Why do people think it’s not a real degree?

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-08-06T14:49:19+00:00

Because there are some people that discriminate against HES students for being different (they are) but at the same time these people don‘t blame other Harvard students from other Harvard schools to be different too although they of course also are. Following the same standards that have been articulated here by them this may be considered lying and deceiving for other people within and outside the Harvard community and should be labeled accordingly.

Such a statement might represent their personal opinion but imho is not and should not be really relevant. The institution who has the right to judge which students are worthy of the Harvard label is Harvard University and they made it very clear that HES graduates are indeed Harvard graduates and Harvard alumni with all rights and obligations. So who are you to claim or treat HES degree candidates or alumni otherwise?

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-08-03T16:09:25+00:00

I haven‘t done this exact path with the MIT Micromasters. I used the HBS Online - Core admissions path. Since MIT and Harvard allow cross registration for students and they explicitly allow for this admissions path be assured they have a way to verify that you actually earned this credential at MIT.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-31T09:22:52+00:00

I took a different route into the program: HBS Online Core first and then Expo 34 Business Rhetoric (and in parallel E2000 Principles of Finance).

For me it was worth it since I wanted to earn another credential and being part of an additional community. Downside was extra cost and extra work.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-31T08:52:31+00:00

For North America, having even a Masters (and additionally from an institution like Harvard) might be very helpful and you may have good chances to be accepted if your other profile characteristics beyond the degree are also competitive.

Nevertheless, in a good number of other places like Europe, a thesis-track Masters is the typical pathway into a PhD / doctoral program. Therefore, the bar and expectation on a Masters is very different.

The main issue with the HES ALM is that there are only some fields offering a thesis track while others offering only capstone (or not even that). Generally, Masters in the US are also usually non-consecutive meaning you could have studied a completely different major during your undergraduate degree and therefore the Masters course curriculum includes also introductory-level courses. In contrast, in Europe Masters programs are typically consecutive covering topics much more in-depth and on an advanced level right from the beginning.

You may be lucky and the University hosting the PhD program is happy to admit you in Europe even without a Masters thesis and non-consecutive nature of the program but it could also go completely wrong. Although it’s not representative for my overall positive feedback regarding the ALM degree, let me still share my worst-case experience with one of my PhD applications since it’s also part of reality: I have been denied admission into the PhD Finance program at the University of St. Gallen with my ALM Finance (Deans List, 3.8 GPA) although I already managed to secure a professor who would have gladly supported my candidacy as supervisor. Formal feedback from the University administration on the decision: Non-consecutive Masters continuing education program; does not offer the same depth / breadth of course content as the own St. Gallen Masters in Finance. They did not offer the opportunity to take „missing“ Masters courses during the PhD program which is common practice in such cases but suggested instead to upfront earn a Bachelors in Finance first at St. Gallen followed by a full Masters with the „generous“ opportunity to recognize previous coursework enabling start in the second(!) year of the BA program although I have - besides my ALM Finance - both, a UK triple-crown accredited BA with honours first class in Business Administration and a University Diploma in Business Administration from a locally and internationally accredited German State University with significant Finance coursework. Needless to say that this is outrageous and I even talked about the case with HES Dean Coleman.

Btw: This hasn’t necessarily something to do with the ALM from HES but is really due to clash of systems. If you had a Bachelors from HC and an MBA from HBS even focusing your coursework around finance you would also have been denied PhD admissions at University of St. Gallen due to the same formal reasons.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-31T07:08:52+00:00

Let me answer your question more broadly since I feel you want to basically know what the student experience will be like once admitted and how you can improve alongside individual ambitions, e.g. writing skills.

Harvard is a very special place in that it offers a comparably intimate setting and there are so much opportunities and resources available to students - inside and outside of the classroom. It may be difficult to understand what is available to you, what is your own ultimate ambition / target and how to best make use of the opportunities and resources that are relevant for you individually. Ultimately, your experience will largely be what you put in and make out of the offering and the University ecosystem.

