<p>Hello, all,</p>
<p>I'm a 24 year old male student. I was admitted to the School of General Studies for the 2011-2012 year. However, I was also admitted to the University of Washington, one of the more prestigious state schools in the country. I'm having a hard time deciding which school to attend because I've read post after post about how the School of General Studies is 1) not as prestigious as Columbia College, 2) Students at GS are treated differently than CC/SEAS students, 3) Financial aid sucks! At UW, the roughly $8,500 tuition is a steal for the great education. I'd like the opinions of current or former GS students, please, to help me make a good decision. I'd appreciate any input.</p>
<p>Don’t put yourself into debt for an education. If you can afford GS, do it. If you can’t afford GS, do UW.</p>
<p>Where have you read that Columbia GS is so, as you seem to put it, looked down upon? Aside from a few ■■■■■■, Columbia GS is not looked down upon by anyone at Columbia. It is an Ivy League undergraduate school at Columbia University. </p>
<p>The only bit of reality in your post is the lack of financial aid. If your relying on this, then GS is not the school for you. As dean Awn said: “Columbia GS is both expensive and inconvenient.” </p>
<p>If money is a huge issue, go to UW.</p>
<p>But, Columbia University has MUCH more brand-name recognition than UW. Columbia GS is much more selective and offers an Ivy League degree.</p>
<p>It’s sad, but admit rate plays a role in prestige, UW is 57% and Columbia GS is 23%.</p>
<p>Columbia GS: <a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board;
<p>University of Washington: <a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board;
<p>Again, if finances are a huge issue, go to UW. Think of Columbia GS as a step below Columbia College and equal to Northwestern University in prestige.</p>
<p>Northwestern admit rate: <a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board;
<p>I echo tsar and comaprison. The financial aid really is pretty bad at GS, so if that’s a dealbreaker for you then you shouldn’t try to make it work.</p>
<p>As a current GS student, the best input I can give is to repeat the sentiments of the posts above mine.</p>
<p>Your first two issues are truly illusory; the internet message board drama surrounding lack of prestige issues, concerns of segregation and limited opportunities, etc., will disappear once you are here. You’ll be a CU student, and your success will limited by your own drive, ability, choices, etc.</p>
<p>The opposite is true for financial aid; everything you’ve heard is likely true. Merit-aid will, however, increase during your time here, especially if you maintain a very high GPA, so there is that little bit of proverbial silver lining.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>What about this website that indicates the acceptance rate at GS is 40%? </p>
<p>[Columbia</a> University: School of General Studies - Rankings, Online Degrees, Courses, Class & Certificates, Athletics, Tuition & Admissions Requirements](<a href=“HugeDomains.com”>HugeDomains.com)</p>
<p>Are your figures more current?</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about that website you provided. What I do know is that Columbia GS and he College Board work together in many aspects. The GSAE is administered by the College Board, and various links from the GS site will say College Board on he bottom left corner. </p>
<p>College Board is, ostensibly, the most trusted name for college statistics.</p>
<p>Who cares about acceptance rates and “prestige?” It’s a pile of hooey.</p>
<p>What matters here is that you have a great in-state option at an unbeatable price, so there is absolutely no sense in taking out monstrously-huge loans for Columbia. So if you can afford CGS, great, go for it. If you can’t, don’t cry over it because UW is an excellent school also.</p>
<p>LOL. If you cant figure out the value of a Columbia education then by all means join your “prestigious” Washington, whose admissions process is an elite 57.7%.</p>
<p>Basing your judgment off what a small minority of anonymous posters on college-confidential say is probably the single most idiotic thing you can do. I have a hard time believing you were even accepted to GS, and if you were, you have no business coming here because you havent the slightest clue what the Mission of the School of General Studies is, much less what Columbia is about. </p>
<p>You speak of GS as if it is some kind of edifice that isnt even attached to the Columbia campus, but the reality is you are IN class with CC, Barnard, & SEAS students which makes up the “University.” The reality is, GS is just a system under the Columbia umbrella that allows non-traditional students to receive an Ivy-League education alongside Columbia College, and from this education comes “prestigious” job opportunities. </p>
<p>In terms of perceived “Prestige”, being an extreme networking slut, I have already met a GS student that will be working for Mckinsey, maybe you have heard of it?</p>
<p>At this point I will safely assume this person is a ■■■■■ based on the number of posts.</p>
<p>Dear, RandomAdmit,</p>
<pre><code>Well, you found me out. How clever of you to deduce from my one question about which school will benefit me the most that I’m a “■■■■■” and “didn’t get into GS.” Based on the information you provided, I will assume that you are a GS student. If so, I applaud your accomplishments and the fact that you’ve refused to give up using the term “LOL” even after graduating from high school.
