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Comment by jonmc12 | Hacker News Reader

Can you help me understand your statement 'watering down the value of my degree'? I'm curious, why do you feel that way?

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Like it or not, part of the value of a Harvard degree is the signaling effect it carries. The signaling effect is, in large part, due to the selectivity of the school and the coursework.

Put more directly... if the extension school has a 10x higher acceptance rate and has easier classes, then it is probably diluting the signaling effect a bit.

What evidence do you have that extension classes are easier than their traditional counterparts? It's certainly easier to get into Extension than other Harvard colleges, but I see no evidence it's easier to graduate.

Mostly anecdotal, several of my friends have took classes through the program in high school. That's not to say that extension classes are trivial by any means.

I don't disagree that the signalling of a pedigree brand is valuable. However, the signalling of accomplishment is much louder than credential.

So, my curiosity was based on the emotional investment in the credential, when I would think a Harvard grad would believe themselves capable of producing accomplishments that far out-signal their degree.

That's fair -- perhaps most of the sentiments regarding "diluted brand" probably come from younger grads or current students who are less sure of themselves and have fewer real-world accomplishments to rest on.

Not most. ALL.

Those of us who have already established ourselves in a career feel less insecure about our credentials than your typical Crimson "English" concentrator.

I, for one, have never felt particularly threatened by 19 year-olds.

That signaling effect works both ways:

1. There are plenty of people who automatically consider Ivy Leaguers a threat and work to undermine them almost as a matter of principle.

2. Simple mistakes made by Ivy Leaguers are often amplified by those with an axe to grind.

Well, there's at least one thing that's missing from this degree program which is a core part of the Harvard traditional degree system -- strenuous admission requirements and filtering.

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