My Harvard Extension School Journey

When I moved from Washington, DC to Boston two years ago, I asked myself — what can I do in Boston that I cannot do anywhere else in the world? The first obvious answer was to eat all possible kinds of cannoli. After all, Boston is famous for this Sicilian pastry. But when I visited Harvard Yard and saw the spirit and profound history of that place, I realized I wanted it to become a part of my life. So, I enrolled in a four-course program to pursue a graduate certificate in Innovations in Entrepreneurship.

Here’s a quick recap of the four sources I finished:

• Entrepreneurship and Innovation. This course provided an overview of many popular methodologies, such as Business Model Canvas and Lean Startup. It also covered fundamental aspects of how to build and maintain the culture of innovation at a company. It also developed critical business skills — for the final project, teams wrote a business plan and pitched it to potential investors.
• Essentials of Management. This course covers the foundations of business, from marketing to organizational structure to motivation. 😍 For every class, we had theoretical material and a more practical case study — I really liked it. This course changed the way I look into things now. For example, when I buy something on the internet, I subconsciously analyze the company — what are their distribution channels, how do they use social media, what’s their pricing strategy, etc.
• The Art of Communication. The principal skill this course teaches is to be concise. “What is your one sentence?” is the title of the professor’s book and her approach to all communications. In our busy world, less is undoubtedly more. Of course, Harvard is Harvard, we also studied ethos, pathos, and logos. We analyzed the world’s most famous speeches from Machiavelli’s Prince to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to Dr. King’s “I have a dream.”
• Creativity and Organizational Success. This course was the least academic and the most hands-on. It was little theory and a lot of practice. We did a lot of fun exercises to unleash our creativity. My favorite part was applying Design Thinking to solve a friend’s problem.

What I loved:

• 👍 Professors. They are experts in their domains who generously and patiently share their knowledge and skills with their students.
• 👍 Learning on campus. I was lucky to do the first two courses in 2019 on campus. My third and fourth courses were the first half of 2020 — so, everything was on Zoom, just like for the rest of the world. Learning on Harvard’s campus is the experience of a lifetime. I miss walking Harvard Yard to get to the classes. I cherish studying in the Widener Library and basically using it as a coworking space — this is the library you can see in literally all movies set at Harvard. And this experience of working on a project with classmates at the Smith center- the most beautiful Boston view you can get — just made me feel 15 years younger:)
• 👍 People. Summer intensive classes allowed me to meet people I would never meet otherwise — a lawyer from Australia, a head of a diplomatic mission in Aruba, an entrepreneur from India, a ballet dancer from Berlin… Every person had a captivating life story. For the fall semester, everybody was local to Boston but still had a fascinating biography — a military spouse, an activist helping people with opioid addiction, a director at a center for Latin American Studies. Every single classmate had a unique life path; it’s just impossible to name all of them here.
• 👍 Diversity of topics. The certificate seekers are required to complete courses in four completely different areas. For me, it motivated me to discover the subjects that I wouldn’t learn otherwise.

What I didn’t like:

• 👎 Using the academic format for most assignments — APA-style formatting and citations, 12-points double-spaced. Harvard is an academic institution; I get it. This little requirement was driving me nuts! But the certificate is about Innovations and Entrepreneurship! How many entrepreneurs are required to use this format?!

Many of my classmates decided to pursue a master’s degree in management, which requires 12 courses. For them, the four courses completed for the certificate will count towards their master’s degree. These four courses gave me a new boost of knowledge and energy and even a new perspective on how the world of business works. I love my job, and I will focus on my family and current career path as a software engineer for the next several years.

After two exciting years spent with my classmates, I can finally claim back my weekends and weekday nights. Each course was taking two hours for the class plus about 10 hours a week — this included readings, assignments, and mid-term and final projects.

But I have a feeling that my journey with Harvard Extension School is not over yet…