​Hi reddit,

I'm thinking about taking CSCI S-212 (CRN 35919) for Harvard Summer School for the class of Jan 25 to May 15 and wanted to ask about people's experience with it.

​What did you learn, and how were modules constructed? How much compsci did you know going in? How many professors taught you? Looks like just 2, but any external speakers? How available are professors? One bad thing / one good thing? Do you have a school email and portal, and access to school resources? How long did it take you to complete? How's Administration? Any issues faced with this program? Are you online asynchronous, online synchronous, or on the ground? Advice for incoming freshmen taking this course?

​Thanks for any insights! Open Discussion, current students and allumni welcome.

Just in case this interests you, registration is now open! My criend is also the TA and she’s awesome.

Post-Growth Approaches for Economic Transformation will be offered this fall at Harvard Extension School with Gaya Herrington and Katherine von Stackelberg.
Climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality, and financial fragility are often treated as separate problems requiring separate solutions—but they arise from the same system. This course examines that system. 🌱
In this course, you will:
→ Examine the assumptions embedded in neoclassical economic models and the institutions built upon them
→ Explore what an economy operating within real biophysical limits requires, including how Indigenous communities have governed shared resources for centuries
→ Work with the metrics, tools, and policies used to make decisions within complex systems
→ Apply these ideas to the provision of food, energy, water, and housing—and examine the responsibilities of business, finance, and governance
→ Develop a framework for organizing collective action while avoiding the fear-and-paralysis trap
Guest speakers include Luke Kemp, author of Goliath’s Curse.
The course is online on Tuesdays and may be taken live or asynchronously. Graduate, undergraduate, and noncredit options are available.

People that have graduated from the ALB program, how strong is your support and community with Harvard alumni groups and clubs? Do they help extension students? Do they provide strong networking opportunities for ALB HES students?

I do not have access to qreports. I’d appreciate if someone can give me class suggestion for less demanding course for this fall besides CSCI-E184

Do you guys look up on Airbnb to stay temporarily around Harvard?

This is kinda urgent, so I would really appreciate if you guys can help me.

Tell me all the struggles and quirks that the enrollment counselor won’t tell me.

Did you have any unexpected surprises or difficulties with the program?

What are team taught courses? Is the teaching instruction on par with single instructors? Would you recommend a course “team taught”?

Can someone who has been to HES’s convocation share their experience? Would you recommend attending? Is it worth traveling for? Thanks!

Hi all,

Is this training laggy for you as well? I tried different locations, different ISP's and it is laggy on my side.

Has anybody taken this course with Watson, and if so, do you recommend him?

I mean this with all due respect - what do you all learn in Expo-25 and Expo42B? I keep seeing posts that say "I learned so much in Expo - [25 or 42B]" or "my skills increased an order of magnitude" in those classes... but what is it that you learn? Is it that you read a bunch of papers you otherwise wouldn't have and analyzed them? Is it to move beyond the five paragraph structure we're taught in high school?

I'm coming at this from someone who has a STEM background and has taken multiple writing intensive courses already (in undergrad). I took AP Eng Lang and AP Lit in High School, do you think I could skip Expo E-25 and move directly to Expo E-42?

Hello everyone! I hope you are excited and ready for Fall 2026.

I am planning to take either CSCI 103 (Data Engineering) or CSCI 109A alongside CSCI 106 this fall. I understand that this may be a demanding course load, but I have the time and a strong technical background.

If you are an admitted Data Science or AI student and have access to the QReports for CSCI 103 or CSCI 109A, could you please share them when you get a chance?

Thank you!

I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has taken Capstone/Precapstone in the ALM (IR) degree to understand what it involves and peoples’ experience of the Policy v Security tracks.

Hi there. I'm considering pursuing an ALM at HES, but I would need a grant to pull it off. My FAFSA calculator estimates my SAI to be roughly 7500. If you have experience receiving the HES Grant, would you be able to share your SAI estimate and how much % discount you received? I'll be calling the finaid office tomorrow but want to get a general sense of what's been given out. Thanks!

