Answers to Questions I Get Asked About Harvard Extension School
I graduated from the Harvard Extension School ALM in IT/Software engineering in 2016 (edit: Also a data science certificate in 2017). Because I list the the school on LinkedIn, wrote a Yelp review, and answer Quora questions about it, I get asked a lot of questions about the program through LinkedIn and Yelp messages, email, Twitter — even Facebook. I decided to compile some common questions, answers, and explanations into one place for future use.
Q: I don’t have a strong background in computers, but recently discovered that I love programming. Should I get my master’s in software engineering from HES?
A: Perhaps! But not right now. Yes, this is a “professional degree program” in the sense that professionals attend it, however, it technically an academic master’s degree. A law degree or an MBA might assume that you’re a smart cookie, have a bachelor’s, but not that you necessarily know law or business. Medical school might assume that you have a strong biology foundation, but not that you really know anything about medicine. However that’s not really the case with the ALM — a degree so highbrow and academic that it actually stands “Master of Arts in Liberal Studies” by way of the Latin: “Artium Liberalium Magister”
A master’s degree is traditionally an extension of study in undergrad. You should use it to broaden and deepen your existing expertise in a subject. If you don’t have a bachelor’s in something that was very programming-heavy, I’d recommend a few years of industry experience with a couple different languages first.
Every one of the courses in the software engineering track will assume you’re a proficient programmer, with several languages under your belt, and go from there. At no point did they “teach us programming” — that’s what your undergrad education is (in theory) for. At the very least, you should be proficient in Java, Python, HTML/CSS, and the Linux command line. You should know the basics of how the Internet works, and describe, in broad strokes, how webpages are served up by remote servers. You should how to ssh and/or ftp into a server. Experience with R, C, and perhaps another language to give you some more context, is helpful.
Q: How hard are the classes?
A: I’ve had extremely easy classes that only took a couple hours of mindless work a week that I could do while watching X-Files reruns, and some mind-numbingly ridiculous ones that owned my life and and put me in a state of simultaneous panic and misery for months. I’ve heard from many non-Extension students that the Extension School does not have the same reputation for passing students or inflating grades that the rest of the University does. (Anything under a “B” is considered a failing grade, for the first three classes, and then anything under a “B-” is a failure, as long as you maintain your overall GPA)
YMMV. I was in CS office hours at one point, and saw that a woman sitting next to me, also waiting for the TA, was taking the much-feared “Theory of Computation” with Harry Lewis. I expressed my condolences, and she responded “Oh, this? Honestly, it’s kind of an easy class. I just had a question about the wording on one of the problems.”
Well, la de fucking dah!
I still maintain that Theory of Computation is a very difficult class, but, like I said, your mileage may vary.
Q: Is it possible to do this program while working full time?
A: One of the excellent things about the program is that it’s possible to do this. You must complete all the classes within 5 years, where 2 years is the approximate “full time” completion estimate.
I would recommend alternating one and two class semesters, trying to take “hard” courses (read the reviews!) in the one class semesters, with classes that have a more reasonable workload during the two class semesters. You should be able to complete the degree in four years, without taking summer classes (which are somewhat more expensive) perfectly fine.
Keep in mind, this helps a lot if you have a flexible job. You’re always going to get a couple annoying professors that like to pretend Extension School students don’t have jobs, and ask to meet with you at 3 p.m., or hold exams during business hours. You may run into a class that you absolutely need in your schedule, but the lectures, while recorded, are at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, and you really want to show up in-person for a couple of them to ask questions.
You’re also going to have to start giving up nights and weekends. Enjoy getting off of work and looking forward to dinner and the latest of season of House of Cards? Ha! Now you get to look forward to more work. During difficult semesters, it may be more work every night. Every. Single. Night. Goodbye weekends!
So while you do need to be flexible, and make sacrifices, it’s absolutely possible.
Q: Is this a real Harvard degree?
A: Really? You should probably read the website before asking strangers on the Internet about the school. Yes, yes it is a real degree from the real Harvard University. The Extension School is one of the degree-granting schools within Harvard University, like the Business School, the Law School, the Medical School, or, the far-less-featured-in-popular-film: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Undergrads go to famous Harvard College, but most of the people on campus are graduate students of some sort in one of these schools.
At any rate, you’ll have a student ID just like everyone else, you’ll go to commencement with everyone else, get your Harvard diploma stamped with the same logo that everyone else’s is stamped with, and be a real graduate of the real Harvard.
Q: I don’t near Boston, but I’m assuming that’s not a problem for an online degree?
A: This is not an online degree. Although most of the classes have a remote option (it basically just means that the classes are recorded and professors respond to email), you will have to live in Boston for at least a semester to meet the graduation requirement. In fact, it’s kind of obnoxious when your project partner in Australia can only meet at 2am Cambridge time and he keeps asking “is it late over there?” because he honestly has no idea how much he’s messing up your sleep schedule. Or when everyone on your team is local except for that one guy in San Francisco who keeps forgetting to call into Google Hangouts because he got confused about the time.
If you don’t live in New England you’ll have to deal with arranging for a local school or testing center to proctor your exams — even for “online” courses. You may have more limited access to office hours and TAs, and some classes are just harder and more frustrating to take for a dozen little reasons if you’re not available to be there in person, or present during the live class.
The experience just isn’t the same, either. I love taking the T to class, walking across campus, using my student ID to get discounts and free museum passes around town, working late at night in the Harvard computer lab during finals, and really being a part of the school and community. I can introduce myself to professors after class and grab drinks in Harvard Square with them and other students.
The biggest reason I chose this program was because it was close to where I live. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, there is likely a school near you that offers flexible graduate school options, or somewhere nearby where you could take classes. Also, moving to Boston for a few years isn’t the worst thing in the world! So, yeah, while it’s possible to do this program remotely, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Q: Is it worth it?
A: To me? Absolutely. To you? I have no idea!
I’m not a big fan of calculating returns on investments for different degrees and using that as a standard of worth. However, I don’t think you’ll be in a lot of danger of being shackled with student loans you’ll never be able to pay back with this degree.
I did receive a 40% raise and a job title bump in a job move shortly after graduation, although it’s difficult to tell how much of that was because of the degree and how much was because of other skills and experience I gained in industry while earning it. At any rate, I feel very confident in my skills and competencies as a software engineer, which is a tremendous advantage in a competitive field.
I no longer run into words that I don’t know. I can quickly weigh the pros and cons of several approaches when I encounter a problem for the first time. I tend not to fall into traps of solving problems with popular tools simply because that’s what Hacker News told me to do (I’m looking at you, NoSQL…), but can run through the theory behind it in my head and figure out the most efficient and effective tool to use, based on my specific situation. Machine learning? Machines learned! Big data? No big deal!
But seriously, if you want a detailed ROI for this degree, you may want to consider more carefully whether or not you actually want the degree, but the education I received has been amazing. Above and beyond what I was expecting when I first started the program.
