Harvard CS50: Here's How to Earn a Free Certificate

With over 3.5M enrollments, CS50, Harvard's Introduction to Computer Science, is one of the world's most popular online courses, ... FreeJS&webdevelopmentbootcampstartingonSep5-Enrollhere! View Close Disclosure: ClassCentralislearner-supported.Whenyoubuythroughlinksonoursite,wemayearnanaffiliatecommission. CS502022inHarvard’sSandersTheater Withover3.5Menrollments,CS50,Harvard’sIntroductiontoComputerScience,isoneoftheworld’smostpopularonlinecourses,andit’soneofClassCentral’sBestOnlineCoursesofAllTime. Havingtakenthecoursemyself,Ican’tsayI’msurprised.Thecourseisexcellent.Ithasafantasticinstructor;itoffersarichlearningexperience;anditscurriculumisrefreshedannually. Mostnotably,thecourseisentirelyfree,anditincludesafreecertificateofcompletion.Butfiguringouthowtoobtainitcanbeabitconfusing.Solet’sdiscussCS50andhow,exactly,youcanearnafreecertificate. (Ifyou’reinterestedinsomeoftheothercoursesintheCS50lineup—whichincludePython,webdev,andAIcourses—checkourHarvardCS50guide.) CS50in2022 In2022,CS50isbacktoSandersTheaterandhasaliveaudienceagain,butwithmasksstillon,tobesafe. CS50istaughtbyDavidJ.Malan,andoneofthebestaspectsofthecourseisthatit’supdatedannually.Morespecifically,thecourseisrecordedeveryFallinHarvard’sbeautifulSandersTheater⁠—exceptlastyear,whenitwasfilmedintheAmericanRepertoryTheaterandwithoutaliveaudienceduetothepandemic. Inmyexperience,thisisextremelyrare.Inthevastmajorityofonlinecourses,lecturesarerecordedonceandreusedthroughoutthelifespanofthecourse.TheonlyothercourseIcanthinkofthatrecordsthemannuallyisMIT’sIntroductiontoDeepLearning.Itseemstobeaprerogativeafewbigcoursesatrichinstitutions. Beyondrecordingnewvideos,CS50alsorefreshesitscurriculumannually.In2022,thecourseintroducedthefollowingchanges,amongothers: NewLectures:Thecourseincludestwonewlectures.Onediscussescybersecurity.Andtheotherdiscussesemojis(morespecifically,howemojisbecomeemojis),toendthecourseonalightnote. NewProblem:Week7ofthecoursefocusesondatabasesandculminatesina newproblem,whichinvolvesscouringadatabaseusingSQLtosolveamystery. NewCodeEditor:CS50involvesmanycodingexercise.Youcompletetheseviaanin-browsercodingenvironment.CS50usedtousea Cloud9environment.Now,they’vetransitionedtoa VSCodeenvironment. Likeinpreviousyears,CS50endswithanopen-endedsoftwareproject⁠—anopportunityforstudentstoputintopracticewhatthey’velearnedthroughoutthecourse. FreeCertificate:HowtoEarnOne Sinceitslaunch,CS50hasmaintainedafirmstancetowardopenness.In2022,thecourseremainsentirelyfree,includingitscertificateofcompletion.Thisishowthefreecertificatelooks: CS50freecertificateofcompletionin2022 ButearningafreecertificateofcompletioninCS50canbeabitconfusing.Indeed,thecourseisofferedthroughthreeplatforms: EdX,whichistheplatformmostpeoplewillbefamiliarwith.OnedX,CS50doesn’tincludeafreecertificate.Instead,itoffersa paidverifiedcertificate,whichcosts$150. HarvardOCW,whichisHarvard’sopenonlinecourseplatform.OnHarvardOCW,CS50includesafreecertificateofcompletion,liketheoneabove.NotethatthecourseisthesameasonedX,includingtheassignments.Theonlydifferenceisthatthefreecertificatedoesn’tinvolveIDverification. HarvardExtensionSchool,whichispartofHarvard’sdivisionofcontinuingeducation.OnHarvardExtension,CS50doesn’tincludeafreecertificateeither.Instead,studentscantakethecourseforcreditandreceiveaformaltranscript,whichcosts$1500–3000. Soifyou’reinterestedinafreecertificate,headtoHarvardOCW.Tofurtherconfusematters,notethatevenwhenyoutakethecourseviaHarvardOCW,youmayhavetocreateanedXaccounttosubmitassignments.However,thisshouldbeentirelyfree:youdon’tneedtopayfortheedXverifiedcertificate. Tags Freecertificates Harvard ManoelCortesMendez Softwareengineerandonlinegraduatestudentincomputersciencepassionateabouteducation,technology,andtheirintersection. MorearticlesfromManoelCortesMendez Related HarvardNewIntrotoPython:HowtoEarnaFreeCertificate HarvardCS50Guide:HowtoPicktheRightCourseforYou(withFreeCertificate) [Update:EnrollmentsareClosed]40+StanfordOnlineCoursesthatOfferaFreeCertificatein2020 TheBestIntrotoComputerScienceCourses,AccordingtoyourReviews AboutClassCentral LearningwithMOOCs2022:FromthePandemictotheRemoteWorld(Sept29–30inAntigua,Guatemala) AD Comments 27 Tommy 3/2/2020at2:44am