Columbia’s transfers are generally to the College of General Studies, which is an entirely different admittance structure from the other two colleges, Columbia College and Columbia SEAS. It is specifically set up for nontraditional students, which is a very cool thing. So it really can’t be compared to regular admission stats for other Ivies (more similar to Harvard Extension, though my impression is more assimilated into regular CU class structure than HE is, though I could be wrong.) CGS also doesn’t offer the same financial aid structure as the two other UG colleges of Columbia. CC and SEAS have very few transfers, as retention is very high.
Offering this information without judgment, but just to clarify this.
There are also specific SGS courses, and any CU undergrad can take them. So the schools sort of mix together. So overall, the curriculum is similar, but the admissions structures are entirely separate. As is FA.
The number of CC transferring to “selective colleges” is small, not the majority. Your question was
as if the students who DO manage to qualify after their community college are so inferior as to provide nothing to the selective college but a headache. Any evidence that transfers from community colleges fail out of elite schools?
You also stated:
You seem to be pivoting around among “good colleges”, “selective colleges”, and “elite colleges”. Or is that only one small set?
Columbia SGS offers majors that are basically the same ones that its College division offers. So a non-traditional (as Columbia defines it) student wanting to major in a SEAS major would apply to SEAS, not SGS, right?
I agree that There are not that many CC transfers to highly selective schools. State schools would be an exception as many do encourage students to go to community college and leave room for such transfers. It takes into account the many students who simply cannot afford to go to sleep away colleges for all 4 years Two years at CC means just two years of Room and board on top of tiiitin fees and expenses.
My father’s plans for me were along those lines. Not a CC technically, but a satellite facility of a major university. He worked for the program so his kids got free tuition. With 4 kids going to college, he figured he could handle 2 years away for each of them if the stayed at home, worked part time for the first two years.
Though it turned out all of us did get enough money to go away to school, it was in part because we were all very top students. Some of us were a hair away from going through the master plan. My father had. We did not qualify for much financial aid, but there was simply not the money for us to go away to school With free tuition , parents were happily able to provide 3 squares and a cot under their roof.
These days, it’s about $18k at some schools to go to sleep away college A lot of free tuition options for state schools, at least in my neck of the woods. An above average student can certainly find them. But s full ride is not easy to get even on the state school level.
I think that the gaps that are left by students leaving 4 year colleges should be filled by those who did well their first year or two doing college level work. For the more selective colleges, it generally takes more than just that.
My neighbor was not a top student in high school. Love art and it was her thing probably to the detriment of academics. Parents not willing to pay what sleep away college costs. She went to a local school for the first two years where she ended up excelling and pretty much running the art department She ran out of art classes and challenges for herself at the school. Clearly outgrew the school. THAT is a student the selective schools love to have transfer. NYU, which is notorious for gapping in financial aid , have her an exceptional sis/merit package as a transfer student after reading her application, LORs and looking at her outstanding portfolio. A mediocre high school grad became a highly desired catch in thisevteo years.
The best way to get to transfer into a selective college is to excel in the college semesters you complete and show that the current school is clearly not going to be able to meet the academic direction and goals for you the way the transfer college would.
Not saying that a non-traditional student can’t apply to Fu, but such an applicant would likely get a letter from admissions to the effect of “You may be a more appropriate candidate for admission to SGS.” There are routes to getting an engineering degree via SGS.
Some colleges also use transfer admissions as a way to bolster enrollment and tuition revenue without watering down the school’s reported SAT/ACT medians, which are based solely on newly enrolled freshmen. Strong academic performance in college-level work, even at a less selective school, is probably a better predictor of academic success than SAT/ACT scores anyway.