Columbia College vs. School of General Studies

<p>Sorry, I’m too busy getting an Ivy League education to quibble with you about this.</p>

<p>Side note, Columbia did not report SEAS enrollment/admission rates to USNEWS for almost 80 years (estimation). It wasn’t until relatively recently that they started doing so. I certainly cannot begin to elucidate the opaque machinations of the Columbia brass on a college message board. Sorry.</p>

<p>tsar, thanks for the info</p>

<p>my guess is that “Columbia University” would fall to about #18 in the USNWR ranking of undergraduate research universities if the stats for its GS students would be included.</p>

<p>Well, considering that GS has an acceptance rate (23%) that is equal to Northwestern (The 12th ranked University in nation), I highly doubt that your paltry estimation would hold up. I’ll just chalk your proverbial “hating on” Columbia GS as nothing more than jealousy. Thanks for playing though, good luck next time.</p>

<p>Instead of your pointless abstractions, I’ll just provide FACTS (whoa, facts, what a notion)</p>

<p>Columbia GS acceptance rate (23%): [College</a> Search - Columbia University: School of General Studies - GS - Admission](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>

<p>Northwestern acceptance rate (23%): [College</a> Search - Northwestern University - NU - Admission](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>

<p>ahhh, but tsar, it is more than just acceptance rate, isn’t it?</p>

<p>it is also SAT scores and percent of class in top ten percent</p>

<p>my guess is that Columbia’s GS incoming students would look like the following:</p>

<p>Acceptance Rate = 23%</p>

<p>SAT

  • Math (25/75) = 580/650
  • Critical Reading (25/75) = 600/670</p>

<p>Amount of students in top ten percent = 60%</p>

<p>How do you think that the real “Columbia University’s” stats would look like if the GS student stats would be added to the Columbia College and School of Engineering student stats?</p>

<p>Who cares? What are you trying to accomplish with this dialectical interplay? Again, you dealing wih abstractions as you are merely guessing these SATs scores - pulling them out of thin air. Unless you can show me actual SAT scores, your arguements remain grounded in inuendo. </p>

<p>Whatever the scores might be, however, Columbia GS students perform as well as their CC counterparts. </p>

<p>Here is a link to a q&a wih our dean, whereby he clearly etches out what GS is and its addmissions process.<br>
[From</a> the Issue: Who Are These Kids? – Bwog](<a href=“http://bwog.com/2011/04/25/from-the-issue-who-are-these-kids/]From”>From the Issue: Who Are These Kids? - Bwog)</p>

<p>And whatever rubric the GS admissions committee uses in screening potential students seems to be working as GS students, collectively, have highest overall gpa.</p>

<p>I will provide the link to this statistic when I get to a comp. as I’m writing this on my phone.</p>

<p>If your going to spew nonsense, try to sprinkle in some actual facts. I have provided links to real and tangible information. You have not made any concrete claims.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>the actual facts are that if the Columbia GS student stats were included in the “Columbia University” undergraduate student stats for USNWR, then “Columbia University” would be ranked closer to 15th (together with Brown and Cornell) than the current 4th…</p>

<p>I actually agree with that in a way. But what do these rankings really mean? They are really quite arbitrary. I originally went to UC Berkeley (had to leave for personal reasons) and, at least academically, the differences between the two are minimal. And if I recall correctly, UC Berkeley is ranked in 20s. </p>

<p>Actually, Cal outranks most schools in a set of rankings that do matter: the ranking of academic departments: [NRC</a> Rankings in Each of 41 Areas](<a href=“NRC Rankings in Each of 41 Areas”>NRC Rankings in Each of 41 Areas)</p>

<p>And here is the quote and link to GS gpa thing I said I would provide:</p>

<p>“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>[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.wikicu.com/School_of_General_Studies]School”&gt;School of General Studies - WikiCU, the Columbia University wiki encyclopedia]School</a> of General Studies - WikiCU, the Columbia University wiki encyclopedia<a href=“under%20the%20background%20section”>/url</a></p>

<p>Dear OP,</p>

<p>You seem extremely impassioned by your concerns, and not only on this thread, but other Columbia threads, too. </p>

<p>Given the sheer number of your posts, presumably you have raised your concerns with both Columbia (including its Admission Office, the university president, and its board) and USNWR. It would be extremely interesting to know how your discussions regarding the issues you raise have been going with those bodies. If you haven’t contacted these entities with your concerns, why not? Surely attempting to truly rectify these matters with the bodies in a position to do so would be a far more productive - and effective - use of your time.</p>

<p>Have you commenced discussions about the matters you raise with Columbia and USNWR? Why do they have to say about your concerns?</p>

<p>I wonder why you think my SAT scores and high school rankings from a decade ago matter at all. Do you think they reflect anything meaningful about the school? Perhaps you’d like to compare salary? That might be a more interesting measure of GS’ exclusivity than high school class ranking, considering the average age of GS students is 27 or 29 (I’ve heard both from official sources recently).</p>

<p>I would be delighted to read a response by USNWR and/or the CU admins to hear why. I’m guessing in general it’s because GS isn’t comparable to almost any other program out there, so it’s a nonsensical comparison.</p>

<p>jamiebrown you suck.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>and this is an example of exactly why Columbia GS students are looked down upon by the rest of the Ivy League, including Columbia College students</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>you do understand, don’t you, that the GPA while in college is not the GPA that is looked at when ranking colleges in USNWR, don’t you?..it is the GPA in terms of top ten pecent in the high school class that is used…</p>

