Hi! D2019 is interested in a bio major (possible future med school) and a comparative religion or Jewish studies minor. Lately she’s become interested in the dual degree programs at Columbia/List or Barnard/List. Anyone have info or experience on this? She is extremely active in Jewish life and watched some videos about List and is really excited about it, and the thought that she could be at an Ivy is very appealing to her. So the questions/concerns are: reading about the dual program, looks like students earn two degrees, and the Columbia degree is simply “general studies.” This is their nontraditional student path and they say the average age of those students is 27. (But the average age of the Columbia/List students is 20.) Will she be taking “real” Columbia classes or are the general studies students in a separate program altogether?
Columbia would be a major stretch for her. Her current stats are 33 ACT (taken as a 10th grader and she is debating retaking to try to hit 35), 4.6 GPA (AP and IB classes), extracurriculars probably pretty standard, like 4 years tennis team, started Interfaith Club on campus, community volunteering, and a lot of Jewish-based leadership and extracurriculars.
So basically I think she has a very good chance at “getting into Columbia” via the List dual degree program BUT is that a type of admission that would meet her goals?
Columbia GS students take the same courses as Columbia College (CC)-- although they would be assigned to different sections for the core. You can see an example here for the Lit/Hum course – http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/subj/HUMA/_Fall2017.html – Humanities CC 1001 is for CC students only - and then if you scroll down the page, you’ll see Humanities GS 1001 – same course, but different sections. But for almost all other courses outside the core, enrollment is open to all schools and there will be a mix of students in classes.
My daughter is a Barnard grad and when she was in school she felt that the smartest students in her classes were the GS students. So nothing wrong with being in the company of those students – and probably a benefit in the core classes. (I think my daughter’s perception of “smarter” was just a function of greater maturity & life experience – she said the GS students caught onto concepts more quickly)
But it’s not clear to me whether List students are required to also take the full Columbia core. If so, that could limit their options as to courses taken, given that they also have to complete all required courses for the List program.
Also, if you would qualify for need based aid, there might be a difference depending on program. See http://www.jtsa.edu/list-college-financial-aid Barnard meets full need of all students, and List/Barnard financial aid is shared – so I assume 100% need. But that could be dependent on number of credit hours at Barnard - see https://barnard.edu/dos/academic-advising/jts
For List/Columbia students, the financial aid comes from List alone, and it is not clear to me whether they promise 100% need. - their web site says " List College meets up to 100 percent of demonstrated need for all students who are eligible". (“up to” isn’t the same as “always”)
I don’t know the ins and outs of the dual programs, but I think that your daughter might find Barnard to be the more supportive environment overall. Barnard students have strong relationships with their faculty and administration. Columbia, not so much.
