Master of Liberal Arts (AML) at Harvard University Extension School

[isma93]

Hi everyone! I am 25 years old, I already hold a BA in communication from an italian uni, and a MSc in political sciences from the London School of Economics (LSE). I am currently working in international organizations such as the UN - it's now been almost 2 years. I would like to study again, most likely next year or in 2020, and I always wanted to go to a top tier US university - Harvard being the top choice. The fact is, my family cannot afford to pay me a Master at Harvard uni at the Kennedy School of Government or the GSAS, and as an international student I would never receive financial aid to totally cover the expenses of one of their Master programs. That being said, I still want to go to Harvard, and experience studying in a US university. So I casually found out about Harvard Extension School: a part of Harvard university, that offers special Master degrees (Master of Liberal Arts, AML) in a variety of disciplines, with the possibility to follow partly online an partly on campus, the possibility to take a maximum of 5 years to complete the program, and obviously reduced tuition fees. A Master at GSAS would cost me around 160.000 USD for two years, while a Master of Liberal Arts at Harvard Extension School would cost me a mere 55.000 USD. But admissions to the Harvard Extension School are way easier: you only have to pass a general reading and comprehension test, and then not let your GPA sink below 3.0 to complete the program. You spend half of the program on campus, you also have a final thesis to prepare, and graduate from Harvard during the May commencement ceremony. I am interested in the AML in International Relations (https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/graduate-degrees/international-relations-degree), and I already emailed Harvard Extension School for more information, but one thing that is not completely clear to me is: how valuable is such kind of degree for employers? I know many students blatantly lie and pretend they earned a Master of Arts from Harvard instead of a Master of Liberal Arts from Harvard Extension School, and employers, especially in the USA, are annoyed by this kind of behaviour. Let me be clear: I am not doing the program to mislead people into believing I earned a Master of Arts from Harvard Kennedy School of Government or the GSAS. I would just like to experience Harvard and a top US university, pursuing a degree which is more affordable for me and my family, can be completed while working, and that can give me some new skills and knowledge (being a political science graduate, I never took courses in human rights law, public policy law, international development, which I would find in this AML program, really giving some meaningful contirbution to my professional growth). Has any of you ever pursued a Master of Liberal Arts at the Harvard Extension School? Or is there any of you that could provide more information and more advice on the topic? Thank you!

Edited November 20, 2018 by isma93