ reasons for enrolling at the Extension School vary: some are auditing courses out of personal interest, some are looking for a particular degree or skill set to advance their careers, and others, like Antjuan R. Finch, are looking for the credibility associated with the Harvard name.

Before being admitted to the Extension School, Finch had attempted to start his own social media company, but after meeting with potential investors, he learned firsthand of the prestige and influence that the Harvard name could carry.

“Verbatim, what I was told was, ‘It’d be a lot easier to trust you and your ideas if you had gone someplace like Harvard or Stanford,’” Finch recalls. He began looking into admissions pathways to these types of schools, and he eventually made his way to HES.

Instructors are also drawn to the Extension School for a variety of reasons.

Comparative Literature professor Martin Puchner was himself a Harvard Summer School student as a high schooler in the ’80s and taught HES courses as a Harvard graduate student. When he returned to the University as a professor, he launched two HES courses taught via recorded videos with additional discussion sections.

“For me, it’s a mission of outreach,” Puchner says. “I mean, I love Harvard, and I love that exclusive atmosphere in many ways, but it also feels somehow morally wrong to focus so many resources on so few people.”

Plenty of instructors come from outside of academia, too, ranging from filmmakers to art theft investigators to pharmaceutical executives. Among the instructors who taught Extension School courses during the 2020-21 school year, only about a third held concurrent teaching positions at other Harvard schools. Of these, 40 percent were professors, while 60 percent were non-tenure-track lecturers or preceptors.

Regardless of their background, instructors report feeling deeply fulfilled by their work at the Extension School. Across the board, those interviewed for this piece found that the remarkable diversity of students in their classrooms translated to clear benefits: a more collaborative atmosphere, broader perspectives on course content, greater intrinsic motivation for learning. Those who teach at Harvard’s other schools also maintain that the quality of education offered at the Extension School is virtually identical (sometimes literally — John T. Hamilton, a professor of German and Comparative Literature, livestreams his College lectures and supplements them with Zoom office hours for Extension School students).

Or, as Puchner puts it, “Some of the best Harvard College students are as good as my Extension students.”

During the two-and-a-half years he attended HES, Johnson, the Navy officer, found the coursework rigorous and his instructors deeply invested in his success. Alongside school, he was balancing a full-time job in the armed forces and raising a family. He’d have to be at work by 7:30 a.m., drive from his station in Newport, R.I. to Cambridge to attend HES in the evenings, then rush back home after class ended. But the “magic” of being on Harvard’s campus never faded, whether he was studying in Widener or getting drinks with friends at Grendel’s. The (sometimes dauntingly) high expectations for original scholarship set by his professors gave him opportunities to challenge established beliefs that he never received in college or the military.

“Classes like that helped me see I didn’t need permission to question scholars,” Johnson says, reflecting on a course which required him to write a 40-page final paper. “I didn’t need permission to read the works of people who are well-respected in the field and say I disagree. I can’t underscore [enough] how important that’s been to my professional trajectory.”

‘Diluting the Name Brand’

Despite students’ and instructors’ unanimous attestations to the rigor of the Extension School, the legitimacy of an HES education remains a subject of doubt — and evokes plenty of debate on the internet, where anonymous posts reveal more questions and insecurities than are usually expressed aloud.

“Can I tell my friends I go to Harvard if it’s HES?” one Reddit user asks r/Harvard.

“Sometimes I feel like if I’d known my inevitable uneasiness about whether or not I’m actually a student of the university I’m attending, I may have chosen somewhere else,” another divulges.

The commenters on these posts are overwhelmingly supportive, reassuring the OP that imposter syndrome is common at all of Harvard’s schools and that the vast majority of other Harvard students are respectful, or at the very least neutral, towards HES students.

Still, it’s hard to turn a blind eye to posts such as “Can’t wait to see all the Summer Extension School students decked out in Harvard swag! Brace yourselves, academic pretenders are coming,” on the same subreddit.

Or this post on Harvard Confessions, a Facebook page primarily used as a forum for Harvard College students, from a few months ago: “People [at HES] getting degrees or claiming they go to Harvard is 1. Fraud 2. Devaluing our Harvard educations 3. Diluting the name brand and I could go on. It takes 0 skills to get into Harvard [E]xtension.”

As Johnson points out, “from a social reputation standpoint […] it’s the admission into Harvard that is the thing that matters, more than graduating from Harvard.” This is why, in the public imagination, Mark Zuckerberg is perpetually intertwined with the University despite dropping out halfway through his education there, while Jared Kushner ’03, whose father pledged $2.5 million to the school leading up to his admission, is not. And it’s why most of the controversy surrounding Harvard centers around the perceived legitimacy of its admissions process: legacies, student athletes, affirmative action.

