(Source: Harvard University)A recent New York Times article sheds light on a phenomenon unfamiliar to most would-be Ivy Leaguers: You can go to Harvard as an undergraduate even if you don't get admitted to Harvard College.



That's right---you can take courses with Harvard professors and earn a Harvard diploma while attending part-time via the Harvard Extension School. As you might imagine, getting in is much easier, and it's also cheaper. But is it a real Harvard degree?

Consider this:

At Harvard, although extension students must maintain a C average and fulfill language, science and math requirements, they may deal with the perception that they are not full-fledged Harvard citizens. "Some people are like, 'What are you exactly?'" Ms. Shortill said. "But some people are like, 'Oh my goodness, you can do that? Wow, that was really smart of you to figure that out.'"

Social life can be challenging too because most classmates are older and return home to families. But some students like the mix of ages, and that the evening classes allow daytime pursuits. And there is the diploma, a bachelors of liberal arts in extension from Harvard University (that other diploma says bachelors of arts from Harvard College).

Dr. Shinagel put it this way: "Let's say you're buying a Gucci handbag and you're going to pay a thousand dollars for it, and Gucci also puts out a line that doesn't call itself Gucci but is close in quality to a Gucci and you can get it for $50. That's what this is."

Not everyone buys that analogy.

"I think that's sort of going to Harvard the wrong way for the wrong reasons," Dr. Halfond said.

But on a r�sum�, most employers would probably not know the difference, he and others said.

Gail Kaplan, a legal recruiter in Boston, said: "If I were sending someone with a Harvard Extension School degree to a law firm in Boston, I know it would not get the same reaction as Yale or Harvard or Stanford or Princeton. But if I sent them to St. Louis or California, people wouldn't notice as much."

Dr. Shinagel said extension graduates had done illustrious things, including attending Harvard's medical and law schools.

Dr. Underwood said students getting bachelor's degrees from the extension school were "brilliantly milking the cow of Harvard University." "If for some reason your finances or your SAT's wouldn't get you into the Ivy League," he said, "you could come and get a very similar experience and then have the Harvard name on your r�sum�. People say Harvard-trained, they don't say Bunker Hill Community College-trained."OK, so going to the Extension School isn't the same as attending the "real" Harvard College. Similarly, you can attend Columbia University's School of Continuing Education, take classes with Columbia professors and earn a Columbia bachelor's degree. But does it have the same street cred? Not exactly.

If your choices are limited by circumstance, and you're able to attend one of these second-tier programs at a first-tier university, go for it. But I wouldn't advise taking that option over the chance to get a "real" degree from another top school. Harvard Extension over UMass-Boston or Simmons or Fisher College? Probably. Over Cornell or Colgate or BC? No way.