Save your money and simply take the most relevant courses at a community college.
But won’t schools be impressed when they see I have earned a graduate certificate at a prestigious institution like Georgetown or Harvard? Doesn’t that give me a significant leg up in the admissions process?
The short answer is: no.
I only recommend you earn a graduate certificate if your employer (or a rich relative) is going to pay for it, you have the time to attend the classes and do well in them, and you want to learn the subject matter.
Why?
Because performing really well in a graduate certificate in Economics, Management, Leadership, Operations, or some other relevant area may give you a small leg up (especially if you have an undergraduate GPA below 3.6), but doing poorly in a graduate certificate program can hurt you more than help you.
If you feel that you need to supplement your undergraduate coursework with some more academic work, I suggest you take the following courses instead:
Rather than getting a graduate certificate, take these courses:
- Microeconomics
- Calculus
- Statistics (also known as Quantitative Methods)
- Accounting
- Finance
- Spreadsheet Modeling (Excel skills)
Places to take supplemental coursework:
- your local community college (I’m talking about public, accredited nonprofit colleges—nothing for-profit)
- UCLA Extension
- BYU Independent Study
- Coursera
- Harvard Business Review‘s online courses
- additional new course (update on 06/18/2015): HBX CORe
Take the most basic, introductory college-level offering of the course. No need to make things overly difficult for yourself when you have a full-time job, GMAT studying, and a social life to attend to.
As a note, it’s better to take courses from an institution such as BYU or UCLA that can provide you with a real transcript versus just taking it online via Coursera, but Coursera is better than nothing.
And let me put this next point in all caps, because I want you to use your money where it matters most and not in ways you simply hope will help:
ADMISSIONS COMMITTEES ARE NOT IMPRESSED AND DO NOT CARE WHEN YOU TAKE SUPPLEMENTARY COURSEWORK AT IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLS.
Believe me, when I was conditionally accepted to Harvard Business School (due to my low GMAT score of 620 and lack of quantitative coursework), they told me so themselves.
If you’ve already signed up for a graduate certificate (and you can’t get a refund), then show up, do your best, and make sure you earn as high a GPA as you can—at least a 3.6.
If you’ve been considering a graduate certificate as a way to give yourself a leg up in the admissions process, use your funds elsewhere on community college and/or online courses that will equip you with the background you need in order to prove your candidacy and hold your own in the Ivy League graduate school classroom.
Hi Kaneisha,
Most of the courses on Harvard Business Review are dated. For example I have been wanting to do a spreadsheet modeling course, but the one on HBR is for Excel 2007. Any other course site for spreadsheet modeling you would recommend? Also I was planning on buying the the book Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis by Cliff Ragsdale- Would you recommend it?
Thanks a ton! Hope to start my application in June for 2016 intake.
Aastha
Hi Aastha,
Thanks for the heads up that the HBR courses are outdated. SkilledUp has this article called 9 Excellent Resources to Help You Learn Excel Online. I haven’t tried any of them myself, so I can’t recommend a specific one, but my guidance is to choose one whose user interface you like and that is within your budget. Each course probably has a trial component so you can try a few out first before committing to one.
I am not familiar with the book you mentioned but it has strong Amazon reviews, and I couldn’t find a similar book with more reviews so this might be the way to go.
Make sure you don’t focus on Excel skills over getting a great GMAT/GRE score. Your GMAT/GRE score definitely matters more to getting admitted (you’ll have the opportunity to learn Excel skills in graduate school).
You are welcome and thank you for commenting!
Hello, Kaneisha.
Do you know if one could earn a certificate after having completed this course: https://hbr.org/product/quantitative-methods-a-self-paced-learning-program/an/3000HF-HTM-ENG?Ntt=3000hf
Thank you
Hi Erick, I don’t think you’ll get a certificate of completion for that course. I recommend you look into HBX CORe (Credential of Readiness) instead: http://hbx.hbs.edu/hbx-core
Hi Kaneisha,
Your site and information is wonderful! I Will utilize your services when the time comes!
When you mention the above courses, are you suggesting that one only take the introductory course? For example, Accounting usually has a level I & II.