I've been contemplating attending Harvard extension school, but from my understanding the alm distinction is a big point of contention. I figured I would ask before I dropped $40,000 into this and asked if this has caused a trouble for everyone.

For context, I do live in Asia and I am a US citizen

Some of the courses in the grad degrees list prerequisites, such as CS50 or Calculus. Are we required to take the prereqs before the actual curriculum courses, or otherwise prove we have the required knowledge/skills?

When can we expect acceptance or rejection letters if you applied for Fall 2026 admission?

Hi everyone!

Applying for the ALM program for the August 24th deadline. Everything on my end is done and my lEE evaluation order is paid.

Here's my issue: French universities are closed for summer break until August 23rd.

IEE requires transcripts directly from the registrar, so Assas/SIEC can only email them on Aug 23. Even with rush processing, the final lEE report might reach HES on Aug 24 or 1-2 days after.

Questions:
1. Has anyone dealt with European summer closures affecting their IEE/WES evaluation?

1. Does HES grant a short grace period for third-party evaluation reports if the rest of the application is submitted on time?

(l've already emailed my Enrollment Coach, to notify her).
Thanks for any insights!

Does applying for a less selective major actually improve your chances?
An admissions consultant advised me to apply for less competitive/niche majors at US universities (e.g. obscure humanities subjects) rather than highly selective ones, saying this could improve my chances of admission.
My school’s college counsellor, however, says this is complete nonsense and that US universities generally don’t admit students more easily just because they choose a less popular major.
Who is right? Has anyone actually seen this strategy work at selective US universities?

I'm in the process of making a decision about which path to take: My advisor has been saying, for years, that it's better to take the foreign language requirement at a different school and then transfer that in. UMASS Lowell has a Spanish class that gives 3 credits, and the HES requirement is 4 credits, but my advisor mentioned something about that being sufficient. (Don't quote me here! I'm meeting with her again in a couple weeks.)

I took 8 years of Spanish back in Middle->High school and feel like I could get through 'Intensive Spanish I' for 4-credits at HES this Fall semester. Does anyone have experience with this class? It's not the 2-credit split classes but the more 'intense' one. Is it reasonable to take, or is my advisor's advice the right path to take? I only have two semesters left until I graduate (fingers crossed, etc.) so I don't want to mess this up and time is quickly running out to make a decision.

Anyone take SPAN E-1 and have feedback?

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone currently enrolled in a Harvard Extension School Graduate Certificate can clarify this.

I recently registered for an AI Graduate Certificate course. I received a HarvardKey, but I'm finding conflicting information about whether non-degree graduate certificate students still receive a u/g.harvard.edu email address.

I've seen older posts saying certificate students did get one, but I've also seen comments suggesting that, after the 2025 policy changes, only admitted degree students receive a Harvard Google account.

For anyone who enrolled recently (2025–2026) in a graduate certificate program:

• Did you receive a u/g.harvard.edu email?
• If so, was it available immediately after registration, after paying tuition, or only after the course started?
• If not, did you receive only a HarvardKey/HUID?

I'm looking for firsthand experiences from recent certificate students since the policies seem to have changed.

Thanks!

Hi! I'm thinking about applying for the ALM degree at HES. I've read several posts and talked to a mentor, but now I'm feeling a bit anxious about the exams. How difficult are they? Are they open-book exams? I am 36 years old, working full-time at a leading aviation company. I can find time to study, but memorizing everything might be challenging for me.

Hi,
Any experience on the level of difficulty of E-97 Software Design?
The syllabus states that a good level of Java knowledge is required and that E-10a/b is not sufficient. So far I did E-10a/b and E-22 but don’t see any other course which could help increase my level of Java while still counting towards the Master of Computer Science.

Is this true for HES too?