What are the chances of getting into a top PhD program if I receive my Bachelor's degree from the Harvard Extension School?

[OriginalCaptainPrice]

It's been my goal for a while now to get a PhD in Political Science. My major field would be International Relations and American Politics. My main concern however is about where to get my undergraduate degree from. I'm a working adult in my 30's with bills to pay and am too old for a "traditional" college experience. Harvard Extension seems to meet my needs. 

My main concern however is whether I would be competitive for a top graduate program in Political Science if I were to obtain my degree from this school. Will it be looked down upon? As I'm sure everyone on this forum know, the job market for Political Science is awful. A top school is one of the best ways of making it a little bit easier. 

Of course I'd like to go to Harvard, Princeton, or Stanford but I realize those may be out of reach. What about schools like UCLA, MIT, Columbia, etc.? Are those out reach to because of my undergraduate institution? Am I destined to end up somewhere mediocre with no real career prospects? 

This is of course assuming my GPA, GRE score, and writing skills are top notch, am I destined to be filtered out because of Harvard Extension? 

[Homeless]

So, first a question: Are you going to the Extension school or do you plan on going? If the former, then it's probably best to ask your professors/ someone at the school, they'll have a better shot of knowing what's up. If the latter, then I think it's way too early to plan for a PhD. Without knowing how well you do, the connections you'll make, how your research interests shape out, I would recommend just focusing on school. 

Second, the above aside, I think it would be a challenge to get into a top program (which all the schools you listed are) but not impossible. While you won't have the cache of the traditional Harvard brand, you will (I believe) be working with Harvard professors who will know the field and be known, so LoRs could be persuasive. 

[OriginalCaptainPrice]

7 hours ago, Homeless said:

So, first a question: Are you going to the Extension school or do you plan on going? If the former, then it's probably best to ask your professors/ someone at the school, they'll have a better shot of knowing what's up. If the latter, then I think it's way too early to plan for a PhD. Without knowing how well you do, the connections you'll make, how your research interests shape out, I would recommend just focusing on school. 

Second, the above aside, I think it would be a challenge to get into a top program (which all the schools you listed are) but not impossible. While you won't have the cache of the traditional Harvard brand, you will (I believe) be working with Harvard professors who will know the field and be known, so LoRs could be persuasive. 

I’m planning on going, I’m not enrolled yet. It’s interesting from what I’ve read online people who have been there seem to love it but there isn’t a lot of information about what kind of grad schools they’ve ended up going to. 

[Homeless]

You can probably ask someone who works there about student outcomes, but I don't know what they'll say. 

That being said, I still think you might want to worry first about the classes you take and how you like them. Program status maters, but even more important is the ability to articulate an interesting research project to show that you fit with a particular program's faculty, and you won't be able to do that until you've taken more than a few classes.