GS gets their decisions 2 weeks or more before the rest of the schools.
And some admitted students receive their acceptance a few hours early, but the vast majority of applicants get it at the originally stated time.
Given past trends I think Columbia planned to release decisions on Friday May 8th, but because they pushed their submission deadline back from March 1st to March 27th, we’ll have to wait till Friday May 15th to know.
Hello everyone, I am also hoping to transfer to Columbia Fall 2020. I am currently attending my local community college. I am Biochemistry major and I really want to attend a university that is going to challenge me and prepare me as I continue my journey as a premed student. Before I returned to college, I was a medical assistant for a clinic that had several specialties. I particularly worked in OBGYN.
This is a great part of the reason why I enrolled into community college. Since I have been back in school, I have worked hard to maintain my grades and be a part of my college’s student community. I am currently taking Calculus III, Organic Chemistry II, Physics with Calculus II, and Music appreciation, for a grand total of 18 units. Here are some details involving my school involvement.
-GPA: 3.97 (should be at 3.98 by the end of the semester)
-Chemistry Club (Vice President)
-Females in STEM (secretary)
-Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society (member)
-UCSB Smithsonian Scholar (2018 summer intern)
-Imbedded Tutor for General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry (volunteer)
-Volunteer at the Maker Space at my local library
These are only a couple of extracurricular and activities that I have been involved in. I do have more, but these are definitely the ones that I have been strongly involved with as of recent. I have two strong letters of recommendations, one from my Calculus Professor and another from my Chemistry Club Advisor. The letter of recommendation coming from my Chemistry Club advisor is strong considering the fact that we have had a close student-professor relationship for my whole college career. She has been my chemistry club advisor since I joined chemistry club as well as my General Chemistry II Professor. For the past year I have been volunteering as her imbedded tutor in her General Chemistry courses as well as her Organic Chemistry I course. She is a graduate from MIT and UCSD and has given me great advice. The other letter of recommendation is strong but not as strong as this one. My essays are well written. They also covey the reason why I want to attend Columbia University. Overall I feel well prepared and know that I can succeed at Columbia. Columbia is my dream school, but I have also applied to the following universities: UCLA, UCSB, UC Berkely, UCSD, Stanford, NYU, Cornell, and Harvard.
Anyways I wish you all the best of luck during this stressful process. I hope we all get into our dream schools, whether it be Columbia or any university of your dreams. If you have worked this hard, you definitely deserve it.
Has anyone else received their email that says they recommend you apply to Columbia GS instead because you had more than a year’s gap after high school graduation? I mean… I’ve been attending community college full time and have earned close to 60 credits already, so I don’t understand. I’m a “transfer” applicant trying to transfer into Columbia College, not apply to Columbia GS… What gives?
Transfers to the College should have only 1 year before starting their current college, and then be at the current college for 2 years or less by the time you matriculate. I take it that you are outside that timeline? They would only suggest this if they felt you met the criteria to transfer to GS (which is a great school of course); so you should heed their recommendation and look through the GS website. Good luck.
@morningside292 Yes, I did have more than a year’s gap between high school graduation and my enrollment in community college (but only because I was educated abroad before coming back to the US and graduated early). While I’m aware that GS is a great school, its curriculum is not for me and I don’t think I’ll benefit from their program for nontraditional students most of whom have a lot going on in their lives and plan on attending part-time… I don’t have kids or part-time/full-time work or military background or other special circumstances and I do plan on attending full-time. So I don’t think I’ll consider GS, but I do appreciate your input!
@teenybee Yeah, I thought I would be applying to the College too, but Columbia came to my community college and told me that they only accept community college students or students w/ a gap year into GS, not Columbia College.
@saderobinsonacts what for real? That is really odd because I go to a community college, we also had a Columbia representative visit. She said that you can only get into GS if you have had a gap.
@saderobinsonacts Wait, so am I only qualified to apply to GS in that case? The email stated that if I didn’t reply and give my consent to them forwarding my information to GS, they’d fully consider my transfer application to Columbia College nonetheless… but I guess in that case it probably means an automatic rejection?
@teenybee dont quote me but my brother attends Columbia and if you have a gap year I believe you can only apply to GS. I would call them and figure it out on Monday
@kavan716 That’s really tough because I only have 2 weeks to respond to them… Since your brother is at Columbia (which is awesome, by the way), may I ask how integrated they are into the University as a whole? Columbia says GS is fully integrated into the rest of the university system, but I’ve heard students say that GS students don’t get to take the same Core classes (other courses they do share with other students) and they’re constantly humiliated when they can’t get into certain Columbia buildings (dorms especially, I think) without Columbia College students having to let them in. This was a few years back, so I don’t know if this is still the case. They also don’t receive the same diploma (theirs is in English instead of Latin, so that it is instantly recognizable that they didn’t go to the College). I know this is not a GS thread, but I’m really curious since I feel like Columbia College is more of a right fit for me… My gap was due to my multicultural and unique academic background, and I’m not necessarily nontraditional since I’ve only ever been a student… Any thoughts?
@teenybee Did you get into Columbia GS yet? I don’t think GS is really the same as the traditional Columbia. GS is mostly for non traditional students who want to take classes and get the Ivy League experience. My brother is traditional in his junior year, and he has told me that GS has a higher acceptance rate as well. GS is definitely different to the normal Columbia but it all depends on what you want to do.
@kavan716 Hi there, I haven’t! But they sent me an email three days ago and said they could forward my materials to GS since I qualify for it and that I had to let them know in two weeks if I wanted to withdraw my Columbia College application and apply to GS instead. They also said though that they could consider my CC application as well if I didn’t want to apply to GS. And yeah, I agree that GS is different from the College regardless of how Columbia tries to advertise it. When I was in touch with some of the GS students, they were kinda upset that their school was not as integrated into the university system as they had initially thought… I’m not sure what to do about it but I’ll think on it. Thank you for your input!
@teenybee If I were you, I would go for it and see what result you get. Even though it is GS, it is still a great program at one of the best schools in the world. Good luck!
@teenybee it’s worth noting that GS is known for bad financial aid, while Columbia College meets 100% of the financial need. As far as I’m concerned there’s not much difference between those two, you take the same classes etc. GS has slightly higher acceptance rates too. Since I need a good financial aid to attend college, I applied for transfer to Columbia College and to Barnard. My boyfriend however applied to GS because he had a gap year.
