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The unbundling of Harvard has begun

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Re: The unbundling of Harvard has begun

#31

Post by cvhashim »

naiveprogrammer wrote: post #24
tmaly wrote: post #18

Freshman year is the real deal. Its where you meet new friends and bond. I cannot really see the value of an online only first year. I see this also as an opportunity to improve the online aspect of education. I remember one of my electrical engineering classes had all the lectures recorded and available at the library. This was before YouTube. But it was great that you could re-watch them for points you missed. Bett…

In other words, you pay what you pay to attend Harvard, to a large extent, because of its network effects. And that is really the reason at the end of the day. This is especially true in areas where network is expected to be a big factor --think Economics, Law, Business. And that's why you pay that much to go to Harvard, to gain access to their network.

It really does suck you have to pay upwards of thousands of dollars just to get some brand name on your education credentials. And thereby having those credentials do opportunities open up. Have you ever seen Suits? The premise of the show was about a young man who gets into a top law firm in New York by lying that he went to Harvard Law School.

Re: The unbundling of Harvard has begun

#32

Post by namdnay »

roenxi wrote: post #10

I'm not sure if this gentleman has a thesis but Harvard online education is worth not much. The whole value proposition of Harvard is that you socialise and bond with the sort of people who get in to Harvard. You probably have the phone number of whoever runs Goldman Sachs [0] and you know the President of Whereveristan's daughter because she was in your class. The little things in life. It is possible but unlikely t…

> The whole value proposition of Harvard is that you socialise and bond with the sort of people who get in to Harvard.

I wouldn’t say the whole value proposition is networking. There’s also the brand. Even if you lived like a hermit the whole time at Harvard and never spoke to anyone, you still come out with a degree that will immediately put you on the fast track at most of the S&P500

Re: The unbundling of Harvard has begun

#34

Post by watwut »

secondcoming wrote: post #5

"I'm Brett... and Twitter power user" I can't believe a grown adult considers this some sort of qualification. As for "education-based communities on the backs of (social) media empires"... what a horrible thought. Imagine getting your education from a Twitterati or Fox News-backed organisation. "Psychology is the most underrated major in tech." Maybe for someone with a psychology degree who's looking for a "Silicon…

> Psychology is the most underrated major in tech.

That particular tweet continues with "UX, growth, management, etc all boil down to understanding how people think."

And you know ... my tech education did missed even basics of user interfaces or reasonable level of management/organizational/team dynamic info. Just a basic information on how to select colors or generally make things look decent. Does not have to make us experts, just basically not disasters. Just a basic information on how to communicate with users.

Just a basic information on humans and teams beyond kindergarten level of "be nice to them and hope they will be nice back" nonsense. Or like, this is how you communicate with slightly autistic. Or like, this is what you do when encountering narcissistic or someone domineering.

All of that would made me better developer.

Re: The unbundling of Harvard has begun

#35

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

kanobo wrote: post #19

PSA: The 80k price tag is the sticker price. The actual average cost of Harvard is < 15k when you account for aid and parents bargaining down the price. So please try to negotiate the price if you are actually considering paying 80k.

It appears that most families making under 65k USD/year pay nothing to send a child to Harvard. Families making up to 150k USD/year are expected to pay a maximum of 10% of their income.

The sticker price is what Harvard charges rich people. Harvard has a massive endowment, and probably doesn't really rely too heavily on tuition anyways.

Re: The unbundling of Harvard has begun

#36

Post by paulgb »

throwawaybab323 wrote: post #23
hatmatrix wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Harvard online education is worth not much You're typically paying for three things: 1. The education 2. The network 3. The brand Even if 1 is not many times greater at Harvard than another institution, 2 and 3 are. Even without 2, a Harvard degree will send a signal that will open doors that might otherwise be closed.

Well I mean they sell their same courses for like 20 bucks on coursera.

You can't get a Harvard degree on Coursera though. To get the degree you have to be accepted to a degree program, and being accepted to a Harvard degree program is much of what the degree signals.

Re: The unbundling of Harvard has begun

#37

Post by namdnay »

anonunivgrad wrote: post #13

A big function that universities play is circumventing some arguably bad interpretations of labor law. In the United States, it is essentially illegal to hire based on the results of an intelligence test. This is the result of various cases interpreting and applying the disparate impact doctrine. But no one bats an eye when you send your recruiters to only the "elite" universities or when your company is overwhelming…

Meh, that also happens in lots of countries where testing candidates isn’t illegal. Example: France. French corporations are extremely attached to the rank of engineering and business schools. The salary of the first 5-10 years of your career will be more or less predefined by where you studied.

If anything, it’s the big new US internet companies that are shaking thing up, at least in the IT space

Re: The unbundling of Harvard has begun

#38

Post by namdnay »

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #35
kanobo wrote: post #19

PSA: The 80k price tag is the sticker price. The actual average cost of Harvard is < 15k when you account for aid and parents bargaining down the price. So please try to negotiate the price if you are actually considering paying 80k.

It appears that most families making under 65k USD/year pay nothing to send a child to Harvard. Families making up to 150k USD/year are expected to pay a maximum of 10% of their income. The sticker price is what Harvard charges rich people. Harvard has a massive endowment, and probably doesn't really rely too heavily on tuition anyways.

I wonder if this encourages some parents to take sabbatical or part time in order to stay under the 150k barrier :)

Re: The unbundling of Harvard has begun

#39

Post by helen___keller »

d883kd8 wrote: post #17
helen___keller wrote: post #15

This is a strange choice of title because Harvard is easily among the institutions that will be least affected by the pandemic. While it may be true that for the world's elite that the value prop of Harvard is rubbing elbows with other elites, it's also true that for the rest of us the value prop of Harvard is merely having it on your resume. There's no shortage of talented students who'd love Harvard on their resume…

Rubbing elbows with the elites is worth even more if you're not already part of the club

Perhaps but an average middle class high schooler who's spent hundreds of hours working on a college app worthy of an ivy isn't worrying about that, I guarantee you. That's not the kind of concern you have time for when you're in a college prep pressure cooker.

Re: The unbundling of Harvard has begun

#40

Post by throwawaybab323 »

paulgb wrote: post #36
throwawaybab323 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I mean they sell their same courses for like 20 bucks on coursera.

You can't get a Harvard degree on Coursera though. To get the degree you have to be accepted to a degree program, and being accepted to a Harvard degree program is much of what the degree signals.

Well actually you can. The degree is listed as from harvard along with the program. Getting accepted is a joke all you need is a undergraduate gpa of a 3.0.
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