A Different Ed Ex

UPDATED: June 28, 2014, at 10:33 p.m.

Laurence N. Girard was not planning to go to college right away. “I was going to play professional soccer,” he said. However, his body had other ideas. Girard was injured before being able to start his professional athletic career and he quickly began searching for other options. “My mom saw an advertisement in The New York Times [for the Harvard Extension School],” he said. “I did a lot of research before I decided to do this.”

Jordan Ross approached the Extension School for the extracurricular activities it offered. He was interested in the Harvard Ballroom Dance Team. “I figured that if I was on campus, that I might as well take some classes,” he said. Through these classes he soon developed a larger interest in academia, and he now plans to pursue a Ph.D. in anthropology.

Max E. Keisler wanted an undergraduate degree, but didn’t want to give up his passion for music. Keisler, who lives an hour away from Harvard near West Roxbury, started taking Extension School classes right after high school when he was 17. He is launching his music career outside of class, and says that attending the Extension School has allowed him to balance both at once.

Living in California and attending a two-year college, Tiff Yin said that the soaring tuition costs and plummeting class selection at her school led her to look for educational opportunities elsewhere. “I was getting tired of following the procedures but not getting the results I wanted,” she said. She heard about the Extension School on the radio and remembered a past visit to Harvard, when a friend had “showed [her] how the life could be here.” She began Extension School classes in September.

The Extension School Classroom

Founded in 1910, the Harvard Extension School offers classes to nearly 13,000 students living in and around Boston. The school attracts a diverse class, bringing together recent high school graduates and 40-year-olds all in the same classrooms.

Girard said his classes also include students who have already obtained their bachelor’s and sometimes even their graduate degrees. “In a biotechnology class I was taking there were adults in the classroom that were Ph.D. scientists working at Genzyme,” he chuckled. “They were probably more knowledgeable than the professors.”

The perspective that adults bring to the classroom, having gone through more of life than most traditionally-aged college students, is invaluable, Extension School students said. “In the biotech classes some of the topics were in vitro and abortion and there were adults who had first-hand experience with that stuff,” Girard said.

“They’re more wise,” Yin added. “Being 21, I don’t have a lot of experience and they really put it there for you and make you think about what life actually is like instead of theorizing about it and trying to predict the future. The future is already there in the class, people have gone through things that I couldn’t even imagine.”

The Extension School has its own faculty, but all four students interviewed for this article said that they had been taught by at least one Harvard College professor during their time at the Extension School. “It’s a very strong program academically,” Keisler said, explaining that an Extension School class he took with Near Eastern Languages professor Shaye J. D. Cohen used the same handouts and exams as Cohen’s course for Harvard College undergraduates.

Ross, who attended Cornell as an undergrad, said that Harvard Extension School professors are on par with the professors he had in Ithaca, N.Y. “They are even more open and engaging with students,” Ross said. “It’s been a very positive experience and the professors have been a big part of that.”

Their Lives Beyond

Apart from the liberal arts education that the Extension School provides in the classroom, Ross said that he sees “an entrepreneurial slant” to the school. The Extension School places a large emphasis on business networking, offering opportunities for additional seminars and events where students can connect with College undergrads and graduate students. “There are a lot of different resources that one can take advantage of if one is open to it.”

Girard found great success partnering with students and professors at various Harvard graduate schools to launch a startup called Nutritas Health. A health company that specializes in physician-reviewed content and telehealth consultations, Nutritas Health began when an investor that Girard had met through an Extension School course online discovered Girard’s blog. Although the partnership did not lad to an investment, Girard then took the idea to cardiologists and surgeons at Harvard Medical School and, together with a cohort of graduates of Harvard Business School, launched his start-up.

Harvard was invaluable in getting Girard’s start-up off the ground. “They opened up the iLab to me and as a result I’m in touch with HBS grad students that are advising me and working on the company,” Girard said. “I got to do research at HMS. Those were the kinds of opportunities I wouldn’t get at a state school.”

Keisler also has significant responsibilities outside of the Extension School classroom. He has an internship in Boston for 30 hours each week and spends another 20 hours working on his music—rapping under the stage name ‘Young Illytch.’ He released his EP in early spring.

“The flexibility of the school is really nice for me,” Keisler said. “I’m an artist and I like to be able to devote time to my projects and [the Harvard Extension School] lets me have enough time for that.”

The Social Network

Although the student population of the Extension School is more than twice as large as that of Harvard College, Keisler said that there is a very small social aspect to the school and pointed to the more diverse student body and businesslike culture of the Extension School as an explanation for this. “There is more of a professional community. Socially, I think that is just the nature of a commuter school,” Keisler said.

Girard disagreed, saying that a social experience exists at the Extension School for any student who wants it. The former soccer player signed up online for a Harvard roommate matching service and spent his first year at the Extension School living with five international students across the street from Pennypacker. “We had a lot of fun and a lot of parties,” he said. He adds that even students at Harvard College invite him to social events. “My ID doesn’t work so someone has to let me in,” Girard said. “It’s a little trickier to have [that social experience] but there are enough social things to do.”

Extension School students are invited to participate in extracurricular life at Harvard, too, though they are typically unable to hold leadership positions in student clubs. Girard said that students are mostly welcoming towards Extension School students seeking to participate in student organizations, but there can be some pushback. “Some people I have met have a bit of a stigma against Extension School students because you have an easier time getting in and only pay about a fourth of the cost,” he said. “Nobody hates them but some people have a chip on their shoulders.”

Yin was excited to learn that Harvard had many extracurricular activities and clubs that she could join as an Extension School student. “There are activities I am not qualified to attend but there are more than I expected when I came,” Yin said. “I thought I would just go to class and come home.”

Overall, Yin is very satisfied with her Extension School experience. “I think that the classes are as challenging as I expected them to be and they’ve really met my expectations,” she says. “I really loved Harvard when I came to visit. Since I’ve been here it’s been different but I have been pleasantly surprised. It’s an experience I don’t think I could get at a four-year institution.”

CORRECTION: June 28, 2014

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Laurence N. Girard's educational plans before attending Harvard Extension School. In fact, he intended to defer higher education until after playing professional soccer.