My bad.

I've been getting some negative feedback from people when I tell them I've been considering doing the Harvard Extension thing. The most common comment is "you know that isn't real Harvard, right?"

I'm a little sensitive (because of comments like that) because they seem to imply that I can't tell the difference between getting accepted to Harvard College straight out of high-school and taking this most circuitous route to getting a degree.

I'm aware of the whole grade-inflation thing out there. In fact, my relative essentially blamed the efforts to correct it on his less-than-stellar graduation ranking. I'm not sure that it will be a problem going forth. They've set the bar higher now, across the board, and they are aware of how an institution can lose it's footing if the standards drop too far.

Personally, I had never even considered that Harvard would have an option like the Extension School. I was shocked to find out that there was even such a thing. I had given up on the idea of taking out time to complete my degree long-ago since everytime I looked at what the options were, they were either:

1. Quit your job and take classes M, W, F for 1 hour during the week. Or, T and Th for 2 hours.

-or-

2. Take classes from this special "adult learner" school that was more interested in pushing people out the door with degrees in hand than actual learning in brain. Oh, and BTW, they'll help you get a loan to pay for the program. If the check clears, you'll get a degree.

Grrrr.

Georgetown University has a similar program to Harvard's. You take clases at night and you get a degree in the Liberal Arts. You have to apply and be accepted (which is not guaranteed) to the degree program. The thing is: I found the Georgetown program to be very rigid in terms of course choice and much more oriented toward the humanities rather than the natural sciences, which I prefer.

Anyhow, my apologies if I was a little quick on the draw.