Columbia College vs. School of General Studies - Page 3

WindowShopping · 02-15-2005, 08:43 PM

Zetsui -- It certainly sounds like you don't know a whole lot about Columbia's School of General Studies. If you did (and read my earlier post), you'd know by now that Columbia's School of General Studies is completely unrelated in every given way to New York University's General Studies Program. GSP at NYU is designed to give students, admitted traditionally, the guaranteed opportunitiy to transfer to their initital school of choice after two years. To many, GSP frowned upon as the remedial undergraduate school at NYU. GSP students take classes separate from their NYU CAS, Stern, Tisch, etc. colleagues. Though I'm no expert on NYU as I do not go there (I go to Columbia), I can tell you that the program in Greenwich Village is completely unrelated in every way to The School of General Studies at Columbia University. As for prestige, there is little to no difference in attaining the BA between Columbia College and The School of General Studies. The School of General Studies holds a seat on the Ivy Council (http://www.ivycouncil.org/affiliates.html), the only nontraditional school in the Ivy League to do so. In terms of applying to graduate school or going for a job, each of us are graduates of Columbia University. There is little difference, if any, in the given evaluation process. Graduates of The School of General Studies move on to study at the nation's top graduate schools, just as those from Columbia College the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Amazingly enough, we work toward the exact *same* degree. I suggest you review the website for The School of General Studies, www.gs.columbia.edu, before articulating false information (as is the case commonly on this message board).

Kyong -- In terms of the curriculum itself, there is no difference between GS and CC *if* you wish to pursue the Core, which many of us do. General Studies has its own distribution requirements which can be fulfilled by completing the Columbia College core (e.g. two literature courses can be fulfilled thorugh LitHum, one of the science requirements can be fulfilled through Frontiers of Science, and ALL of us HAVE to take University Writing, ArtHum, and MusicHum, just like our Columbia College contemporaries). The admissions process is different as one office is meant to serve the needs of "traditional" students (Columbia College / SEAS) while General Studies is meant to serve those that have completed a more "non-traditional" track to Columbia. In my case, it involved two previous colleges (with a 4.0 cumulative GPA) and skipping half of high school. The average age the General Studies is 29, though there are students as young as 17 and as old as 70. It's extremely diverse in nature, as advertised, and its students present a welcomed contribution to the school community. The degree is the same. The classes are the same. (I had a hellish Psych exam today -- as did those from Columbia College, SEAS, JTS, and Barnard, who are also in the same class). And tomorrow morning, I wake up to American Politics with the same students from Columbia College, SEAS, JTS, and Barnard.

Put bluntly, if you're applying right out of high school, Columbia College and SEAS are your only two options. You may be able to make an extreme case for General Studies, though such instances are very rare. If you've taken a year off from your studies after graduating high school and you've used the time to show some sort of academic and personal growth, you can apply to General Studies. GS is more concerned about the personal strengths of the applicant and what that person can bring to the University, rather than the "stats" that many on this board live and die by. I hope this helps.

sybbie719 · 02-19-2005, 04:56 PM

First of all GS, caters to a whole different audience as it caters to adult learners. The typical student graduating our of high school applying for freshman admissions cannot apply to GS . Applicants may not simultaneously apply to the School of General
Studies and to any other undergraduate division of Columbia University (Columbia College or the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science), nor are applicants eligible to apply to the School of General Studies if in the last three years they applied to any of these divisions and were not accepted. Applicants are admitted to the School of General Studies as matriculated degree candidates.
Students may enroll either full- or part-time and may change their status from semester to semester.

The School of General Studies is the college at Columbia University
created specifically for students who pursue a nontraditional path to complete a B.A. or B.S. degree. Nontraditional students include persons whose education since high school has been interrupted or postponed for at least one academic year or individuals who for compelling personal or professional reasons need to attend college on a part-time basis

GS students have full access to the richness of a Columbia education. They take the same courses with the same faculty and major in the same departments as all other undergraduates on the Columbia campus. Students take the same classes and study with the same professors as do students from Columbia’s three other undergraduate colleges.

At the end of the day, no matter what people say the degree still says COLUMBIA.

GaussGodden · 02-19-2005, 09:15 PM

im not sure the stats are...
but people that i know accepted for GS typically has a GPA of 3.9
ive heard exceptions.. but also heard that their essay was spectacular

hope this helps

khorsani · 02-19-2005, 11:23 PM

Did any GS student on this board have to have an interview with the admissions committe before being accepted?

khorsani · 02-19-2005, 11:26 PM

GaussGodden thank you for the reply, did you go to GS?

