Difference between Columbia College and the College of General Studies

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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<p>ictanti - it's anecdotal, but in my lit hum class, there was one GS student who started with us second semester, who was clearly not going to fit the classroom culture. He was asking dumb questions, taking up lots of time, didn't really listen too well - and Lydia Goehr, my instructor (and a philosophy professor) basically kicked him out of the section. I'm sure she did so politely - by suggesting alternatives that might suit him better, or some other packaging - but she definitely gave him about 3 classes' worth of trial period and then gave him the boot. I find it hard to believe such a thing would happen with a CC or SEAS student.</p>

<p>-Steve</p>

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<p>Steve,</p>

<p>You are starting to make me think you are one of those people that believes the cc students are far more capable than the GS students...</p>

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<p>Sweet - yes and no. I'm a fairly judgmental person, I don't dispute that. But GS people tend to divide into two categories:</p>

<p>(1) The people who are roughly college aged, such as yourself, who have had a nontraditional background and may have other circumstances that make a school that is essentially a Continuing Ed program a good fit for logistical reasons.</p>

<p>(2) The "adults", generally in their 30s, 40s or later, who are returning to school later in life, either out of a lately-discovered thirst for education or a need for a bachelor's degree to move up in their chosen field.</p>

<p>Kids I've met in category #1 are, on average, every bit as talented and dedicated as the CC/SEAS kids i know. I've got at least two good friends from GS who fit that description. They play ultimate frisbee with us, we go to games at yankee stadium together, they're normal college kids (with a few extra administrative hurdles thrown in their way). </p>

<p>I can't say the same about the people in, say, my lecture classes who fall into category #2. I don't think it's a terrible thing to say to note that, frankly, the ones i've seen just don't pick up Discrete Math or Data Structures as quick as the SEAS compsci students. That doesn't make them bad people, it just occasionally makes classes a little more frustrating - piled on top of the fact that I can't really relate to them as classmates.</p>

<p>It sounds like you're in the first category, so I wouldn't worry about discrimination. Trust me when I say that the SEAS engineers suffer much worse discrimination when trying to meet girls at parties. :)</p>

<p>-Steve</p>

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<p>Ok we will do a trade. I will introduce them to cute girls and in return they won't alienate me. ;)</p>

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<p>thanks for all your help guys. I see that this thread has gone in a totally other direction than I would have expected. I fit in the description of a student in CC since I am going to be a high school senior and I have not had any of the hurdels that would quality me for GS.</p>

26

<p>I really need to talk to anyone who is knowledgeable about GS. Please PM me if you would be willing to take the time to talk to me.</p>

27

<p>Hey dudes and dudettes, I'm the 19 (but now 21) year old GS student Denzera has referenced in this thread. I should have some time after I get back later tonight to respond to some of your questions.</p>

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<p>Denzera,</p>

<p>By same professors I meant the professors for Lit Hum (and all other classes for that matter) are pulled from the same pool of professors. Thus, one professor might teach a GS section of University Writing one semester and a CC section of University Writing another year. GS does not have its own professors. That's all I meant.</p>

<p>Oh, and yeah, I forgot University Writing. GS has its own section.</p>

29

<p>ictanti - oh, ok. you're right, then, of course.</p>

30

<p>It's amazing to me that students in an academic institution would foster so much "ageism" and generalized thought devoid of any critical thinking. To place students into two buckets of "young and smart" and "old and dumb" is an embarrassment to the standards we're all accepted into as an undergrads.</p>

<p>I, myself, am a 31 year old General Studies student. I have two years to go to finish my degree after leaving school, directing a feature film, making six figures in advertising, and finally deciding to finish the one thing in my life that I hadn't followed through on.</p>

<p>Whether you're CC or GS, you're still paying a lot of money to go to school. Diversity should be welcomed, and while I do think I contribute a lot to a classroom discussion AND feel like I belong, I would certainly hope to not run into the likes of the students posting on here who seem to be a bit too closed-minded.</p>

