<p>So I just transferred to Columbia from a state school and my GPA took a pretty big hit. I was floating around the 3.9 range at my old school but this past semester I got a 3.6. I don't know what to make of it. Is this a "good" GPA by Columbia's standards? What is the average for undergrads and would this qualify for Honors?</p>
<p>Also, what does everyone think about the large lecture classes at Columbia? I'm having a hard time meeting professors and getting recommendations because all of my classes are huge. Any recommendations so I can get more out of the experience?</p>
<p>1) are you a sophomore? what is your major?
2) 3.6 is a solid gpa, not quite latin honors, but over dean’s list. and as you get more comfortable you’ll do better. bad gpas really don’t exist until you go south of 3.0.
3) “yeah, this is like a really good school”
4) one semester is not quite enough to start getting strong recs. but have you gone to office hours? that’s where i found it was easier to shine. but there are some profs at columbia that are more ogre-ish. and profs like folks that go in after the class is over to talk about things and do not just sit around asking for recs.</p>
<p>thanks for the reply. I’m a junior year transfer (which is supposedly pretty tough, i know) and i’m studying poli sci. I just can’t believe how many of my classes are lectures. And when I want to go to my professors, they recommend speaking with the TAs instead! Can you recommend some classes I should look into in the poli sci dept? thx</p>
<p>1) andrew nathan, he’ll take time out to speak with you. i liked andrew gellman a lot. robert jervis was a large lecture professor, but we spent a few hours chatting during office hourse. great guy. jack snyder i hear good things about. and there are about 4 big lecture classes. after that life gets better. what is your subspeciality? any research interests?
2) TAs are your friends, get tight with them, they’ll help you in speaking with professors. most of the grad students were selected by professors directly, they know those folks, and like them.</p>
<p>oh and nadia urbinatti, never had a class with her, but she is great for theory. and i know ira katznelson from non-class stuff, he is someone worth getting to know. very busy, so you wont spend a lot of time talking, but a brilliant guy and approachable.</p>
<p>3.6 is good, probably in the top 30% for Columbia College.</p>
<p>When your professors encourage you to speak to the TAs first, it’s usually a way to weed-out administrative/obvious questions (Can you send me the notes for a class that I missed) rather than discouraging academic questions. Professors are more than happy to spend time on things like guiding you on a final paper.</p>
<p>If you don’t like lectures, take a seminar. I’m looking at two this semester and both have under 15 people with participation counting for 20-25% of your grade. The prof today told us off for raising our hands when we wanted to speak as if we were still in a 150+ student lecture class.</p>
<p>Japanese Politics by Gerald Curtis is amazing. I hadn’t taken a comparative class since high school and I had absolutely no knowledge about Japan. The first day of class was literally a foreign language, since maybe 2/3 of the class are native Japanese and there were a lot of Japanese phrases that I did not understand. I didn’t even know that there was an election in Japan, much less the candidates and the parties but the class is designed so that anyone can pickup the language and do well. Half of the class is SIPA but don’t be scared, Curtis handpicks his TAs for the undergrads and is very approachable during his office hours. Curtis made sure to make time for questions during class, an amazing opportunity considering that he’s one of the leading experts on Japan.</p>
<p>American Foreign Policy with Cronin was a good class, even though it was a lecture. Again, the TA made a huge difference.</p>
<p>I’m actually in Nathan’s class this semester. Good impression so far although attendance will probably drop once the kids who are taking it for the grade/requirement realize that they will never ever have to attend class to do well.</p>
<p>If you’re in CC or Lit Hum, you might consider asking your professors for recs.</p>
<p>wow thanks all for the help. i enrolled in a seminar yesterday so that’s making me feel better but the reading is insane, like a book a wk. also, i took 20 credits my first semester (6 classes) and think now I might want to take like 4 (lit hum, greek lang, seminar, art hum + 1 PE credit). that totals 16 credits. does it look like i’m a slacker if i drop from 6 to 4 classes? or is it more important for me to get as many A’s as I can? i’m a pre-prof student by the way. thx</p>
<p>no it doesn’t look like you are a slacker. though the avg. cc student takes 5.
so in two semesters you’re right on schedule as most students.</p>
<p>i think it is most important to learn as much as you can and figure out what you want to do in life.</p>
<p>deep breath bud, but your life wont end if you don’t get in to the best law school. it will lose meaning if you don’t use this time to expand yourself intellectually. that is the beauty of columbia.</p>
<p>and a book a week is pretty standard - maybe on the light side ;)</p>
<p>Also, a 3.6 isn’t all that bad of a GPA for a pre-prof student anyways. Coming from a rigorous university is taken into account, plus your LSAT score is also a major factor in this consideration.</p>
<p>Which seminar? The left vs. right in a globalizing economy only has like 20-30 pages of reading a week so you might consider that if you’re work averse.</p>