<p>Jamiebrown either has a small pee-pee or he is 16…
Jamiebrown, us adults in the real world, with real problems such as bills and time management in our hectic lives, do not concern ourselves with petty squabbles over university rankings; that is so…highschool. For us, it is enough to go to a prestigious university where, any way you cut it, we are receiving a top-notch education. If your contention is that we will be any less successful than our traditional ivy-league peers, may I just say that you completely delusional. If that is not your argument, then honestly I don’t even know what you’re talking about. So in conclusion, you are either a highschool kid with a black-and-white view of the world, due for a rude awakening, or likely a GS rejectee who goes to an inferior school and is full of angst.</p>

<p>Also, the reason you are getting antagonism is because by coming on a message board to ask a question as oblivious as the one you asked leads people to believe that you’re either hopelessly dense (as the signs are all around about your question, lol), or a ■■■■■. Surely you aren’t an ivy-league student, lest you would have read the signs or done research? It’s like going on a health board and saying, “So what’s up with those vegetable things, anyway?”</p>

<p>“you do understand, don’t you, that the GPA while in college is not the GPA that is looked at when ranking colleges in USNWR, don’t you?..it is the GPA in terms of top ten pecent in the high school class that is used…”</p>

<p>You might want to brush up on your reading comprehension skills, as the point of the quote I provided was clearly evident. But, seeing that your reading comprehension skills are, for a lack of a better term, lacking, I will further qualify the quote I provided. </p>

<p>The GS admissions committee employs an admissions methodology that is unlike the other undergraduate colleges at CU because GS students are usually older and quite distinct. But, once on campus, and mixed in with every other student here, they perform at a high level. So, my point is, WHO CARES ABOUT USNEWS RANKINGS AND STATS WHEN GS STUDENTS HAVE THE OVERALL HIGHEST GPA WHEN THEY ARE ENROLLED HERE? I think how one performs in an IVY LEAGUE UNIVERSITY is more important than how one performs in HIGH SCHOOL. </p>

<p>Forget the USNEWS rankings, they are arbitrary indicators. </p>

<p>The notion that GS students do not deserve a seat at the proverbial “lunch table” at Columbia University is ridiculous given the fact that GS students have the HIGHEST OVERALL GPA WHILE ENROLLED AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.</p>

<p>“GS students, who comprise of approximately 25% of all Columbia undergraduates, have the highest average GPA of all the undergraduate schools at Columbia.” (per wikicu, Columbia’s ostensible encyclopedia: [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>Your claim that GS is “looked down” upon by other IVY’s (not sure how you accrued this data, but I’m sure you pulled it out of think air, much like the rest of your nonsensical claims), is bogus given the fact that GS students, collectively, are the BEST STUDENTS at COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>sorry, but GS Students are looked down upon even at its own university as the Columbia College and the Fu Engineering school students do not feel that the GS students are nearly at the same level as students from those two schools.</p>

<p>so why does the Columbia GS have a different student/faculty ratio than what “Columbia University” claims for its undergraduate school?</p>

<p>Student/faculty ratio
6:1 - from USNWR for “Columbia University”
8:1 - from the GS website for GS school</p>

<p>don’t the GS students take the same classes with the same professors as the Columbia College and Fu students?</p>

<p>what is wrong with this picture?</p>

<p>from the GS website:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>so how in the world can you take the same courses, with the same professors and yet have a different student/faculty ratio?</p>

<p>“sorry, but GS Students are looked down upon even at its own university as the Columbia College and the Fu Engineering school students do not feel that the GS students are nearly at the same level as students from those two schools.”</p>

<p>Where is your evidence of this? Have you polled CC and SEAS students? If so, what was your sample size? (You see where I’m getting at?) You have no proof, no information to base this on, and are, quite frankly, spewing this garbage without any undergirding facts.</p>

<p>Again, this is another piece of information culled from the recesses of your imagination. Given this quote, and the “intellectual prowess” who have demonstrated during this “back-and-forth,” I think it is safe to assume that you have never stepped foot on an Ivy League campus. </p>

<p>Now, let me get to the meat of your statement and diminish it (WITH FACTS) like I have done with all of your ridiculous points thus far. It is illogical to ASSUME that CC and SEAS look down upon GS students when GS students perform better academically. The only thing a CC or SEAS person might say to a GS student (even though this would never happen, as there is no animosity whatsoever between GS, CC, and SEAS, but more on that later) is: “Yeah, but I did better in high school.” The reality is, once high school is over and everyone is amalgamated within the university at large, all that matters is success while attending the university. GS students have the highest overall GPA, and thus, it makes zero sense that they should be looked down upon. </p>

<p>Additionally, as a GS student at Columbia University, I sense zero animosity. I have friends from all three undergraduate schools and nobody cares which one you attend. I am a member of, and have a leadership role in a fraternity (that is mostly comprised of CC students). A friend of mine in GS is a member of the Philolexian Society which is a prestigious club and: “one of the oldest collegiate literary societies in the United States, and the oldest student group at Columbia.” </p>

<p>What are you hopelessly trying to get out of this debate? Do you like being intellectually thrashed? Or were you rejected by GS (like someone else on this message board) and are now on a decidedly bitter war path? Whatever your childish motivations might be, the fact remains, that GS students PERFORM BETTER ACADEMICALLY THAN ALL OTHER UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.</p>

<p>As for the faculty:student ratio disparities, your going to have to take it up with the school, as I have no idea. Columbia GS, as evidenced by your perpetual failure and desperation, seems to induce some kind of anger within you. I’m not sure why though.</p>