Some misinformed applicants and commenters like to point to the acceptance rate of GS and make false conclusions about the School without considering its very small and self-selected applicant pool (well under 2000 applicants for GS while CC/SEAS has well over 30,000).
In reality, the difference in admission standards between CC and GS is negligible; the stats for GS are clearly at the level of other Ivy League/elite colleges in the US.
According to the CollegeBoard database, these are the stats for CC/SEAS and GS.
–CC/SEAS–
CR: 690-780
M: 700-790
WR: 700-780
GPA: 3.90/4.0
–Columbia GS–
CR: 650-760
M: 670-760
WR: 670-760
GPA: 3.89/4.0
–Cornell–
CR: 650-740
M: 680-770
WR: NOT REPORTED
GPA: NOT REPORTED
"Admission to Columbia GS is highly selective and “extremely competitive.” The SAT score range (25th -75th percentiles) for admitted students is 650-760 for Critical Reading, 670-760 for Math, and 670-760 for Writing, comparable to that of Brown and Cornell.”