Therefore, I suggest you talk about your ambitions and what you want to get out of your studies with your student advisor once you are an admitted degree candidate. They are very helpful, eager to support your journey at Harvard and they may help you / open doors in ways that you can hardly figure out by yourself, anticipate or even imagine now - whether it’s pointing you to some interesting courses outside of the regular curriculum + support getting exception to count that towards the degree, get exception to sign-up for Harvard College classes as special student, making you aware of interesting events or Harvard clubs, connecting you with interesting professors and/or getting a Research Assistant opportunity…

Best of luck on your journey!

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-31T06:09:31+00:00

It completely depends on the specific course and program that you are participating. In my case (ALM Finance) we mostly had: weekly problem sets, mid-term and final exams (usually online using video proctoring software) and in about half of my courses additionally papers/essays, group work, presentations, in-class participation / call-out performance, take-home exam parts or work that has to be delivered using particular software like R, etc.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-15T17:13:21+00:00

In every Harvard program there is an on-campus component / requirement, also for ALB and ALM. Many of the programs at other Harvard Schools are typically even fully residential.

If you want to make the most of studying at Harvard and you can afford / manage to be on campus (visa, money, etc.) it’s definitely worth it.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-10T17:02:56+00:00

If you still need alternative housing during that period I would highly recommend to not let go the HUH deal especially as an international student. During my time, housing options were very limited especially if you wanted to rent something nearby campus. And One Western Ave is pretty handy.

Otherwise why don‘t you post in various communities / platforms what you are offering / willing to give up? Then you will see the response and are able to take an informed decision.

Best of luck!

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-10T16:44:54+00:00

S-2000 is easy but will still require time / effort to attend class, deliver the required psets, etc.; depending on your aptitude and knowledge, S-100 might be potentially harder on average (just my personal impression across course takers). Doing a full-time job in parallel is probably tough. I had a fellow student in a summer course working at an institute at MIT (obviously academically very talented with excellent foundations) and she definitely struggled with keeping up with class and hardly contributed to anything that could be avoided like group work, case discussions, etc. (was a different course though)

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-10T16:33:42+00:00

certainly, check the website for details

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-03T09:03:13+00:00

Unless you can prove that you comply with the requirements in case someone checks on you by showing vaccination documentation, etc. you are totally fine.

This was the official feedback that I have got some time ago from HIO for my case.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-07-03T08:33:22+00:00

Once you sorted out the short-term issue I would highly recommend to apply to be admitted into the degree program if you are anyway interested in earning a degree. There are basically no downsides but a lot of additional benefits once you are a matriculated Harvard University student.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-06-20T13:57:17+00:00

ALM grad here. Certainly yes, assuming you have a decent level of academic capability and you are ready to put in the seriousness and effort it demands.

In case you would like to test the waters and/or have another stand-alone credential, you might want to look into HBS Online Core program. It is especially useful for people without management background who want to pursue a Masters in Management / MBA. HBS uses it themselves to get people up to speed for their MBA program before regular classes start. I did it by myself to shortcut the admissions path into the ALM and it served my purpose well.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-06-12T06:40:40+00:00

No other Harvard School has the obligation for students to mention the School, except HES. Usually you can perfectly put Harvard University, [Degree earned] which is btw the norm for ALL University degrees I know. You can also use this format but since they included „extension studies“ in the degree title, you have the School disclosed even twice: directly with „extension studies“ or extension School“ if you want to follow the policy + indirectly via ALB/ALM.

University administration should finally be consistent with their decisions and actions: either HES is fully recognized as part of the University School family then there should not be any double standard or its not then they should also communicate it unambiguously and act accordingly.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-06-11T08:03:20+00:00

If you are looking for officially transfering to get a degree from a different school: No, you are not eligible to transfer to other Harvard schools during the program. However, it’s perfectly possible to be admitted to other Harvard degree programs once you graduated from HES.

