I graduated from Columbia GS last Spring with nearly 50k debt and wanted to caution anyone coming here that unless you have a way to come out nearly debt free, or totally debt free, I would highly advise coming here at all. Before coming here, I attended their information session and they really sold me on coming here with “all the connections you’ll make”, “the prestige of attending an Ivy League university”, “studying with world class professors and researchers” and “the future opportunities you’ll have at your disposal”.
Financial aid is a JOKE at Columbia GS! Don’t believe a word of what they tell you. Yes, they are upfront about the expenses, but when it comes to giving you aid, they are VERY stingy!
I was a computer science major and was lucky enough to get a job offer after I graduated, (yes, there are many Columbia students who don’t get jobs after they graduate, or have to go into low paying jobs to pay off their debt). Many of my co-workers, who are also software engineers, don’t have nearly as much debt as I do primarily because they went to state schools or somewhere cheaper. One very smart individual earned their degree through their community college via an extension program from a local 4 year university. No, it’s not prestigious like Columbia, but this individual has almost NO DEBT and makes the SAME salary as I do! Simply put: you don’t need an Ivy League degree.
One thing I failed to realize before I came here was that a university degree is not worth the same thing as it was 30+ years ago. Companies largely don’t care anymore about where you earned your degree or what your GPA was. Sure, you will get more invitations to interview with the Columbia name, but past that, you’re not getting much else. It’s just not worth it in the end.
Also, the stress you’ll encounter here is just not worth it. This place makes every class difficult and everyone here is very stressed and incredibly anxious. Yes, the instructors are good, but the stress will eat at you. Furthermore, if you drop out because you can’t handle the debt load, many of the core classes don’t transfer over to other universities.
I think college is necessary, but going here and paying this outrageous amount of money is simply as waste. This school works hard to draw in students into it’s program (they got caught cheating on the US News university ranking), but the debt is just not worth it.