OMG!
I’m tickled that you sneer at my choice to ask current and former students about their experiences at GS and for advice on my educational prospects. I may have been mislead in believing that this forum is for students to ask questions about how others enjoy their campus. Thanks for clarifying what this forum should be used for (by the way, I just left a snarky comment on some poster’s thread about how she should decline her offer from Juilliard and attend Sarah Lawrence instead).
</code></pre>
<p>As for me receiving advice from anonymous posters being the “single most idiotic thing” that I can do, well, I beg to differ. I spilled my leftover food from last night’s barbecue all over the living room floor this afternoon and proceeded to eat the surface area of each food item, believing that it was the only part that didn’t get dirty. How’s that for stupidity?
Oh RandomAdmit, you MUST be a part of the Ivy League elite, for who else can confidently say “by all means join your “prestigious” Washington, whose admissions process is an elite 57.7%” without a shred of irony. I imagined you wearing a black wool peacoat and sipping on chamomile tea as you wrote that sentence. I do not belong among you scholastic gods. I’m self-proclaimed white trash (well, I’m a quarter Dutch, does that count?) from Washington state who waits tables at a low-end Mexican restaurant.
At the information session, when the lovely General Studies admissions officer said that their acceptance rate was around 46%, she must have looked into my bovine, hillybilly eyes and thought, “There is no chance this kid is getting into this school. But I wonder what his personal statement will look like? I need a good laugh, especially after my divorce.”
If we’ve proved one thing today, it’s that the Internet is the worst place to discuss important matters (damn you, Anonymity!). I thought that since I lived on the other end of the country, I might be able to communicate with GS students on this website and save myself the trip of flying to New York and stalk students at Morningside Heights. But, alas, it seems I’m clearly not fit to attend GS, the same institution that has versed such great minds as Telly Savalas and Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
Well, I was going to ask what this bundle of documents I received in the mail today was all about (Columbia Health, Immunization Requirements, Insurance Waiver information). However, I don’t want to rely on the anonymous sources that frequent College Confidential for answers. If you’re going to reply to this post, I need names people!</p>
<p>P.S. As for being a “networking slut,” you may want to use protection next time before you catch one of those nasty viruses going around.</p>
<p>Woohoo Random, easy Tiger. Being a Columbia student suits you better when you’re humble, trust me;-).</p>
<p>As for the posters question–I think all if the previous posts covered your questions. If you want unbiased opinions, call companies you would like to work in.</p>
<p>So much negativity everywhere.</p>
<p>I can understand the affront both ways. It is a dream for some of us to be accepted to CGS. It doesn’t mean we want an Ivy league education or any prestige whatsoever. We could feel slightly insulted from youngadult who kinda brags he’s been accepted but think about refusing the offer while other haven’t slept for weeks while waiting for their (negative) answer (as for me I’m still waiting, damn!). On the other hand no need to react so vividly either ;-)</p>
<p>Anyway CGS is a great school in an even greater city.