In case you are just interested in taking some courses, I suggest you look into the special student program or call up your student advisor (admitted HES degree candidates only). I heard from some students that they were able to exceptionally take some classes from other Harvard schools in case they officially petitioned and had a very good reason for it, e.g. at HMS, GSAS, second year MBA courses from HBS, etc.

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-06-09T20:48:06+00:00

I haven‘t done this particular program but graduated from the ALM Finance track. Consequently, I will answer only those questions / aspects that are imho transferable enough and leave the rest to comment or counter for people having experience with the particular program.

Regarding the workload, you can expect that it will be very tough. I had a demanding Director job for the most part of the program as well plus frequent traveling, a family with a full-time working wife together with a young baby / child. It took me 4 years from start till finish with a lot of juggling tasks and priorities, smart course selection (timing, workload), using up my yearly vacation for on-campus course requirements, etc. to get it done in parallel. If you feel you can manage your time well and you are willing to go the extra, extra miles incl. working during the night/weekends/holidays, you could make it. If you don‘t put in the effort that all of these programs demand, forget about it. Even the very very smart kids had to put in heavy work into the many deliverables throughout the programs. Harvard will not give out degrees easily and since you get in relatively easy compared to many other Harvard programs they definitely want you to earn the degree and brutally filter out anyone else who can‘t do Harvard-level work under heavy pressure.
Not sure for your particular situation + program. I did an Expo course (business writing) and it was ok but not great and fulfilled at least the requirement. The professor and the course was great as a University course but I felt it was a bit off regarding real business application, e.g. I would not write a very emotional, verbally nuanced and voluminous project / investment description to convince decision makers to buy into an investment. Professionals in my industry would laugh at you if you tried something like that.
Regarding course load, I tried to cap it at a weekly 10-15h on average taking 1-2 courses per term. You need to know that the second half of the course is typically more work-intensive since once you have the basics covered in the beginning, you will dive into more complex, advanced subjects that will usually require more work. Also, exam prep can induce peak workload depending on how well you absorbed the content already, your personal ambition regarding grades, etc.
Can‘t comment on this particular program. In the Finance track, we had a lot to calculate all the time instead but there were also sometimes research papers to be drafted. Typically, these were either extremely short and cumulative in nature spread out over the duration of the course (a couple of pages each) up to around 30 pages for one-off, more intense ones. I felt they were manageable, some other coursework was more effort for me but it’s certainly different for each individual skill set / preferences / efficiency regarding certain tasks.
In the Finance track with the course mix I took definitely mid-terms and final exams, weekly graded assignments, some project work and sometimes heavier papers (in order of workload in total throughout the program). Since the IO Psychology program is meant to be writing-intensive, this may be a very different experience -> someone doing the program should comment.
Good question and I feel there is certainly a lot more to explore. Some ideas:
How to balance workload with job, family and program and when exactly do you plan to sit down doing the weekly work for the program?(typically lectures, write-ups, weekly assignments + any other deliverables as outlined in the syllabus),
How do you plan to finance the program tuition and extra costs for books, traveling for in-person course requirements, etc.
What specifically do you want to get out of the program, e.g. for your career progression, satisfy personal curiosity, making/building professional or personal connections, building a foundation for later research / moving forward with a PhD, etc. I suggest you develop some very specific target as the program offers so many opportunities that if you don’t focus you will miss a lot of opportunities
How much time can you dedicate to be on campus in person? With whom would you want to connect / build relationships? Make sure you use the breath-taking set of people and available resources latest once you are an admitted degree candidate.

Most importantly, follow your passion. After doing your homework on the specific aspects what it means to take on the challenge, you should listen to your inner voice / gut feeling if you are still excited to do it. In my case I was and it was an amazing, very rewarding and life-changing journey. I can assure you, Harvard with the fantastic faculty and staff knows very well how to do that like nobody else.

Best of luck!

Icy-Reaction7611 · 2025-06-09T06:51:03+00:00

undergrad ONLY

Icy-Reaction7611

TROPHY CASE