For many other schools, it’s the reverse. Johnson says that at historically Black colleges and universities like his undergraduate alma mater, Hampton University, where acceptance rates are usually higher and graduation rates lower, the social capital lies in getting the diploma at the end.

But “the Extension School kind of sits in that middle ground,” Johnson says. “You don’t get the benefit of the prestige attached to the admission process at Harvard, nor the prestige attached to finishing the degree.”

Harvard College students, perhaps feeling threatened by the possible “dilution” of the brand on their own degrees, perpetuate a large portion of the HES stigma. In 2005, following actress Hilary Duff’s announcement that she was taking classes at HES, The Crimson Editorial Board published an editorial titled “Duff at Harvard (extension).”

“Hilary Duff is a loser and a chicken,” the piece began. “For all her supposed ‘fame,’ our new (extension) freshman princess refuses to join thefacebook(forextensionschools).com and compete with all the other (extension) students out there for the most (extension) friends. Man-up (extension) Duff. It’s one thing to say you go to Harvard (extension), but it’s another to live la vida Harvard (extension).”

The board caught flak for its comments shortly thereafter, but a few years later, a levity in this very magazine still stuck Extension School students at the top of its list of people to avoid around campus: “Taking classes at the Extension School does not make you a Harvard student. These faux-students linger in the Barker Center or the Garage Starbucks, pensively writing (not typing) away in their notebooks in hopes of fitting in with the rest of the undergrad population.”

Though hyperbolic and satirical, these articles nonetheless reflect an underlying prejudice towards the Extension School that has not fully dissipated in the years since their publication — a prejudice, some HES students argue, that is solidified and bolstered on the very diplomas that the University awards.

‘Doing Well While Doing Good’

When Christiansen first learned what would be printed on the diploma he was already working toward, he felt tricked and discouraged, thinking, “I didn’t want to put that on my wall, ‘Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies,’ because I didn’t study ‘extensions.’”

All HES graduates leave with either a Bachelor or Master of Liberal Arts (ALB or ALM) in Extension Studies. Their diplomas make no reference to their specific fields of study; they are identical regardless of whether the student completed degree requirements in English or biology or software engineering.

Andrea A. Stull, who is studying for her master’s in psychology, is tired of having to continually explain her degree name to people who don’t understand what it means.

“We fought so hard to overcome adversity and obstacles, and now for the remainder of us having this diploma, we have to over-explain it to prove ourselves, over and over and over,” she says. “We already proved ourselves at the school.”

Furthermore, Stull has been told that she would need to redo some of her HES classes at a different institution in order to qualify for the Navy psychology Ph.D. program she is hoping to enter after earning her master’s. Although it may be the course content that misaligns with the Navy program’s requirements, Stull feels that her degree’s contrived name works against her.

“My diploma doesn’t necessarily reflect their expectations of what a psych student should have,” Stull says. “The Harvard name helps me seem like I’m capable and prestigious enough to be a good asset to that particular school, but my accreditation, when it comes to the courses I’ve already taken, is questioned — the integrity of it is questioned.”

The students’ case for the degree name change has garnered sympathy from faculty, former HES deans, and experts in higher education. Barmak Nassirian, former associate executive director of the Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, says that although degree names are not officially regulated, there are norms associated with them that, if violated, raise red flags.

“When you name things in unconventional ways, you really have an obligation to justify why,” Nassirian says. “The field of study should be identifiable from the name of the degree. It’s perfectly fine if a different division of the university [is] the granting authority, but you don’t put the name of the division in lieu of what the person studied.”

To advocate for changing HES degree titles to represent students’ fields of study, Christiansen founded the Extension Studies Removal Initiative in 2020. Meanwhile, another HES student campaign, VERITAS, is also questioning the “liberal arts” part of the HES degree name. The Extension School is the only Harvard school that confers liberal arts degrees. Harvard College students receive a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree; GSAS students can earn a Master of Arts, Master of Science, or Master of Engineering. Yet the term “liberal arts” is applied to all HES students, regardless of their concentration.

“Not all studies in Extension School, where one receives a degree, qualify for the liberal arts,” says Ryan G. Kramer, the founder of VERITAS. “Biology is not the liberal arts. Information technology, IMS, what I’m studying, is by no means liberal arts. So why is it an ALM?”

Nassirian shakes his head emphatically when he hears about the Extension School’s Master of Liberal Arts offering for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.

“No, no. You can’t get a Master of Liberal Arts in Engineering, as far as I’m concerned,” he says. “I mean, that just doesn’t make any sense.”

Kramer also suggested new names for the Extension School itself, such as the Harvard School of Liberal Arts and Executive Studies or the Harvard School of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies — a proposal which garnered overwhelming support from HES students in a survey he administered in 2020.

HES’s current name “needlessly separates it from the other schools,” says Finch, who enrolled at HES seeking the credibility associated with the Harvard name. “They’re all extensions of Harvard and yet only one of us is called Harvard Extension.”

