Our Journey Through Extension: Four Alumni Perspectives
Meet four graduates from our undergraduate and graduate programs, and learn what led them to Extension and where they see their lives going now.
Oxford-bound. Pakistani education reformer. Global business manager. Harvard Extension Student Association president.
This is just a sampling of terms to describe four of our 652 Harvard Extension School graduates in 2012. In this video, these four alumni share what led them to Extension and where they see their lives going now.
CHRISTOPHER RONDINELLI, BACHELOR OF LIBERAL ARTS
Rondinelli was finishing community college in Florida when he realized he wanted to become a doctor. “I feel like Extension made my dreams come true, 100 percent,” he says. As an undergraduate candidate at the Extension School, Christopher Rondinelli was accepted as a Special Student through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and for three academic years completed Harvard College courses to support his field of study in biomedical engineering. He also completed a reading and research project with a professor at the College, thus further bolstering his credentials for medical school. He starts graduate studies in biomedical engineering at Oxford University this fall and is currently applying to top medical schools.
AYESHA MIAN, MASTER OF LIBERAL ARTS, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Ayesha Mian, an alumna of Columbia University, has long been passionate about international relations. She wrote her Harvard Extension thesis on the madrassas system in Pakistan and believes reform in the education system is critical. With the knowledge she gained at Harvard Extension, Mian hopes to be influential in Pakistan and help contribute to an improved system.
MOHA SHAH, MASTER OF LIBERAL ARTS, MANAGEMENT
Shah works in global business and decided to study at Harvard Extension School because it offered her the flexibility to continue working full time while earning a degree. “I couldn’t have asked for a better set of teachers,” she says. She appreciated the academic and industry perspectives that they brought into the classroom. She gained insights that she was able to take back and apply in her workplace immediately.
PHILIP HARDING, BACHELOR OF LIBERAL ARTS
Philip Harding took many of his classes online while still living in from Southern California. When he was elected Harvard Extension Student Association president while still an online student, he decided to move to Cambridge to complete the degree. Harding says he’s grateful to have rounded out his academics with enriching experiences in student government — experience he’ll no doubt be applying to his studies at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