<p>Being someone who has been both an employer and an employee at several Fortune 100 companies, I can tell you this--there is and always will be someone who just doesn't quite "get it" in the room. Not just in class, but in a conference meeting or a boardroom on Madison Avenue your investor, boss, intern, or high paying client may just be as dumbfounded as someone in today’s classroom regardless of age. The responsibility of the us as students is to help those who may need a little more help acclimating to the change of being back in school. Our school was placed 9th this year in the college rankings, and perhaps one might argue that we are only as good as our weakest.</p>

<p>If you see a weak link, don't mock it and break it off, mend it; because at the end of the day, we're all in this together.</p>

<p>College is supposed to prepare us for the real world. You're sadly mistaken to assume that that world is made up of just precocious twenty-somethings.</p>

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<p>I'm done with this thread . Anyone who wants to continue stereotyping my viewpoint instead of looking at the actual words I said is welcome to do so. Anyone who wants to PM me to talk about it more is similarly welcome.</p>

<p>-Steve</p>

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<p>Yeah, we get it. Old people are dumb, young people are smart.</p>

33

<p>In other news, I really like what they've done with the GS Lounge.</p>

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<p>im a 22yr old community college student, and im about to get my A.A. in English soon. I havent really taken time away from school, but i just didnt know what to do with myself or what sort of career goals i wanted. So im wondering if i am suppose to apply for GC or GS as a transfer student?</p>

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<p>if you've got your Associate's, I'm not sure CC/SEAS thinks you fit their profile. You definitely fit GS's profile, might want to write or call CC/SEAS if you're thinking about it</p>

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<p>Columbia College(CC) has traditionally laid down an age limit for freshman/transfer admission that if you had an interruption in your schooling of more than one academic year, you are no longer eligible to apply to CC at all, and thus, School of General Studies(GS) was established to serve students who are not of traditional college age. CC’s tradition has inevitably dichotomized the Columbia University's undergraduate into CC and GS for the sake of convenience. However, GS is quite similar to Yale University’s the Eli Whitney Program and Brown University’s Resumed Undergraduate Education Program, because GS students are fully integrated into the Columbia undergraduate curriculum, and matriculated candidates for the baccalaurated degree. While UPenn’s CGS and Harvard Univesity’s Extension School are night schools, GS is obviously a day school. GS is distinguished from Columbia University's School of Continuing Education. Although GS offers some introductory courses at night for the purpose of serving the need of some GS students, who are unable to attend day courses for professional reasons, it does not make GS into a night school. Similarly, just because students at UPenn’s CGS may be permitted to take courses in the daytime in the special circumstance, in which they were not offered at night, it does not mean that UPenn’s CGS is considered a day school. Unlike Upenn’s CGS, GS students share the same courses and the same faculty members with CC students, and earn the same degree as CC students. GS students are different from CC students only in that they may elect to carry a reduced course load instead of the full load required of CC students. Otherwise, all CC courses are available to GS students, and once admitted they follow the regular registration procedure of Columbia College. </p>

<p>*Yellow_hair *, your English seems very clumsy. Is English your native language? I don’t want to say this, but your command of English has not yet reached the level of Ivy League students. Anyway, I read all your postings in the College Discussion, and I noticed that you had been trying everything to degrade the reputation of Columbia University’s School of General Studies(GS) to the level of night school, such as Harvard Extension School and University of Pennsylvania’s College of General Studies(CGS). I know that you had never been enrolled at Columbia University at all, because you don’t seem to know anything about internal affairs in Columbia University. I suggest that you’d better stop misinforming about GS, because you are purposely violating the defamation law by misinforming others to destroy the reputation of GS. If you keep on doing this, I will have to notify Columbia University’s the board of trustees, so as to legally file a complaint against you. This is a final notice. If you were aleady rejected by GS at your age(29?), I guess you have lost your final chance to obtain a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, so I wish you good "night" at Harvard or Upenn.</p>

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<p>GS degree is not same as CC/SEAS degree. GS courses, which start with letter 'G', are offered at night. Inside CC/SEAS dorm, where GS students are not allowed to enter without permission of CC/SEAS people, students freely joke about GS students in their classes and sometimes feel sorry about GS students who 'think' that GS is same as CC/SEAS. Many are complaing that GS people are brining down the reputation of Columbia undergraduate program.</p>

