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I’m sorry you didn’t get into Massachusetts’ Harvard University.

On the plus side, you’ve saved yourself around $50 000 in annual tuition and another $20 000 or so with room, board, and additional fees.

That’s roughly R1,1 million per year, which puts Michaelhouse and Hilton to shame.

The even better news is that you can actually take a number of well-known Harvard courses for free in the comfort of your own home.

One catch – a number of courses do require fees to unlock additional content or to receive a verified certificate from HarvardX, the university’s online portal.

Mashable has put together a list of 15 courses, some of which are very US-focused, so we’ve picked five that are interesting wherever you’re based in the world.

Masterpieces of World Literature:

This class invites you to “embark on a global journey to explore the past, present, and future of world literature.” This 12-week course requires a time commitment of up to seven hours a week.

During those hours, you’ll study how great writers refract their world, looking at works from Goethe, Voltaire, and Rushdie, among others.

You’ll get to laud your superior literary knowledge over everyone else at the book club, which is really just an excuse to drink wine.

Backyard Meteorology: The Science of Weather:

Harvard’s backyard meteorology course makes the epic promise that by taking it you’ll learn to forecast the weather just by looking out your window.

This course could possibly save your life as well, as there’s a component that informs you how to avoid being struck by lightning. Other elements include cloud identification and how to estimate wind speed.

Those braai weather chats just went up a notch.

The Einstein Revolution:

This course will, through the life and work of Albert Einstein, teach you all about the changing role of physics in the 20th and 21st centuries.

There’s no science knowledge required for this history course, which considers Einstein’s engagement with relativity, quantum mechanics, Nazism, nuclear weapons, philosophy, the arts, and technology. This is a 17-lesson course that will require a commitment of up to three hours a week.

The genius may have distilled the secret to finding happiness into 17 words, making a few people very rich in the process, but his work covered a wide range of topics and more than merits a 17-lesson course.

Speaking of happiness, there’s The Path to Happiness: What Chinese Philosophy Teaches Us about the Good Life:

One of Harvard’s most popular classes has been adapted to an online seven-week course. Professor Michael Puett applies ancient Chinese philosophy to the challenges of modern day society.

The course touches on ideologies from the likes of Confucius, Mozi, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, and Han Feizi.

Finally, for those who struggle with getting their ideas across effectively, you might benefit from Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking:

This eight-week course teaches you how to form an argument and successfully communicate those beliefs.

You’ll study the rhetoric from famous public speakers, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Margaret Chase Smith, Ronald Reagan, and more.

Who doesn’t love winning an argument?

Just don’t expect any success on social media, where logic and rationale has all but vanished.

[source:mashable]