GaussGodden · 02-20-2005, 02:05 AM

i goto GS, i had a 3.97 GPA with 60+ units of completion with hardclasses, calculus etc..
and i did have an interview

GaussGodden · 02-20-2005, 02:08 AM

in your essay, you might want to focus on how you will utilize the school in addition to what can you offer to the school.. they want people that understand why they want to study.. not because everyone else is doing it..

GPA is simply something that they can evaluate that your seriousness of what you said..

khorsani · 02-20-2005, 10:51 AM

Thank you again for your prompt reply. What did they ask you in the interview? Was it with one person or with many? Was the interview long? I'm sorry for all the questions, I just want to thoroughly prepare for this.

thank you
Khorsani

WindowShopping · 02-20-2005, 12:24 PM

I had a 3.99 GPA with 54 units (two years of full-time study), and instead of an interview, I decided to meet with the admissions staff on my own before starting the process just to see it the School of General Studies was right for me. After speaking quite casually for about an hour, I was highly encouraged to apply. The match has so far been everything I've ever expected it to be.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!

edit: Just before I forget, I don't know if it's encouraged, but in my situation, I decided I had to go well beyond the word-limit on the essay. I think my essay came out to something like seventeen pages (seriously!), but there was a lot to be told and little be left out.

khorsani · 02-20-2005, 01:21 PM

Thank you so much for the reply.

Does the essay have to be very tight? will they overlook one or two disjointed thoughts you think? I've spent close to sixty hours woking on this essay and its complete, but I know its not very tight.

I want to write the perfect essay because I've heard they put a lot of weight on it and also because I only have a 3.6 GPA from a community college in manhattan.

The content is good and I have quite an interesting story to tell but English is not my first language, so I know the essay could be a lot better.

I had one good editor, edit it for me but I'm still not happy with it. Should I keep stressing out over this?

Also what is the acceptance rate for GS? do you remember how many new people there were for new student orientation? are there students there whose first language is obviously not english?

sorry for all the questions, my life has revolved around this application for the last three months and I would really like to get in.

Thank you for your time,
Khorsani....

soxNlions · 02-20-2005, 01:50 PM

I believe the Provost's website says that the entering class in 2003 had an acceptance rate of around 24%. Last year both the class size and the applicant pool increased. This resulted in a higher acceptance rate. However there is no way of knowing what percentage of qualified applicants get in. In other words, its hard to tell if its like traditional Ivy league colleges where 80% of the applicants are able to handle the work, but only a fraction of them are admitted (based on what a Harvard admissions officer told me in high school), or if its more like some flagship state schools where there are enough seats for anyone who can hack it. My guess is that the criteria is fairly competitive. After all, people who are applying have chosen to try and finish their BA/BS's at a very expensive school with this sort of reputation, so it is a fairly self-selected group.

Its worth applying though. I know of at least one case where an applicant was originally rejected and then admitted a year later once he had addressed the specific concerns of the admissions office.

CC2005 · 02-21-2005, 05:35 PM

so i suppose if you don't think you can get in to the college after high school, you could take a year off, apply to GS, write an essay about how you needed a year to "find yourself" and woohoo a Columbia degree like the students who were admitted to the college last year?

soxNlions · 02-21-2005, 07:29 PM

That seems like a really odd thing to do, and it is full of all sorts of assumptions...

Do you think that the value of a Columbia degree is based more on the education or the school's selectivity?

GaussGodden · 02-21-2005, 07:35 PM

if your grades are bad in high school.. it's not likely you'll get in...

you need some recent performance...
because they do ask you what you were doing during that blank year...
and youll need to offer evidence that you can do better

DaRaverLA · 03-02-2005, 01:12 PM

Ok, fellas, let's settle this issue once for all!

I am currently advising my student to apply to the GS program, and it seems like there is a division of the opinion here as to the perceive values of the Columbia GS diploma vs. Columbia College diploma.

One thing I am curious to know is that as long as all the majors that are available to the CC students are also available to the GS students and the actual diploma bears that elusive Columbia seal, would the GS diploma be virtually the same thing as the CC diploma?

I mean, no one would know (even if they ask) you whether you are a CC or GS student by the majors you have studied, right?