<p>Hey,
thanks for the advice. What country are you from BTW?
I do not know; the adm office told me my college GPA IS within the range of successful applicants. But on this forum I got the idea that 3.7 is the bare minimum:( I am REALLY confused.</p>
<p>Well
Have no worries then goharik19
You will get accepted if they think you are worthy.
So all done with your application ?</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>No, I am not yet all done; I still have to finish my autobiographical letter. BTW, CAN anyone have a look at it, PLEAASE???I do need some feedback about itâŠ</p>
<p>This might be only tangentially related, but I quit high school halfway through junior year, took the CHSPE (Californiaâs version of the GED), spent a year and a half in Austria and Germany studying music and piano at a special pre-college program, and just received a likely letter from Columbia COLLEGE. Just saying that itâs totally possible to get into CC without having gone through a traditional high-school education.</p>
<p>Pm me Iâll check it out</p>
<p>David,</p>
<p>First, congratulations on your letter.</p>
<p>Iâm curious as to why you applied to Columbia College vs General Studies? Also, when you submitted your application, did you have to submit any sort of grades or test scores (other than CHSPE)? </p>
<p>Hearing your story makes me begin to question whether or not I was wrong in my assumption that GS and Columbia as a whole arenât really looking for âtrueâ non-traditional students.</p>
<p>^ Thanks. 
Well, the main reason was that I wanted to apply to the Columbia-Juilliard Exchange, which if Iâm not mistaken is only available to CC students. Also, until I left high school, my experiences were quite similar to âregularâ high school studentsâ, and I also did rather well in school, so I figured it was worth giving CC a shot. Yes, I did have to submit my high school grades up to the point I left, and also the normal SAT/SAT II stuff required.</p>
<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>my rec letters will be ailed out soon, but I do need to know this: I finished high school in 2006. I am a senior at a college now. I do not know if it is better to have ONE recommendation letter from a teacher and the other ONE from alecturer. Or should I have both from Lecturers, since they have been acquainted with my more recent work???</p>
<p>And, I was told at the post office that mail gets to the USA within ONE month. It is tooooolate for me. the adm office tells they can email the letters as well. Do you guys think emailing is REALLY ok??</p>
<p>Thanks soooooo much!</p>
<p>I look forward to hearing from you!</p>
<p>E-mailing is perfectly Okay And you need TWO recommendation letters according to the official site
I think you would need your teacher and Lecturerâs email addresses for sending online recommendations.
Or you can discuss with your admissions officer about sending those online
Non-traditional students-- Non-traditional ways of application :)</p>
<p>Hi Imfrickenfoofy,
It seems that Columbia GS is becoming more like Columbia College. When I applied for admisssion in 2006, I asked the admissions office about the GPA criteria. They told me that is was a 3.0 GPA, which I thought was inacurate. I had a 3.52 GPA when I applied with 57 credits, 12-Aâs, 6-Bâs, and 1-D. The âDâ alone keeps my GPA from ever reaching a 3.7+ GPA. When I got my rejection notice, I was upset that I wasnât given provisional status, which would have given me an opportunity to enroll in a few classes for one semester to see if I had the academic ability to thrive in Columbia challenging academic environment. When I called the admissions office to know the reasons behind their decision, I was told that despite having an excellent essay and recomendations from my professors, the admissions officer told me that I had too many âBâsâ on my academic transcript, as well as that âDâ grade that I got. Of the 6 âBâsâ that I received, four of those grades were âB+â or a 3.5 GPA respectively. He told me that my GSAE scores were in the upper midrange, which meant that I pass the exam. But my scores were not the blowout numbers that they usually expect. Thus, I was denied admission because of my grades and test score, which was pure BS and unfair because I was never given a chance to prove myself through the option of proviosional status. They told me that Columbia GS expect all their candidates to have Straight âAâsâ in all of their classes if they want to be admitted. I donât recall applying to Columbia College.</p>
<p>As for UPenn LPS, they were even worse. I was rejected by them because I had a âDâ on my academic transcript, and that my essays were weak. Since when is telling truth on my application essay consider weak? I was told to not apply there again until I have completed 24 additional credits with straight âAâsâ to rectify the âDâ that I got on my transcript. </p>
<p>The experience that I got from UPenn LPS and Columbia GS caused me to seriously look at Harvardâs Extension School. The requirement is that the potential degree candidate must enroll in 3 academic classes, including a writing class, with a âBâ grade or better to apply for admission to the AIB program. Unlike UPenn LPS or Columbia GS, a student is free to enroll in HES classes before they apply for admission. To me, HES provides a true provisional academic status.</p>
<p>How did you get a D? D would really make your record bad. I mean, if you put in any minimum amount of decent effort, itâs very unlikely that you receive C or below, let alone D. </p>
<p>Also, B+ is like a 3.3, not 3.5. And itâs definitely not unfair to get denied for a D on your transcript, unless you have good explanation for that in your personal statement⊠did you even try to explain (if you have good reason) why you have D in your personal statement? </p>
<p>Also, Harvard Extension is less prestigious than Columbia GS. If you get a degree from Harvard Extension, your diploma and transcript will be show the word, âExtensionâ, while a degree from Columbia GS will look exactly the same as other Columbia diploma and transcriptâŠ</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Nope. GS diploma is completely different from CC diploma. GS diploma is written in ENGLISH and it says School of General Studies. Columbia College diploma is in LATIN and it says Columbia College. GS grads also get English degree B.A. Columbia College grads get Latin Degree A.B. </p>