To be honest you can have a great education pretty much everywhere. You will have to work hard, like you would work hard everywhere. But you won’t have CGS’s exceptional professors and students, you won’t have NYC either, and you won’t have all those opportunities to network that both have to offer. I’m not saying that you would not succeed if you go somewhere else, because if you’re clever you would. It’ll just be different, probably harder too…</p>
<p>I understand that money is always tight and not everyone would be able to afford such a cost (I can’t). On the other hand, you’re getting you BA once in your life. In the end you should just go where you’ll feel good and at home, because you’re going to spend some time and years in classrooms, libraries, talking to professors and students so the best would be that you enjoy those moments :-)</p>
<p>youngadult, it definitely wasn’t nice for RandomAdmit to get all up in your face about your personal decision, but two wrongs don’t make a right. If you can’t afford private school tuition, just go for the public school option. It really comes down to what you can personally afford. Don’t bury yourself in debt to drive a Lexus if you can only afford a bicycle.</p>
<p>Random, Roar Lion ROAR:</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Columbia University Fight Song: Roar, Lion, Roar!](<a href=“Columbia University Fight Song: Roar, Lion, Roar! - YouTube”>Columbia University Fight Song: Roar, Lion, Roar! - YouTube)</p>
<p>Sorry for not responding as fast as I should have, I work so I will be working again in about six hours, so this rebuttal will be short and to the point. If you truly want some information about GS then let me point you here since this topic has already been driven to the ground many times:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/30154-columbia-college-vs-school-general-studies.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/30154-columbia-college-vs-school-general-studies.html</a></p>
<p>If you are just some ■■■■■ then let me say this once & only once:</p>
<p>I’m a recently accepted student at this institution. I Hate to sound petty and pretentious, but I run my own non-profit, I was the president and founder of two clubs at my last institution, I made more money in the stock market in the past two years than you probably made in ten years, and to top it off, I was accepted to GS with a 3.8 GPA. I have all the prerequisites you need to become a doctor, but I choose finance. And I am only mentioning the past two years, not even including the accolades the followed. But who cares right? I could be fabricating all of this while I write. So excuse me if I feel somewhat entitled & “prestigious,” because I feel that I earned it. And after reading this diatribe I couldn’t help but laugh. To begin with, you paint this innocent picture of yourself as a student who comes into this forum that claims he needs assistance from current GS students on whether he should attend Columbia. However, in your latest post you choose to dismiss sound and factual information from previous Columbia posters about the actual admissions rate, which is 23%, and continue to insist that the acceptance is 40%, then contradict yourself by stating that it is 46%. Several months ago, I have attended an informational meeting with Kari Razdow, and when she was pitching GS, even she said 23%, so whoever you have spoken with doesnt have their facts straight, or wasnt a recent event at all, much less a representative of Columbia. Yes, once upon a time, GS admissions was in fact hovering around 40%. But frankly, acceptance rates dont even matter because it doesnt even have bearing on the value of the education you receive from Columbia anyway, which you have a very hard time understanding. Especially when compared to anything worthwhile in UWashington. Honestly, perceived prestige, or lack thereof, and the minority of elitist “children” who condone such hateful behavior against GS is just that minor little annoyance we have to deal with while we pursue more mature endeavors. What you do with your Columbia education,is entirely up to you. Its just a fact that many who come to GS just happen to earn higher GPA’s on average compared to CC students taking the same courses and later finding themselves sitting down with the same opportunities that columbia college kids have.</p>
<p>P.S If you honestly think that a Columbia education is so easy that even GS admissions will accept any old schmuck from the streets then you are severely mistaken. Columbia is one of the most rigorous schools in the nation, and to insist that GS students are inept is an insult to the University as a whole because if GS students didnt have the capacity to learn, then why do so many graduate? Think about it.</p>
<p>Not only do GS students graduate, but GS students have the overall top collective GPA of all three undergraduate schools.</p>
<p>From wkikcu, which is, ostensibly, the Columbia University Almanac:</p>
<p>“GS students, who comprise of approximately 25% of all Columbia undergraduates, have the highest average GPA of all the undergraduate schools at Columbia.”</p>
<p>Yup. It’s true. in 2009-2010, GS was only approximately equal to CC in graduating GPA (according to Dean Awn during a lunch). That has changed recently.</p>
<p>All right, now let me ask you folks this question: Do you think that the roughly $60,000 a year tuition is worth spending on Columbia?
As I wait for a reply from the financial aid office as to how much money they will provide for my in aid money, my parents and I are wondering how much money we may have to take out in student loans. The advice most of my friends have given me is that Columbia will provide me with valuable opportunities and that I have a better chance of finding a good job after graduation which can pay off my student loans. Keep in mind, most of my friends are attending schools that cost roughly the same as Columbia and they tell me that if they thought their education was a waste of time, then they would not have taken out student loans (and they did take out student loans).
So, in your experience, do you feel that it’s worth taking out student loans for Columbia because of the employment/educational opportunities it may provide for you in the future? Please tell me if you have taken out student loans to attend Columbia.
Also, would you still attend if the school offered you a scholarship (i.e., $8,000)?</p>