How feasible is it to graduate in less than 4 years (ideally 3) at Columbia?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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I will be studying cs at SEAS - and am looking to do an ms after graduating (hopefully at Stanford). Graduating early would essentially allow me to come out with both degrees and minimal debt (otherwise I’d have 85k+).

I’ve looked into it, and I need 128 credits to graduate. I’ll start with 16, from AP credit. So 112 needed. I’m also allowed to earn a max of 4 credits from PE classes, bringing me down to 108.

108/6 semester - would be 18 credits/semester which I have heard is doable, only about 2 more than average. And I don’t think it would be much of a problem if I can get the 18 from taking 5 classes (3 for 4 credits + 2 for 3 credits).

Can anyone offer any insight? I know it’s still early, but with something like this, I feel that planning ahead could make a huge difference in the overall feasibility?

*Additional things for me to consider

Obviously, the huge plus of doing something like this is saving a lot of money, and coming out with two degrees definitely seems helpful for career prospects. Not to mention the additional network of getting the ms degree from a different school, as well as the new living experience (which is good to have when you’re young).

Tho, this does come with drawbacks, as well. For one its simply just more work, sure only two credits a semester, but no doubt it will prevent me from doing some of the things that I would’ve done had I stayed for a 4th. It will all depend on how well I can balance both the academics, as well as the social experiences (hanging out with friends, exploring NYC, clubs, activities, etc).

The 18 credits will mean that my summers are still free, for internships and research which is great for grad school admissions of course. But I do have less time to build my resume, get strong lors, high gre, etc than the average masters applicant would - which may ultimately make it harder to get into a Stanford, or Havard. Then again ms express at Columbia does provide a nice back up in case the others don’t work out?

Just some of the things I thought would be important for me to consider - I would love to here other people’s thoughts?

Thanks for reading!

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A. Life is not a race.

B. I graduated a year early from MIT. I would have MUCH preferred to stay four years, but life circumstances and finances made that impossible; it was three years or nothing. But being the only option does not make it a good decision.

C. If 25% of the total tuition cost is make or break, you might pick a university that makes up the difference in merit aid. (And had I known how my life circumstances would change before I enrolled at MIT, I would have gone to Rice and done just fine)

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Yeah, that’s a fair point; however, I am planning to do a master’s afterward - so I’m still staying a year longer than most in the grand scheme of things.

Funny enough, I also turned down a scholarship from Rice, for likely the same amount. Too late to jump ship now, unless I get off the Harvard waitlist (decent chance imo, i got into most of the t20s, though waitlists r mostly luck in the end)

Thanks!

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You need an academic advisor to answer your questions- specifically, one from Columbia, who advises students in the CS program. I’m not sure your plan is realistic, but only an advisor who knows the program can tell you. “seems helpful” for career prospects doesn’t mean it’s a good idea professionally.

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Some schools have a minimum residency requirement, so you should look into that as well.

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And I’m going to guess you aren’t getting as many AP credits as you think…

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You should go through the documented curriculum and look at the critical path based on pre-requisites, as a start. Just a number of credits is rarely the constraint.

For reference, my daughter is starting a CS program with 61 units of credit from AP, DE, etc.,(48 usable to her plan of study) and could squeeze in three years if she want to (she doesn’t) with three (iirc) ourses to spare. She starts with an official status of a Junior, and has credit for most Freshman courses, but the critical path of required courses still consumes six semesters. You just can’t take a three course sequence of dependent courses in one semester - it takes three. Each school is different, so check Columbia’s.

https://mice.cs.columbia.edu/c/d.php?d=272

Don’t underestimate the difficultly of “just one more course”. If completing the entire program in three years was easy, that would be the standard plan and what most students do.

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Or…you might get plenty of AP credits that aren’t able to be applied to your graduation requirements.

Speak to an academic advisor at Columbia.

What do you think you might want to get a masters in?

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More than just credits, you need to check on the following:

  • How many credits of subject requirements do you need? This includes both major and general education requirement (of which Columbia has plenty).
  • How many of the above can be fulfilled with AP or other credit you enter with?
  • How long is the longest sequence of prerequisites you need for your major?

https://mice.cs.columbia.edu/c/d.php?d=215& indicates that the CS major requires 74-75 credits of courses.

It looks like the Columbia general education requirements have about 13 courses plus 2 physical education courses: Requirements | The Core Curriculum

Try planning 8, 7, and 6 semester schedules to fulfill all requirements to see if they are doable.

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Ok, will do. Its definitely possible, Ive talked to a Columbia cs student who did it and is now doing an ms at Stanford. Realistic is the question I really need to answer for myself. Ive done a lot of research on my career interests, both bs and ms will no doubt be helpful - my focus is on how i go about getting them. Thanks!

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I’ll be good in that regard, know another cs masters student at Stanford who did the same thing

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nah ive taken like 20 APs, so i should have way more than the 16 (that’s just Columbia’s cap)

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Thanks for the link! Yeah I agree an extra class may be tough, but I am going for the bare minimum of credits (on the basis that I will still be in school doing an ms), I am assuming that other students just accrue more credits than the 128 min, and may even end up taking the same number of classes. At Columbia SEAS max credits per semester is 21, 18 would be more than enough for me to graduate in 3 yrs.

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And I have a masters. And a doctorate. And my advice is unchanged.

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no actually, the credit will all be applied, I went through the engineering schools AP credit page. I actually have more than they even allow so I can pick an choose what I want to apply and where.

Masters ideally in statistics or data science, though also considering comp sci, orfe, applied math, But still very early on, sure I narrow it down in the coming years.

Columbia has an ms express program so. that also provides a good back up - tho I would like to do the degree else where ideally

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yes I understand, but what im saying is that I’m not really rushing through everything cuz regardless, I’m in school for another 4-5 yrs.

Maybe my best bet is to graduate in 3.5 and do the ms program? That would be 5 yrs total, and be less rushed?

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Thanks! Yeah I’ll look into that more. I don’t have as much of the core since I’m engineering, but still something to consider

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I think that you need to see how things go for your first year or two. You are going to need to plan to work very hard from the day that you arrive on campus if you are going to take more than a typical full course load.

Graduating in four years from a top school is academically quite demanding. You will find the other students at Columbia to be quite strong – stronger than what you are used to from high school.

One concern I have is that taking more classes at once and graduating earlier will make it more difficult to get good grades, and will also make it more difficult to participate in research and internship opportunities. Both of these can be helpful for graduate school admissions.

Admittedly my graduate application was helped by very good research experience, but I got this research experience as a paid job after I got my bachelor’s degree. Taking a year or two or more to work between getting a bachelor’s and applying for a master’s degree is quite common.

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At least consider other options to make the four years more financially feasible. In your last two years are there TA or RA options that can cover your cost of tuition and make the four years cost similar to three.

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Also cs students can often get well-paying summer jobs after sophomore and junior year, which can help with tuition payments.

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