ygz

These questions are geared towards successful junior transfers into Columbia, but input from anyone would be appreciated!

How did Columbia's Core Curriculum affect your transfer process? Was it hard to to fulfill all the requirements of the core after transferring in as a junior? Did the school require you to fulfill all of the core requirements or were you given credit for literature/humanities/science courses taken at your old institution?

More broadly, how was your overall transfer experience? Were academics at Columbia significantly different from that of your old institution? Was it difficult to complete your major and take classes you were interested in while also satisfying the requirements of the core?

Thanks in advance.

ivyalum

I obviously am not a junior transfer, but I know something about it. If you are planning to transfer as a junior, you really need to have some courses that will fulfill core requirements, or it will be impossible. There are no equivalents given for Lit Hum or CC, so you will take those courses as a junior and a senior. Pretty much anything that you have in the way of art and/or music appreciation will be accepted for those requirements. The same is true for science (although I do not know about the policy for the introductory course) and, of course, foreign language. I knew someone very well who transferred as a junior from a state university. The only real academic problem that I know he ran into was that he was unable to write a senior honors thesis because of major requirements he had to fulfill.

GD2008

Thank you so much for this thread! I'm applying as a junior transfer from USC, and I've been very worried about my courses transferring over. I'm now reassured that my foreign languages (Spanish and Arabic), science (Astronomy), hum (Art History) and writing (AP Comp 5 + Rhetoric B) will at least transfer. Major/minor requirements are a whole other story. Bleh I'm pretty anxious about this application coming up..

Aristororty

You have time. Just relax.

A friend of mine is a junior transfer here. Make sure you are aware of what you're getting yourself into; you WILL have to make a number of sacrifices in terms of course selection and major. Don't expect to be very free to explore.

Aristororty

I should add that if you are transferring in as a junior, you should be pretty stoked about the Core, or you will probably be pretty miserable.