Christiansen’s and Kramer’s initiatives are not the first of their kind. HES students have been campaigning to change their degree names for over a decade without success. In an emailed statement, Dean of the Division of Continuing Education Nancy Coleman wrote that she and other administrators have engaged in conversations with students and alumni about the issue. She denied the characterization of this topic as a “controversy,” maintaining that the DCE is not “necessarily in disagreement” about the proposed degree name change.

“We understand that the naming of degrees awarded through Harvard Extension School may appear unconventional to some,” Coleman wrote. “However, these are major decisions, and there is a structured governance process, both at Harvard and across academia, to address them. We are exploring the question of degree naming in appropriate governance venues at Harvard.”

Across academia, however, none of Harvard’s peer schools have continuing education programs embroiled in a degree name dispute. The University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, and Columbia University all have online and/or part-time degree programs that award program-specific degrees such as “Master of Chemical Sciences” or “Master of Arts in Government.” UPenn, UChicago, and Johns Hopkins, as well as Stanford, do offer Master of Liberal Arts degrees, but, unlike HES, their curriculums only encompass traditionally liberal arts subjects such as history, philosophy, and literature.

Why, then, doesn’t Harvard follow suit?

“The only reason I can think of,” Nassirian says, “is to protect the very brand that is the hook to the whole thing” — that is, to distinguish the HES degrees from those offered by the College and GSAS.

Viewing Harvard as akin to a corporation protecting its brand would cast the Extension School’s accessibility in a very different light: as a way for the University to expand its market share while not tarnishing its product’s exclusive aura — to have its cake and eat it, too.

There’s a clear financial incentive for trying to walk this line. While many schools and programs at Harvard draw heavily from the endowment, the Division of Continuing Education, which encompasses the Extension School, pays for itself via tuition revenue and typically brings in a budget surplus for FAS.

Initiatives to expand access to education that are not profitable don’t stick around for long. In 2012, Harvard and MIT launched edX, a platform to deliver free online courses to the general public. The platform lost millions of dollars annually until, earlier this year, the universities sold it to a for-profit online course manager for $800 million.

But for better or for worse, as Nassirian points out, bureaucracies “tend to believe in doing well while doing good.” In other words, the types of actions that expand access to education (doing good) go hand-in-hand with those that would scale an educational business (doing well). The Extension School’s low tuition helps remove financial barriers for many people seeking a degree, but it also opens up a bigger market of potential tuition-payers. Virtual course offerings allow students to learn wherever and whenever suits them best, but it also allows a classroom to grow exponentially with much less additional instructional labor.

The Division of Continuing Education did not comment on these criticisms.

Of course, it’s impossible to disentangle the true intentions behind these actions, which is in large part why there remains so much debate about whether Harvard Extension is “still Harvard.”

To many other Harvard students, the answer is a decided “no.” The College’s Undergraduate Council went so far as to analyze the entire Extension School course catalog and concluded that the classes were extremely similar, in content and quality, to those offered at the College. Yet still, they maintained that this is not the crux of what makes Harvard, Harvard. Online education, they wrote in an op-ed last summer, “deprives us of one of the biggest attractions of a Harvard education: the life-changing relationships we form with our classmates and professors.” And even as Christiansen “fell in love” with the wide array of friends he met through his HES classes on Zoom, a surge of Harvard College students decided to not attend school at all during the pandemic, choosing to defer their admission or take gap years instead.

Extension School students, meanwhile, answer differently. “This whole time, they’re selling a full Harvard experience, which is what I had — I had Harvard professors, I had the classes on campus, I had access to the clubs and resources,” says Stephanie N. Martins, an HES alumna who was actively involved in a previous student-led campaign to change the degree name. “But then at the end of the experience, you receive a diploma that pretty much doesn’t reflect everything that you actually worked for.”

And the University itself is aware of the tension between prestige and access playing out in the Extension School’s mission. The faculty handbook for HES instructors calls the school’s easy accessibility “a wrinkle,” reading: “Open enrollment and reasonable tuitions have long been cornerstones, but they mean that we ask you to provide a Harvard education without the initial screening provided by a Harvard admissions office. Quality control is in your hands.”

‘Out the Front Door’

After graduating from HES, Johnson has gone on to occupy a number of distinguished positions: Commander in the Navy, White House Fellow in the first Obama administration, speechwriter to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, doctoral candidate in public policy at Northeastern University, and now Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

He credits the Extension School with giving him the confidence to apply to the White House fellowship; the “Harvard stamp,” as he calls it, made him believe he could be competitive in a cohort dominated by Ivy League degrees.

