harvard extension school question..

[elguapo187]

hey everyone..i'm finishing up a post bac program in chicago right now, and am going to be taking some more classes in the fall...for personal reasons, i'm looking at schools in the boston area and wanted to see if any of you had any comments about the harvard extension school...

i wouldn't be applying to their post-bac program, i'd just be taking a class or two per semester...and i guess i'm a little intimidated by the harvard name..should i be? hehehe..

thanks

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[emtji]

no...it's actually quite easier than the real thing, from what i hear....

but it's also really expensive...and the harvard name doesn't do too much with the "extention" after it....

sadly....

 

[conure]

Courses during the normal school year through Harvard Extension are dirt cheap. I'm currently in Bio-Chem and its around 700 per semester.

Summer school is a different story. It is on par with most private university courses at around 3000 per semesters worth of credits.

I'm bullish on the courses. They have outstanding faculty, in many cases they are undergrad professors or professors in the medical school. don't be intimidated, put in the work and you will do fine.

Extension does not equal continuing ed. These are real courses and any adcom worth its weight recognizes that.

 

[McTaggart]

I have to agree with Conure here. I'm currently taking two bio classes at the Extension school (Developmental Bio and Epidemiology). The developmental class is taught by a senior post-doc in a very well respected Cell Bio lab at HMS; the epi class is taught by an assistant prof at the School of Public Health.

Both are very well taught. Rigor level is on par (although not quite as hard) as the bio courses at Dartmouth, which were overall extremely tough. Lots of premeds in both classes, although the Epi class also has students from Harvard College, HMS and HSPH.

$550 per course, no lab, and conveniently the entire tab is picked up by the hospital at which I work. Several people I know took requirements for med/vet/grad school here, and got into top schools. For term-time (i.e. non summer) classes it's *much* cheaper than either Tufts or Metropolitan @ BU.

McT

 

[Emergen-C]

I CONCUR!
I TOOK ORGO 1 AND 2 ONE SUMMER AT HARVARD EXTENSION AND ALTHO IT COST A PRETTY PENNY, IT WAS TAUGHT COMPLETELY "TO THE MCAT" AND OUR PROFESSOR WAS AWESOME. HE BEGAN EACH LECTURE WITH A BUNCH OF MCAT QUESTIONS ONTHE OVERHEAD PROEJCTOR. IT WAS CLEAR THAT HE KNEW NONE OF US REALLY GAVE A $HIT ABOUT ORGO UNLESS IT WAS ON THE TEST. 🙂
I GIVE THAT PROGRAM A HUGE THUMBS UP!!!!!

 

[harvardpremed]

Hey, I'm a traditional student Harvard College Undergrad living off campus but my 3 roommates attended Extension School. All of their work was the absolute same as my work, and we had 3 of the same professors! The same education for 1/3 less than my tuition and all of them start this Fall at Harvard Medical School. Amazing, I'm seriously considering attending.

2 of them had Ivy Undergrad Degrees, and my other roommate did all his education there. All HMS students!

 

[Angeliqua]

The Extension classes are great and much cheaper than most places in the area...especially if you work at Harvard 😉

Highly recommended!

 

[afulldog]

I did all my post-bacc work at the extension school. I was very impressed with both the teaching and level of students taking the classes. No, it's not the same as going to Harvard College, but it is a very well respected program by admissions directors.

 

[LP1CW]

Trust me, as a Harvard student, I've known many people that have taken extension classes. And yes, some of the professors are the same. In fact, general Chem, when I took it, was taught by the same professor, same text book. However, I do think that the day class went a slightly faster pace. I sat in on the night class a few times. They got the same material. And the quality of the extension students are quite strong. Harvard is Harvard and all the schools are strong.

 

[kokonut]

oops. I just re-read the original post and realized the poster was not talking about the basic premed sequence (I think). My comments below are only for the basic sequence: chem, orgo, bio, and physics, as that's all I took. I actually have no idea what the upper-level molecular or cell bio classes are like, or anything else. I thought about just deleting my post, but figured it might have some value to others who might be interested in the general topic.

****
I'm a former Harvard student who took classes at the extension school, and I have to disagree. I think there is a significant difference between ... say Chem 17/27 or 20/30 (the undergrad orgo classes), and the orgo classes I took at the extension school. I know because I tried to use some of the undergrad notes to study for my extension school class, and the undergrad classes required a significantly deeper comprehension of and facility with the concepts.

Likewise with physics ... my extension school physics class had students in it who did not remember how to do basic algebra and required a lot of extra math attention, which you would never find in the undergrad. And with bio, I only attended 10% of my bio lectures, and still did well in the class, which again I'm sure would have been much more difficult in undergrad. My three friends who have done the same (attended the undergrad and later taken the basic sequence of classes at the extension school) all pretty much concur. So to the original poster -- I definitely wouldn't worry about anything being over your head.

I actually think it's quite advantageous that they're easier. I found that the extension school classes I took covered enough material for me to do well on the MCAT. I rarely had to devote very much time to them (~5 hrs/wk/class outside of classtime), the grading is quite generous (compared to the undergrad), the classes are very cheap, and the professors are very willing to write recommendations (which was much more intimidating in undergrad).

I tend to think it doesn't really matter where you do your post-bacc ... most med schools will not weight the post-bacc as heavily as your undergrad (unless you're substantially older). As a previous poster said, I don't think they're going to equate Harvard Extension with Harvard College, but it still has a solid reputation as a post-bacc program and I think most adcoms will recognize that it's a great program.

 

[tobiko]

I've had a mixed experience with Harvard Extension. I took Chem with lab (second semester) and that was great. The profs were very knowledgeable, enthusiatic and definitely cared about teaching well. I also took grad level Microbiology which was HORRIBLE. The post-doc (from a prestigious harvard lab) cared very little about teaching beyond reading word for word from his powerpoint presentation hurridly and incoherently copied out of numerous different texts. And his tests were so ridiculously nit-picky and not focused on the understanding of important material.

I'm sure for the basic classes and most of the upper level classes the teaching is great...I was just unfortunate with Micro.

 

[kingcer0x]

I took biochem I last semester at Harvard Extension since I had very little background in this topic from my engineering undergrad degree.

I am glad I took the class as a 'warm-up' to medical school this fall, but I did not find the class rigorous or challenging at all. I don't feel it is an adequate substitute for taking biochem with as a full time matriculated student at your home university. I rarely went to class (I am working a full time job + lots of business traveling) and pulled off an A-. I did keep up with the text reading while on flights, etc...

This class, however, is not required by the post-bacc program. The med school pre-req classes are typically a little more rigorous with more competition since they have to teach to the mcat and play a huge role in admissions. My roommate said that orgo II was a good class, but that he felt even that the exams were a little less rigorous than the class that I was concoordinately taking at our home institution, and that grades were a little higher (average grade was a B even, not the usual C+/B- found elsewhere).

On the other hand, if the program is well respected and one has the funds to enroll, it seems like a great way to boost ones GPA. However, I will definitely be studying my arse off for biochem in med school this year assuming that I am starting from scratch.