IamcurrentlystudyingInformationTechnologyandIjustwantedtoknowyourschedulesothatIcanbeabletocatchupwithyourprogramssinceIamanewcomer. Reply PatBowden 3/31/2020at9:02pm Thiscourse(likemanyothers)isself-paced.Youcanjoinwhenyouareready.Lecturevideosandothercoursematerialscanbeaccessedatanytimeofthedayornightsuitableforyou. Reply IbrahimAhmed 8/3/2022at3:32am CS50isfreewithcertification Reply Thom 7/6/2020at2:21am Thiscourseisnotfree.Youhavetopay$90/orwhenYoucompletedthecourseyouearnacertificate? Reply Isaac 8/13/2020at9:23am Thecourseitselfisfree,butyoucanchoosetopay$90foracertificateattheendfromedXifyouwouldliketo. Reply ManoelCortesMendez 4/15/2022at6:11am YoucantakethecourseforfreeviaHarvardOpenCourseWarehere:https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2022/ Uponcompletion,you’llearnafreecertificateasexplainedhere:https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2022/certificate/ Reply SiddhiDeshpande 8/19/2020at3:18am DowegetacertificateaftercompletingthecourseforFREE?Likejustanormalcertificatewhichcanbelinkedorisshareable? I Reply ManoelCortesMendez 4/15/2022at6:03am Yes,aslongasyoutakethecoursethroughHarvardOpenCourseWare,you’llgetafreecertificatethatyoucanshare. Thisiswhereyoucantakethecourseforfree:https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2022/ Reply Aisha 11/18/2020at9:32pm Thepricep ofverifiedcertificatewas90dollarbutwhyitsshowing299dollarnow? Reply ManoelCortesMendez 4/15/2022at6:05am ThecurrentpriceofanedXverifiedcertificateseemstobe$149. ButnotethatyoucantakethecourseforfreeandearnafreecertificatebytakingthecoursethroughHarvardOpenCourseWarehere:https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2022/ Reply ravi 7/9/2022at10:34pm Manoel Thisiscool–isitonlycs50xthatisavailableviaOCW?howtogettheothercourses–likeCS50p?orAI? Gracias Ravi Reply ravi 7/9/2022at10:43pm Justchecked–Pythonisavailableat https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/2022/ buthaven’tfoundAI Reply ManoelCortesMendez 7/11/2022at4:10am Andhere’sAI:https://cs50.harvard.edu/ai/2020/ NathalieAigil 3/24/2021at6:26pm Hi,I’mfromPapuaNewGuineaandIjustwanttoen-quireifIcantaketocourseonlineasanInternationalstudent. Thankyou. Reply ArjunMurthy 4/25/2021at8:55am Yes,youcantakethecoursefromanywhereintheworld. Reply Dane 5/26/2021at2:29pm Wheretoregisterandwhatistheenrollmentprocedure? Reply ManoelCortesMendez 4/15/2022at6:07am Ifyouwanttotakethecourseforfree,juststarthere:https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2022/ You’llsubmittheproblemsetsviaedX,butyoudon’tneedtopayfortheverifiedcertificate. Reply endeavourshrestha 7/22/2021at1:04am Thecostofcertificateis90$butwhyisitshowing199$inmine Reply ManoelCortesMendez 4/15/2022at6:09am Thepriceofaverifiedcertificateseemstohaveincreased.ButnotethatyoucantakethecourseforfreeandearnafreecertificatethroughHarvardOpenCourseWare:https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2022/ Reply RaphaelFolorunsho 6/5/2022at4:02pm GREATSITE!THANKSFORTHISVALUABLEINFORMATION.FROMNIGERIA. Reply Siphokazi 6/15/2022at3:16am IamfromSouthAfrica.IwouldliketoknowifyoudotakestudentsfromSouthAfrica? Reply ManoelCortesMendez 6/15/2022at7:38am Yes,thecourseisaccessibletolearnersworldwide. Reply N.LuizdosSantos 7/1/2022at1:07pm Olátudobem! SeriaPossíveleufazerumcursode(blockchainCryptonmoedas,einteligênciaartificial)comcertificadosendoeuestrangeiro,nomeucaso(Brasil)? Reply ManoelCortesMendez 7/11/2022at4:16am HarvardCS50nãoofereceumcursodeblockchain.Masoscursosqueelesoferecem,comoestecursodeciênciadacomputaçãoacima,estãodisponíveisemtodoomundo,inclusivenoBrasil. Reply ReyFam 7/25/2022at11:21pm Hi, Ididn’tgetthatpartwhereyousaidthatthedifferencebetweenthefreeversionandthepaidversion,isIDverification? Thankyou Reply ManoelCortesMendez 8/2/2022at1:19am Thefreecertificateonlyrequirespassingalltheassignments.EdX’spaidID-verifiedcertificatealsorequirestakingaselfieandpictureofyourIDcard. Reply JeffreyWhewhetu 8/4/2022at4:44am Thankyousir!!!Forsharingthisinformation.I’vebeinglookingforfreecertstoaddtomyresumeandyouhavemademyday.FromNigeria Reply Leaveareply Youremailaddresswillnotbepublished.Allcommentsgothroughmoderation,soyourcommentwon'tdisplayimmediately. Comment Name(Required) Email(Required) Cancel Δ ThissiteusesAkismettoreducespam.Learnhowyourcommentdataisprocessed. 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