<p>GS transcript says School of General Studies. When you apply for grad school, institution code for GS is different from CC. GS and CC are treated as two seperate school by the admission comittees at graduate and professional schools. </p>
<p>Harvard Extension should be as prestigious as GS.</p>
<p>Yaleâs non-traditional program is fully integrated with Yale College, and conferrs Yale College degree.</p>
<p>@collegeboy - As far as I know thereâs no application process for Harvard Extension, which makes it very different than GS. In GS youâre taking classes with CC and Barnard students, at HES they have separate courses for HES students.</p>
<p>You have to take 3 courses and must submit formal application to get admitted to Harvard Extension.</p>
<p>Is that for the degree program? All I could find was the below:</p>
<p>âOur fall, January, and spring courses are open to any student up to the challenge. No application is required.â</p>
<p>[Courses:</a> On Campus and Online: Harvard Extension School](<a href=âhttp://www.extension.harvard.edu/2009-10/courses/]Courses:â>http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2009-10/courses/)</p>
<p>In any case, whether or not the diploma is in English or Latin or Swahili doesnât really make a difference. Yes, it is a different diploma but I really donât understand why people make such a big deal of it.</p>
<p>THe HES courses are open to everyone, but you need to submit application to get admitted to Bachelorâs degree program.</p>
<p>
it is big deal because GS graduation requirement is different from CC requreiment.</p>
<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I read your post and I would like to comment on something. Please however, no one take offense to what Iâm going to sayâŠ</p>
<p>What I really mean, is that even after reading these recent posts, it seems as though there is a disconnect at least, between the idea of LPS and GS and the candidates that are applying on this particular website.</p>
<p>I have yet to hear of anyones non-traditional background information. From what I understand, GS and LPS are designed for non-traditional students. </p>
<p>Now, one may believe that they are non-traditional simply for taking a year, two, or even five years between high school and college. From my perspective, and the information Iâve received, this is not necessarily what these schools consider non-traditional.</p>
<p>An example of non-traditional would be, an olympic swimmer who never had the time to complete high school traditionally, or a military officer who flew fighter jets while serving in the Navy. Another could be a former fire-fighter of 20 years, or a CEO of a successful business he started himself. On the GS website they spotlight a former olympian, commercial pilot, former bankers, CEOS, and professional athletes from the NBA and NFL. These people, who have had serious non-traditional experience out side of the academic world, would probably be considered true non-traditional students by these schools.</p>
<p>Look at the LPS and GS websites, and the stories of students who have been accepted/graduated from these programs. They arenât community college students who simply figured out they wanted to go to school. These are very rare, motivated people who have been successful in some field outside of school. Yes, GS also accepts regular transfer students, upon which the students GRADES are the only aspect of their admissions requirements. However, Iâm hoping (and from what I understand) a true non-traditional student will stand out, upon which their grade requirements from past institutions will be taken into different consideration. </p>
<p>At first, I became concerned because all the students on this page would talk about their grades, and not their life experience. I have read some compelling stories of people who have over come serious obstacles, and in my opinion should definitely get a shot at going to a university such as this. However, Iâm not surprised to find students who worked a regular job, and attained above average academic success, to be rejected. I donât think the program was designed for such people (not to say they shouldnât be given an opportunity, but that that is not LPS or GS goal in finding perspective students). </p>
<p>Overall, I believe anyone capable should be given a shot. However, I donât think these programs were designed in such a way. </p>
<p>I think that a great way to gauge your real potential of being admitted is describing why youâre non traditional, and then following up with your GPA on here. This section of CC is not traditional, so our admittance into these programs should be based on much more than simply grades.</p>
<p>@ collegeboy - Yes, I understand that there are differences in the degree requirement. What I am saying is that I donât understand WHY people are spending so much time pointing out that the diplomas/degree requirements are different. This thread has been going on for years. No one applying to GS thinks they are applying to CC. Many of us have been in the work force or military for a long time. What we have to offer is very different, but no less important or deserving of a top notch education.</p>
<p>and Morrison, I completely agree. Those of you on here trying to distinguish the differneces between CC and GS, please stop, and go to a different forum. All of us on here are aware we arenât applying to CC, and donât need to be reminded. </p>
<p>If youâre trying to rectify your self esteem by attempting to point out that GS is âeasierâ or âdifferentâ, youâre unfortunately in for a rude awakening. College is a very big, nice, and usually expensive tool box. However, you can memorize dates, vocabulary, and information all you want. If you donât have the street smarts to use to the tools properly, you might as well just consider yourself a very fancy, blue toolbox embroided with âColumbia Universityâ on the front.</p>
<p>The most successful people on the planet typically state their education was almost worthless, or in fact, they never received one. </p>
<p>Those of us on here want an education for personal reasons, or to simply improve our earnings power. We have real world experience, common sense. We just want to improve the toolbox we already know how to use.</p>
<p>Redlinekid,</p>
<p>Would you mind describing your non-traditional background? You donât have to get too specific if you donât want to, but I would definitely be interested in hearing.</p>
<p>Also, as the person said, did you have some compelling reason for the Dâs?</p>