<p>Now that I'm about ready to graduate, a bit older, and really don't take school nearly as seriously as I did for the first couple of years there (while finding I can still do just as well), it's a bit more amusing to read these discussions.</p>
<p>When I first started, I'd go on and on about how awful GS is treated in relation to the rest of the university (Denzera will probably confirm this). While that's possibly true on a bureaucratic level, I've very rarely found it translate to the classroom. In my case, because I'm much younger than the typical GS student, I've always been treated equally. Professors I've spoken with deeply appreciate interested GS students and, while I can really only speak for humanities classes, have confirmed time and again that some of their brightest and most interested students come from GS. I think that's probably in large part because of the sour bastard-child treatment on the part of the university bureaucracy toward the school that creates a division where returning-to-school students invest so much money in the degree that it wouldn't make financial sense to not do as well as possible in the classroom. Some in GS admissions will tell you that the school exists as a "second chance" for many students. I don't think that's entirely the case. I think it's fairer to suggest that GS exists as an opportunity that may not have been available at one point for whatever the reason, though still capable of earning a Columbia degree while not harming the academic reputation of the undergraduate divisions. Sure, there are morons that ask a billion questions and muck it up for the other kids that just want the instructors to get through their lectures without interruption, but it's safe to say that these people are, at least in my experience, found in every division (though there seem to be far more younger people blasting away on facebook/gmail/aim during lectures which can annoy the hell out of people trying to learn). There's a misconception that the shady 60 year old due in the back is some GS weirdo when he's really some retired banker back to audit a class. Or maybe some shady dude off the street.</p>
<p>There are of course a number of issues the school needs to work on. Columbia College has a couple hundred years on GS and the giving rate is quite low due in part to a high financial investment with limited attachment to the university while attending, though this has gotten a bit better recently. Admissions is still a factor because "stats" are still apparently lower in GS, but selectivity has also increased considerably over even just the past few years, down to somewhere in the 40% range (still a long way from CC/SEAS, but the gap is definitely shrinking). Perhaps the worst part of GS, at least from a student level, is the lack of inclusion with the CC/SEAS Office of Student Affairs. Attempts at this in GS can't compete with the resources of the bigger CC/SEAS office, though it's possible that this will merge at some point in the not too distant future (unlike the rumored dissolving of GS into CC, which isn't going to happen). GS also lacks decent housing, competing for a very small share of University Apartment Housing with the graduate divisions (unlike CC/SEAS Housing and Dining), which leaves many students, myself included, stuck with pricey off-campus housing.</p>
<p>In all fairness, GS has been pretty kind to me. It's given me a chance at a Columbia education when I don't think I could have gotten into CC given my fairly unique academic history prior to Columbia (though I'm not totally sure, nor will I ever be). I've made great friends in every division and toward the end of my time at the school, I've tried to take school less seriously and get out more and involved with extracurriculars, finally understanding that the people at the school are just as, if not more important than the nonsense you learn in the class and forget a week after the final exam. There are always going to be people thinking that GS students don't belong at "their" university, but it's not up to me to convince the closed-minded otherwise. There are people that think SEAS kids can't read or write and that Barnard girls can't do hard sciences. Let people think what they want. I'm just happy to be there.</p>