<p>Many GS students themselves are NOT proud of being GS students and often omit the word 'General Studies' from their resume and biographic statement. Whereas, CC/SEAS students proudly and clearly indicate 'Columbia College' or 'School of Engineering' </p>

<p>There are many GS students who are trying to degrade the reputation of CC/SEAS by saying that GS is same as CC/SEAS. Most CC/SEAS students are very unhappy about this.</p>

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<p>Hi yellow_hair,</p>

<p>No we're not. GS adds something of value to the columbia community - a reality check, in the most frequent case. I might complain about a trend of GS students being "that guy" in class who acts selfishly or fails to engage with the rest of the class, but really, by and large I have no major complaints about GS students. Your characterization that "Most CC/SEAS students are very unhappy about this" is based on, frankly, jack schitt.</p>

<p>Oh, and Joe_College:

[quote]
I suggest that you’d better stop misinforming about GS, because you are purposely violating the defamation law by misinforming others to destroy the reputation of GS. If you keep on doing this, I will have to notify Columbia University’s the board of trustees, so as to legally file a complaint against you. This is a final notice.

[/quote]

You know, you had me listening quite attentively to the very salient points made in your post, up until here where you became a raving maniac. I happen to know administrators at columbia who follow this board, and have occasionally wished that, say, parents didn't badmouth this or that department. I think they've got it quite under control.</p>

<p>Yikes.</p>

39

<p>Yellow Hair, do you go to Columbia? I'm just wondering because you are grossly informed not only about how GS is perceived on campus, but about something so simple as the Directory of Classes.</p>

<p>GS classes do not have a 'G' prefix - they have an 'F' prefix. Graduate courses have a 'G' prefix. Barnard courses have a 'BC' prefix and all other courses have a 'V', 'W' or 'C' prefix. By the way, all of the 'F' courses are not offered at night. GS is not a night school - there is no way to graduate from GS by only taking night courses. In fact, I would guess that most GS students are not taking courses that begin with an 'F' prefix because the majority of courses begin with a 'V', 'W' or 'C'.</p>

<p>You’re right about the GS degree being different than the CC degree. But, it’s not different in character academically. That is, GS students are able to pursue the same exact curriculum as CC/SEAS students – GS students are even able to take the same core classes as CC students (the GS section of Lit Hum, this year, is taught by the same professor who’s also teaching a freshman section this semester). So, really, the GS degree is only different in that it’s not printed in Latin and has ‘The School of General Studies’ printed on it.</p>

<p>CC/SEAS students do not go around “freely joking” about GS students, at least in my experience. People do not have time for such ridiculous behavior. Also, I might note that GS students, on average, have higher GPAs than CC students. So, I wouldn’t, if I were you, continue to perpetuate the myth that GS students are, in some way, intellectually inferior to CC students. And, in my experience, GS students are not ashamed to be so or try to hide it. Why would one apply to a school he/she was ashamed to be part of?</p>

<p>There are many reasons why GS is the same as CC. First, and most importantly,we’re all taught by the same professors, take the same classes (minus University Writing - GS students may petition the core office to take CC sections of Lit Hum and CC, and, according to my advisor, no GS student has ever been turned down, so long as space was available), and have to endure the same rigorous course load as everyone else. We eat at the same on-campus locations, hang out in Lerner Hall, and study in the same libraries. GS students are not trying to degrade the reputation of CC by claiming we’re similar or the same. That’s fallacious.</p>

40

<p>
[quote]
I suggest that you’d better stop misinforming about GS, because you are purposely violating the defamation law by misinforming others to destroy the reputation of GS. If you keep on doing this, I will have to notify Columbia University’s the board of trustees, so as to legally file a complaint against you. This is a final notice.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Exactly how has Columbia suffered any harm?</p>

<p>And do you really think the trustees give two sh**s that you "will have to notify" them? </p>

<p>And what's it mean to "legally file a complaint"? Is that different than illegally filing a complaint?</p>