<p>How reputable is Columbia’s undergraduate adult program for top Political Science PHD programs?</p>
<p>Columbia does not have an “adult program.” It does, however, have an official undergraduate college for “non-traditional” and/or returning students. Because I am a little tired of presenting the facts about the school, I will just post a few descriptions from Wikicu (Columbia’s ostensible encyclopedia).</p>
<p>Background:
“A Columbia undergraduate class could include students from any of the following schools: GS, Columbia College, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, or Barnard College. GS is unique among colleges of its type, because its students are fully integrated into the Columbia undergraduate curriculum: GS Students take the same classes with the same students and professors and are granted the same degrees as students at Columbia College or SEAS. The school awards both the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. GS students, who comprise of approximately 25% of all Columbia undergraduates, have the highest average GPA of all the undergraduate schools at Columbia.” </p>
<p>Placement:
“More than 70 percent of GS students go on to earn advanced degrees after graduation. Columbia GS students have been admitted to top graduate programs all over the country including law schools at Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, the University of Chicago, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall), Duke, and Cornell. They have also been admitted to medicals schools at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Stanford, UC San Francisco, Yale, Columbia, the University of Chicago, Cornell, and many others. In recent years, GS graduates have been recruited by investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup.”</p>
<p>I personally know people from GS who got into every desirable phd program (in many different fields) in the country (Columbia, Harvard, Stanford and Chicago to name a few). </p>
<p>I have often heard that for the student in question, when interviewed by such programs, their having attended GS was a benefit. </p>
<p>“The School of General Studies, commonly known as General Studies or simply GS, is one of Columbia University’s three official undergraduate colleges. It is a highly selective liberal arts college known for its non-traditional and international students. GS confers the Bachelor of Art and Bachelor of Science degrees in over seventy different majors. GS students take the same courses with the same faculty, are held to the same high standards, and earn the same degree as all other Columbia undergraduates.”</p>
<p>All quotes have been furnished by Wikicu.</p>
<p>[School</a> of General Studies - WikiCU, the Columbia University wiki encyclopedia](<a href=“http://www.wikicu.com/School_of_General_Studies]School”>School of General Studies - WikiCU, the Columbia University wiki encyclopedia)</p>
<p>The short answer is that GS students regularly place in top programs in all sorts of fields, just as traditional Columbia College students do. If you’re up to it, Columbia will help you get there.</p>