I did a quick check on craigslist.com and found a bunch of ads in the "Housing Wanted" section that seemed to fit the bill but were for roommate type situations.

I'll give it another gander as I get close to making actual travel arrangements.

In the greater DC area you can't take the same class? GW? Georgetown? George Mason?

Just seems like an enormous hassle and cost for a college course.

Well....this course is a required course to enter into the Harvard ALB program. Taking this course and two others will, with the required grades, get me into a program that will allow me to get my Bachelor's from Harvard University.

FWIW, I looked into finishing up my Bachelor's at all of the universities you mentioned. ALL of them were ridiculously expensive and far inferior in terms of how they handled "older" students who were also working full-time. For instance, GWU now charges a flat-rate for tuition per year of almost $36K. Their rate per credit hour for part-time students is ~$900. That would make a class of 4 credits about $3600. That SAME class at Harvard will go for about $700. I looked at George Mason as well (since they are right down the street from me and my g/f goes there) and believe me when I tell you that the quality of the other students is far from optimal.

At least with Harvard I can almost be guaranteed that the students will be serious and the teaching will be excellent. I got this question from others in this thread as well as from the advisor at Harvard (he wondered the same thing) and the MAIN reason that I'm willing to put myself through this pain is the quality of the education is what is most important to me, NOT the degree. At any rate, all this travelling is doing is getting the ball rolling. I will still have to move to Cambridge to finish up at some point in the future. Doing the commuting thing only helps me to get started a little earlier on making progress while I wait for my job/family situation clears up here and my schedule is a little more open for temporary relocation.

Your girlfriend, excepted, I hope

Once again, all these shenanigans, for the ALB? You do understand that the ALB is run out of the Extension School, and although a "legitimate" Harvard degree, it is mostly taught by second-stringers and temps? Mind you, you will get a reasonable quality education (not "excellent", and certainly no better than you would get at the regular program at Georgetown), and the students are older and usually pretty dedicated and bright. Just don't delude yourself that your degree is from "Harvard". Nobody at Harvard believes that, except those who went to the Extension School, who will spend the rest of their life justifying their choices.

But then again, it is your money and your life. It just sounds like overkill.

Harvard an execellent education? Think again. Everyone gets an A no matter what and nobody ever fails any course. Serious students? Why be serious when the worst that can happen to you is a B avergare?

Also, the prestige of the degree is what you're looking for I assume. All fine and good. But the real value of a Harvard education is the connections you make while there - more so at Yale probably but I digress. You going there for a night class will not open those doors.

As for cost, think of the cost of your time. Take that $2900 and divide it by the number of hours you spend on the road. Is that hourly rate worth it to you? Is the added stress you incur?

This is one of the old, "regional" trains, not an Acela. Hence the nine-and-a-quarter hour trip.

You're right. I'll just go to Strayer University.

I don't suppose that will help me get into grad school at an Ivy but hey, it's only my life and my money.

Believe me when I tell you that I've kept my head clear about what choices I have and their various advantages and disadvantages. I think I made it clear in earlier posts that I didn't consider an ALB to be of an equal weight to a BS from Harvard College. I am grateful that you chose to remind me, however.

Maybe you could start at the beginning of this thread and locate for me where I was soliciting advice on educational options vs travel ones.

OH, and BTW, I got an appointment from the Secretary of the Navy to attend Annapolis 15 years ago but had to drop out for other obligations after only two years. I don't need a Harvard degree to feel good about myself.

I would beg to differ with you on almost everything you said in your post. I have a family member that just graduated from Harvard Extension (he kept it a secret). He's no dummy and he didn't get straight A's as you suggest. He didn't even get "cum laude". He had to fight in every course for his grades and he only took a single class per semester.

The whole point of this exercise is to get a non-traditional degree that will hold it's own when I apply to grad school. The fact that they take extension students into Harvard Law and Harvard Med School is all the "validation" I need.

BTW, there is an option to take classes during the day at Harvard College; even if you are an extension student. It's called "Special Student" status and it requires a considerable amount of work and excellent grades to apply. But it has been done and it is "for real." In that case, you can make all the connections you like. Not that I need any. I'm doing just fine, thank you.

I'm all done with the career counseling advice. If you don't have anything travel-related, please file your post in /dev/null.

Whoa!! Slow down.
My comments about everyone getting As was for Harvard in general, not the extension school. Larry Summers the prez of the school said the same thing, so relax will you?

Have you explored all the possiblities using "student" discounts? Age may or may not be a factor.

In other words, by speaking directly with your carrier and explaining your rather unique situation, they might just be willing to be creative and come up with some sort of pre-paid bulk discount.

It's worth a try, no?

In fact, it worked for me when I was a student at HBS and commuting from NYC to Boston every week.

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.

As one who use to TA at an Ivy League (when doing my own Grad degree there), I can concur that awarding high marks for mediocre work is the norm. I had a prof. freak on me for giving a student a D (and I was being generous)... it was explained to me, these people pay a lot of money to be here and we reward them with good marks as a result.

Would I fly back and forth for a degree? Yes, I did it - I started my MBA in another part of Canada, then moved to Toronto and commuted every other week for 1 year (10 days in once city, 4 in the other). I was exhausted at the end of it, but I finished my degree with the folks I started with and never had to worry about the hassle of transferring my credentials.

Good luck to you. FYI make sure you have lounge access, it comes in handy with weather or mechanical delays.

I've got a Red Carpet Club membership. Thanks for the encouragement.

I don't know where or what is Strayer University. And, no, getting a degree from the Extension School isn't going to help you get into grad school at an Ivy.

I'm glad you appear to understand the difference between the ALB and a BS from Harvard College. However, your actions (revealed preference), and the amount of effort you are willing to spend to get said degree when you could possibly acquire the equivalent knowledge closer to DC (hey, why not Columbia or Princeton?), indicate to me that somehow getting the "Harvard" degree is going to improve your chances of getting into a good grad school. It won't.

Take it from someone who taught in the graduate school at Harvard. Harvard will consider your application to grad school equally with everybody else's, and having an ALB from the Extension School does not give you an edge. You'll have to show the grades and the motivation, drive, and everything else to overcome the fact that your degree is not from a nationally ranked or recognized program.