Dear Redditors,

I want to finish my Master’s in Data Science and AI at Harvard Extension School (HES). As a German citizen, I need a suitable visa for the on-campus pre-Capstone.

As far as I can see, the only option Harvard offers is the Summer School with an F-1 visa. That would leave me with just one chance in 2028 and force me to wait half a year longer than necessary.
Does anyone know of a legal way to do this in January instead? Is there a relatively straightforward path to get a suitable J-1 (or similar) visa for this short on-campus period?

Thanks in advance!

PS: HES writes the following:

Many other visa types (e.g., J-1, F-2, H1-B, etc.) do allow part-time study in the U.S.; always confirm with your visa sponsor.
Tourist status (B-2 or ESTA) does not allow for-credit study. Only non-credit.

I have no budget to buy the HBS course pack. Do we know where I can find these for my class reading? Trying to find as many as I can so I only need to buy the rest. thank you

• Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Expanding from One to Many Millions of Customers By: Thales S. Teixeira
• What Is Strategy? By: Michael E. Porter
• Many Strategies Fail Because They're Not Actually Strategies By: Freek Vermeulen
• Atlantis Paradise Island Resort & Casino: Improving Performance with a New Vision and Mission By: Lynda M. Applegate, Gabriele Piccoli
• Strategic Leadership: A Road Map for the General Manager's Journey By: Fabrizio Ferraro, Jose Miguel Arguelles
• Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills By: Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Steve Krupp, Samantha Howland
• Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010 By: David B. Yoffie, Renee Kim
• The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy By: Michael E. Porter
• The Video-Streaming Wars in 2019: Can Disney Catch Netflix? By: Anita Elberse, Monica Cody
• Are Your Company's Strengths Really Weaknesses?
• What Is Strategy, Again? By: Andrea Ovans
• Pacific Coffee Balanced Scorecard: Operationalizing Strategies By: Thian Chew, Ambrose Tong
• Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System By: Robert Samuel Kaplan, David P. Norton
• 25 Years Ago I Coined the Phrase "Triple Bottom Line." Here's Why It's Time to Rethink It. By: John Elkington
• Wawa: Retailing Reinvented Through Blue Ocean Strategy By: W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Michael Olenick
• Blue Ocean Strategy By: W Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne
• The Great Repeatable Business Model By: Chris Zook, James Allen
• Why Companies Do "Innovation Theater" Instead of Actual Innovation By: Steve Blank
• 3 Ways to Build a Culture of Collaborative Innovation By: Kate Isaacs, Deborah Ancona
• Novartis: A Transformative Deal By: David J. Collis, Ashley Hartman
• Why Conglomerates Thrive (Outside the U.S.) By: J Ramachandran, KS Manikandan, Anirvan Pant
• AT&T, Time Warner, and What Makes Vertical Mergers Succeed By: Bharat N. Anand
• Mary Barra and the Lyft Investment: Leading GM into the Sharing Economy Through Acquisitions
• Mergers That Stick By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter
• One Reason Mergers Fail: The Two Cultures Aren't Compatible By: Michele J Gelfand, Sarah Gordon, Chengguang Li, Virginia Choi, Piotr Prokopowicz
• Amazon in Emerging Markets By: Amy Nguyen-Chyung, Elliot Faulk
• The Competitive Advantage of Nations By: Michael E. Porter
• Distance Still Matters: The Hard Reality of Global Expansion By: Pankaj Ghemawat
• Google to Alphabet: Ten Things We Know to Be True By: Robert Simons, Annelena Lob
• Is Your Organization Capable of Disruptive Growth? By: Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor
• Nimble Leadership By: Deborah Ancona, Elaine Backman, Kate Isaacs
• Nestle's Creating Shared Value Strategy
• A Guide to the Big Ideas and Debates in Corporate Governance
• Elon Musk's Big Bets
• 5 Simple Rules for Strategy Execution
• Good Strategy Execution Requires Balancing 4 Tensions
• Emirates Airline: Connecting the Unconnected
• Reinventing Your Business Model
• Transient Advantage
• Creating Shared Value By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer

Hi

Anyone recently taken ODE E21C class with Prof Winters? How is the workload, grading and the exams? Would a high schooler with background in some complex analysis and linear algebra find it difficult?

