Columbia General Studies??

<p>What is Columbia General Studies school all about. It strikes me as being different from regular Columbia where most students apply for admissions, am I wrong? Whats the difference?</p>

<p>it's a school for people who have worked / done something else after high school like joined the army and now want to get a bachelor's degree. After a gap year you can still apply to cc/seas.</p>

<p>so why the need to seperate it from columbia college?
whats the difference between the two if you're pursuing a bachelors degree</p>

<p>What's Columbia General Studies? Has it been discussed before on this board? Is it really part of Columbia or just some third tier extension school for seniors?</p>

<p>"so why the need to seperate it from columbia college?
whats the difference between the two if you're pursuing a bachelors degree"</p>

<p>different admissions focus, it's difficult to compare someone with little academic and a lot of life experiences to high school students, some of them are also really old like 35-40, and so it wouldn't be feasible to put them in columbia undergrad housing.</p>

<p>i don't know. if gs looked at my podunk high school stats, i probably wouldn't have gotten in. but they focused on what i did after high school (including rarely attending high school) along with a couple of short-term professional things in an area i wanted to study at the school. turn that into an essay and i'm about to graduate in the top 10% of my class with numerous distinctions and think i, at least toward the end, really felt a sense of giving back to the university as not just another student going through the degree program.</p>

<p>i'll never know for sure, but i doubt i would've gotten in as a transfer through columbia college. a total crapshoot, sure, but i think traditional admissions are fairly screwed up to begin with.</p>

<p>WS, what's the ballpark for being in the top 10% of GS class? 3.8?</p>

<p>high 3.8 to low 3.9, i would guess.</p>

<p>WINDOWSHOPPING..i have a question, what was your high school GPA.</p>

<p>
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some of them are also really old like 35-40

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Seriously? Seriously?! You think 35-40 is really old? What is 25... middle aged?</p>

<p>I just had to express how mystifying I found that statement. Carry on.</p>

<p>Oh for god's sake. No one was making a statement on age and social worth here.:rolleyes:</p>

<p>While socially it falls in the middle age category, 35-40 *is *really old for an undergraduate degree. It's a perfectly accurate statement considering Columbia undergrads are usually in the 18-22 range. The two age groups don't exactly match as roommates in Carman now do they?</p>

<p>Talk about making mountains out of molehills.</p>

<p>From CollegeBoard
Acceptance & Retention
* Percent applicants admitted: 36%
Transfer Students
* Total number of transfer students who applied: 667
* Total number of transfer students who were admitted: 266</p>

<p>CC told me that transfer candidates for CC have attended high school and then entered college with no more than one year’s interruption at any point.
I spent like 1.5 year playing around in Europe, so my application was transferred to GS instead. It might be the best thing that ever happened to me since GS's acceptance rate is really high compared to other Ivies or top universities.</p>

<p>maybe. wait till you get your financial aid. i probably could have got into cc, but had time away for the military and applied to gs. therefore they wanted me to pay 36 grand a year while cc students in my shoes (minus serving their country) are getting a free ride.</p>

<p>Well, I haven't applied for FA, but examining your other posts, I am starting to regret turning down other Ivies :(
At least I have many friends at CC and in Manhattan and do not want to live in a dorm, so I suppose GS is suitable for me after all...</p>

<p>well...just curious, can highschool students apply this school??</p>

<p>The Columbia GS school is an opportunity for anyone to take classes at Columbia, but not as a matriculating student (i.e. you are not a degree candidate). If you do so you were not granted admission to the university, you a just taking a class for credit (and paying Columbia's lovely per credit price to do so). A lot of schools offer this option because it brings in money and also provides a nice opportunity for the community to access learning there.</p>

<p>Taking a challenging course as a Columbia GS student and doing well would of course be an impressive thing to have down on a college app. It shows that you are able to perform in a most competitive college classroom.</p>

<p>Yes, high school students can apply. The criteria for admission would just be an assessment that you can probably handle it. Once you start a college transcript (and even one class, anywhere, begins the process) the grade is with you forever.</p>

<p>spidey I am sure you are "lovey" girl. but you may also be an idiot. Many students come here for genuine help. If you dont know what you are talking about please dont post. please.</p>

<p>also for anyone looking for info on GS, just go to the Columbia GS website and check the forums here.</p>

<p>Spideygirl</p>

<p>apm516 is right don't post if you haven't done your research. GS is a degree granting undergraduate school of Columbia University. It is not an extension school or a adult education school, although there is such a program within Columbia - the School of Continuing Education. Simply put, GS is for those students who for numerous reasons decided to not go to college directly from high school. In my case, i opened three companies and became a managing director of an investment firm. During this week's orientation, i met a professional ballet dancer who was offered a contract at eighteen and had to decide between Columbia, which she was accepted and the contract - she choose the later. I also met someone who built a dot.com company and sold it. </p>

<p>Although, i am sure most of the CC kids (which is what they are) are great and gifted-minded kids and will potentially do great things after college, the truth is most of those incoming GSers have already done so and are now much more focused on getting an education that they may have put on hold.</p>

<p>I can second bqad13's sentiment. </p>

<p>I was a licensed stock broker for before I was legal to drink alcohol. I built a practice at a major investment firm and then decided to return to college. At orientation I sat next to a professional baseball player, marine combat photographer, and some others with very interesting stories. </p>

<p>I think the small percentage of GS students adds a unique dynamic to the student body. Combining the more experienced GS students and super-intelligent CC students should make the classroom an interesting place.</p>