“[The Extension School] suggested that I was only bound in my accomplishments by what I was willing to go for and what I was willing to work toward,” Johnson says. “I didn’t have the superficial barriers — that those kinds of jobs are for people who can get into places like Harvard, and not for folks like me […] those barriers are socially constructed, and my time at Harvard helped me see that and begin to put myself out there.”

Going into the Extension School, Johnson was unaware that he would walk out with a “Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies” degree. Though the strange name has raised a few questions from employers thus far, it hasn’t posed a major barrier, he said. Still, Johnson acknowledges that his established career in the military put him in a unique position, and he could easily imagine a situation where the name would matter much more.

“I took no courses ‘in extension studies,’” he says. “It’s very odd to have a degree in something you never took a course in. I don’t know who in the IT world, who in the medical world, who in the nonprofit sector is going to look at that without a raised eyebrow, to say, ‘Exactly what does this mean?’”

So, what in the world is the Harvard Extension School? How does one determine the extent to which quality of education, prestige, and accessibility constitute — or should constitute — a “Harvard education”? And who gets to make this determination?

Johnson himself is unsure; he’s still ambivalent about whether he entered through Harvard’s “back door.” But, he says, “I left Harvard out of the front door, and that I think is the thing that means more to me now.”

— Associate Magazine Editor Sophia S. Liang can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @totalPHIAsco

—Staff writer Ashley R. Masci can be reached at [email protected].

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The first critical and fundamental step in considering graduate study is to understand why you want to pursue a graduate degree. To set the stage for careful decision making, it is important to clarify your reasons for pursuing a graduate degree, your goals for study and research, and the realities of your intended career path. As you begin to think about this, consider the following questions:

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For a more in-depth exploration of these questions, see our  Applying to Graduate School Guide .   In this booklet, you will also learn about:

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Meet with an advisor to discuss your graduate school questions. GSAS advisors work with Harvard College undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in GSAS master’s programs on advanced degree applications. Harvard College undergraduates who are interested in applying for PhD programs should first meet with one of our undergraduate advisors who will then refer the student to a GSAS advisor.

By the fact itself. An award-winning blog by a Harvard Extension School alumnus.

Harvard extension school success stories from the past year.

A question that comes up a lot about Harvard Extension School degrees is whether they can lead to better opportunities in academia and working life. They absolutely can, and frequently do. Harvard Extension School graduates have gone onto get advanced degrees at Harvard and elsewhere ( even Yale! ), and have taken high-profile jobs in government, science, and the non-profit world. The Harvard Extension School website and Harvard Gazette sometimes feature wonderful success stories , but in the course of writing about the Extension School a number of people have shared their own experiences in the comments on this blog. Here are a few from the last year:

Leonard, February 2020 :

My ALM degree in government proved extremely useful in getting an entry-level position as a CIA analyst. Several hiring officers commented positively on my thesis on Yugoslav politics. I initially served as an East European analyst and later spent a decade following Middle East politics. The Agency loaned me to the Dept. of State on several occasions and I served in Cyprus, Israel and Lebanon. I retired from the CIA after 25 years.

Myles, July 2020 :

I graduated with my ALM in 2017 with a concentration in History. I had the opportunity to work with a highly respected emeritus historian from the Divinity School, who supervised my thesis. I am active duty Air Force, and my HES master’s degree enabled me to get hired on to teach at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. I’ve been on the faculty at USAFA for the past two years. The Air Force selected to me pursue my PhD in History, and I’ll be started at Oxford University in October.

Roger, June 2020 :

My son completed the [post-bacc] program in 2011 with a near 4.0 GPA. He worked his butt off to maintain those grades! His undergrad was in Computer Science and, following a lay-off during the Great Recession when his job was off-shored to a low wage country, he enrolled in Harvard’s program as a career re-direction. He subsequently received a full-ride scholarship to attend Med School and is now a third year Pathology Resident.

These are not exceptions. A cursory search through the Harvard alumni directory shows many people who received advanced degrees from other Harvard schools after finishing their Extension School ALB or ALM degrees. The Extension School bulletin used to publish about a dozen such names every year , often from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences or the Harvard Graduate School of Education, but also from the Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Public Health.

More from my site

• The number of Harvard Extension degrees triple in 13 years. Why?
• Harvard Extension School now requires 12 courses for grad degrees, pushing the cost >$30,000
• What employers think about Harvard Extension School degrees
• Harvard Extension School ALM in Management vs. full-time MBA
• What happened when Dean Shinagel tried to remove “In Extension Studies”
• Harvard College UC supports Extension School students on degree name issue (updated)

2 thoughts on “ Harvard Extension School success stories from the past year ”

I think we need to have an Extension alumni elected to the board of overseers. It’s very surprising to me that this hasn’t happened yet.

The nominees are generally leaders in their respective fields who have volunteered extensively in Harvard clubs or class activities, including holding leadership positions. Those criteria generally favor Harvard College alumni.

Comments are closed.

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