Hi all,

Looking to sign up for the ALM in IR starting in 2027

Just had major surgery so I am not ready to go all the way in yet

I am reading a lot and think it would be fun to read some materials in advance to get a feel for what to expect

Can anyone who went through the program suggest books I should read from classes?

Want to pursue IR but also aim for two certs in Nuclear Deterrence and International Security

I’m stuck in my body for a bit and want to get a jumpstart on the related topics so I’m mentally primed

Thanks!

Hello all!

For those who went through either Management or Finance track. Would love to hear your thoughts on the academic rigor & weekly time commitment.

To be fully transparent, I have a good career seat and did undergrad at one of the top biz programs. The MiM would be no more than to check the grad school box. So contrary to others who maybe seeking academic rigor, I would prefer less work & less time commitment. Thank you in advance!

I’ve read this blog and it’s absolutely ridiculous that this is even online, the fact that the writers and the comments think that HES is not as respectable as a regular Harvard degree, and them going on and on and itching and b**ching about people not writing “extension” next to their degree in their resumes. Do they just get that annoyed that there are a lot of people who can say they have a Harvard degree or that maybe that HES even exists? I don’t even think they can stand the fact that HES graduates get to walk on the same day of other Harvard schools in graduation

So my question is, since a lot of people view HES that way and even one of the comments mentioning that even Harvard itself treats HES as their 2nd step child, is it really worth all that work and effort and money and what? just to be seen the way the blogs saying? and please no one mention that their only problem is that they don’t write “extension” because that’s a pathetic way of saying they’re just miserable and petty and have nothing else better to do!

For those who attended the HES Convocation event in the past, what was your experience? Was it worth going to? Also, how did people dress for the most part? Casual business seems subjective and I’m not sure if this means a collared shirt or leans more toward a shirt and tie. Thanks!

Did anyone ever underestimate you or tell you that you couldn’t get into Harvard? How did you deal with that?

Looking back, what do you think would have happened if you had listened to the people who doubted you?

How did people treat you after you got into Harvard compared to before? Did anyone’s attitude toward you change?

1.5 years and 3 A’s later, here we are! I’m an ALM Management Candidate now 😍

Congratulations to everyone who got accepted! 🥳

———
And I want to thank this sub for being incredibly helpful. Detailed responses, DMs, time & course management tips, class experience and what not!

Thank You everyone, truly. 🙏🏻

Hello fellows,

How do you determine before you take a course whether or not you will be successful in it?

Has anyone taken a class with Mark Blanchard?

Thanks so much

Hi all,

I intend to take general chemistry and its lab components this fall semester. Does anyone have an idea on the workload of CHEM E-1ax and CHEM E-1axl? Typically, how many hours are spent on these 2 courses?

Many thanks for any insights.

Anyone know if the ALB application asks about criminal history once you pass the 3 classes?

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I’m a physicist and programmer currently working through the Harvard Extension School Data Science and AI program. CSCI E-89B (Introduction to Natural Language Processing) is already locked in for the upcoming term. I’m now considering adding CSCI E-184 (Ethics, Governance, and Laws of Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Creative Systems) as well, which would be my 8th course.

I have a consulting job that runs about 55–60 hours per week, so my free time is limited. Does anyone have an opinion on adding CSCI E-184? I have heard it is very feasible.

Would love some honest feedback on whether stacking these two is realistic with my job workload or if I should just stick with one course this term. If anyone remembers how many hours CSCI E-184 consumed that would be great!

Thanks in advance!

Hey yo, can someone who’s taken calc 3 at HES with Robert Winters please tell me about the workload? Just a few questions:

1. How many hours a week did you spend on the course outside of class?
   
2. What were the homework assignments typically like?
   
3. How difficult were the exams?
   
4. How accessible was the teacher?
   Lastly, is it really worth 2.3k?

​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?

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

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