Do the Ivy’s favor the more quant heavy courses: stats, calc and microecon from a 4-year college university over a cc?
Thanks
Hi, Don! I’m so glad you appreciate the site, and we can’t wait to work with you. You asked a great question, because the answer is a bit counter-intuitive. YES, I do mean that you should take the introductory undergraduate/college level of the course. NO, you do not need to take the course anywhere fancy or prestigious. I would say that at this point, schools still prefer in-person courses to online and graded courses vs. non-graded. A community college course is just fine. If you can’t take a graded in-person course, remember that taking something is better than taking nothing. One caveat to this advice is that if you are interested in applying to HKS’ MPA2, and you don’t already have a Masters degree that makes you eligible to apply for the MPA2, try and make your supplementary coursework graduate/Masters level to help you become eligible to apply for the MPA2.
Are you familiar with Harvard Extension School? Do you know if people from that program get accepted into traditional Harvard classes?
Hi Miss Jersey, I’m not super-familiar with Harvard Extension School and I don’t have information on how often Harvard Extension School students are accepted into traditional Harvard classes or degrees. I appreciate your question though!
Hi
I completed my bachelor in business studies(3 years) 12 years ago sales and marketing as my major subjects with a very average score.I worked for coca cola Nepal in its sales department for 2 years and after that i came to Australia and worked with a Migration service provider as a business development manager.Now I am quite keen to upgrade myself so i want to go for MBA anywhere in America or Europe or Australia.I am bit worried if i will get admission in these universities.So can you suggest me which way i can enter to complete my MBA.I am ready to undertake any pathway course.
Hi Dipendra, thanks for reaching out. We don’t provide free profile evaluations via our comments. My team and I could help you figure out next steps during a Deep Dive. We’d love to help you with your MBA application!
Supplemental courses at UCLA Extension are very, VERY expensive if your employer’s not paying for them. Since you won’t get certified or licensed in anything unless you complete a whole program (and then usually you still have to sit for an exam), why take any supplemental classes at UCLA Extension at all if you could take them at a community college for cheap? In addition, UCLA Extension’s instructors are not always the same people who teach at UCLA (which is more prestigious). Sometimes, these Extension instructors also teach at unaccredited trade schools that will accept pretty much anyone. UCLA is definitely > than UCLA Extension.
This is helpful information! I recommend people take the courses at the place that is most convenient and affordable to them that will provide a grade that can be reported to your schools.
Hello Kaneisha,
Thanks for the information. If I am international student , what can I do since we do not have community college in Nigeria.
If I can get a 3.6 in my graduate certificate, will it still not help me get the admission ?
You are welcome, Deji! You can take supplementary courses online at places like BYU Independent Study, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UT Austin, and many other places. Earning a 3.6 in your graduate certificate can be a help to your application, depending on what courses you took. However, I do not advise people to sign up for graduate certificate courses just to boost their profile. If you’re already in the program, definitely do your best and submit your high grades to the schools to which you’re applying. Thank you for commenting and good luck!
Hello,
I am currently in my last year of graduation and I need to do a Calculus I and Linear Algebra course as a prerequisite for my Masters program. Where can I complete them online from? Since I do not want any credits but just prove a point to the University that I am articulate in Mathematics. UC Berkeley and UCLA extension courses are really expensive!
Thank you for your comment, Anishi! I am Noah, a consultant with The Art of Applying. Hopefully, this is still helpful for you and someone else in that situation.
Indeed, UC Berkeley and UCLA extension courses are expensive. However, before we wrote about where to take some of these courses, we emphasized the idea of saving money by taking the most relevant course at a community college, which may offer online options as well. If community college is not an option, then there are other online alternatives, especially during these times with the rise of virtual learning. When the online course ends, a new journey of applying for graduate school begins!
When clients join our Application Accelerator, each person has an Assessment Call with our team. We listen to them to help create a list of potential schools that cater to their previous experiences and goals as well as provide a list of the specific supplemental courses both online and in-person they should take to be competitive for the schools they’re applying to.
While we don’t provide free 1:1 advice via our blog, we’d love to chat more with you about your application process, and how we can help. We offer hourly coaching as well. Here is the link to continue the conversation.