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Old 06-10-2007, 08:48 PM   #54
sakky
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 11,673
Quote:
That's absurd, and avoids the question that was posed (would HES students be totally happy with a hypothetical new requirement to write down Extension School when listing their credentials?).
And similarly, most HBS exec-ed students wouldn't be particularly happy with a hypothetical new requirement to have to write down "Exec Ed" when listing their HBS credentials. They instead seem to strongly prefer saying that they "studied" at HBS without specifying what that means. How is that any different?

As another example, I have seen how former Harvard graduate engineering/CS students don't particularly enjoy listing their full credentials either, instead saying that they have a master's from Harvard without actually specifying what it is. After all, to go to Harvard for engineering/CS often times tends to invoke the question of "Why didn't you just go to MIT?", and in many cases for graduate students, the honest answer is that they didn't get in. I know a guy who's getting his master's in EE at Harvard who took many of his classes at MIT (under cross-reg), and he admitted that he would have preferred to have been a bonafide MIT EE grad student, but didn't get in.

Quote:
Whether or not sakky is right about such behavior at non-HES degree programs, only at HES does one see an overwhelming incidence of such "prestige arbitrage" (try the web searches described above if you don't believe the anecdotal evidence).
Even if this is right, I don't see what that proves. Look, there are some programs at Harvard that are more prominent than others. The less prominent you are, the more likely you are to attempt to ride off the general Harvard brand name, as opposed to the probably weaker brand name of your specific program. Is that really surprising?

I see that happening at all schools. For example, Yale engineering rides off the general Yale brand name. The Yale School of Management tends to ride off the general Yale brand name. In each case, that's because those particular programs are relatively less prominent Yale programs. On the other hand, Yale Law School grads will proudly assert their specific affiliation, as the law school is probably the best and most famous part of Yale.

What you are simply pointing out is the difference in strengths of the various brand names of the programs, and how all programs want to affiliate themselves with the stronger brand name when they have the choice. This is not surprising in the least.
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