Some people claim that there are quite a few backdoors into Columbia. I guess those people are referring to Columbia GS and the Combined Plan. Yet I would like to say that those people are actually wrong.
First of all I’ll talk about Columbia GS.
In my experience there are two types of GS students. Those who actually work extremely hard and earn their respect and those who just want the Columbia brand on their resumes. The former students often outperform CC/SEAS students. The later students often struggle and drop out. Or even if they get the Columbia brand, they graduate with devastated GPAs. Also I would claim that the later students wish to transfer into CC/SEAS as they falsely consider CC/SEAS to be more prestigious than GS. The former GS students don’t care, because they can beat CC/SEAS students for top graduate school admissions/top job offers.
In terms of internal transfer, it is impossible to transfer from GS to CC. Moreover, it is almost impossible to transfer from GS to SEAS. It is impossible to transfer to CC from GS because CC is for traditional students. Also it is almost impossible to transfer from GS to SEAS because it is usually the later GS students (those who just want the Columbia brand) who try to internally transfer into SEAS. Academically devoted non-traditional students straight out apply to SEAS as non-traditional students can also apply to SEAS.
Overall, those who consider “backdooring” into Columbia never make it out alive as they will either drop out or get the Columbia brand but with devastated GPAs and thus the degree becomes of no use.
The same reasoning applies to the Combined Plan. The guaranteed admission is the bare minimum to get into Columbia Engineering, but those who are not the real Columbia student caliber won’t make it through. Only those who posses the real Columbia student caliber will make it through and I have seen quite a few people who quit the Combined Plan because of its rigor. (Just FYI some people seem to underestimate the rigor/challenge of completing an engineering degree in TWO years even if considering that one has taken some of the pre-req courses)
Also one drawback I see from the Combined Plan is that you get two degrees. Thus if your actual intention was to “backdoor” into Columbia Engineering, graduate schools/employers will notice that you have two undergraduate degrees. If you don’t want to get suspected that you “backdoored” into Columbia Engineering, I think you either have to get accepted as a freshman or transfer to Columbia Engineering. (Though the transfer acceptance rate to Columbia CC/SEAS was 6% in 2012 which was lower than Columbia’s overall freshman admit rate in that given year. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if the transfer acceptance rate to Columbia Engineering has gone down to 3-4% these days.)
But as the OP claims if one does well in the Combined Plan, I don’t think anyone will say that he/she “backdoored” into Columbia Engineering.
What’s to stop a combined plan student from just listing their Columbia degree? Not that they even would – you do realize that the degrees are not the same, right? Like, you’d get a degree in physics and a degree in computer engineering, or whatever you want.
And getting into Columbia through the combined plan is a joke. All you need is a 3.33 GPA at a semi-decent school. Sure, not everyone can do it, but it’s not nearly as difficult as someone who got into Columbia straight out of high school.
That said, though, a lot of combined plan students actually do exceptionally well at Columbia, so maybe there is something to it.
@Integer You cannot and should not lie about the schools you have attended. There is a service called the National Student Clearinghouse that allows employers and graduate schools to check all students/employees education background. The service will report every school that you have enrolled/registered even if you later withdrew and did not even attend.
So my claim is that graduate schools/employers can tell whether one got into Columbia Engineering as a freshman/transfer student v.s. Combined Plan.
If you do the combined plan and get a degree from SEAS with fairly decent grades, I don’t think employers or grad schools give a hoot about how you got there. Some people do the combined plan because it actually saves them money and not because they weren’t “smart” enough to get into SEAS in the first place. Also, what is wrong with attending GS and also wanting to capitalize on Columbia’s brand name? Aren’t most of the kids who attend the college and SEAS really doing the same thing?
You cannot and should not lie about the schools you have attended. There is a service called the National Student Clearinghouse that allows employers and graduate schools to check all students/employees education background.
It’s not a lie. You have a degree from Columbia University and you’re saying you have one. You earned two degrees, you can do whatever you want about them.
Also one drawback I see from the Combined Plan is that you get two degrees. Thus if your actual intention was to “backdoor” into Columbia Engineering, graduate schools/employers will notice that you have two undergraduate degrees. If you don’t want to get suspected that you “backdoored” into Columbia Engineering, I think you either have to get accepted as a freshman or transfer to Columbia Engineering. (Though the transfer acceptance rate to Columbia CC/SEAS was 6% in 2012 which was lower that Columbia’s overall freshman admit rate. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if the transfer acceptance rate to Columbia Engineering has gone down to 3-4% these days.)
@cworld123123
“Also it is almost impossible to transfer from GS to SEAS because it is usually the later GS students (those who just want the Columbia brand) who try to internally transfer into SEAS. Academically devoted non-traditional students straight out apply to SEAS as non-traditional students can also apply to SEAS.”
May I ask what is your source on this?
Some GSers cannot apply to CC/SEAS directly because CC/SEAS/any other traditional colleges for that matter require applicants to be under 21(observant for Columbia) and no more than 1 year out of high school(not observant), if I remember correctly.
I understand that it is impossible to transfer to CC as students take same exact courses anyways, however SEAS is slightly different as someone would have a justifiable reason to transfer into engineering school: 1. it offers BS degree. and some engineering science courses are different from pure science courses offered by CC. 2. certain MS degree/ research positions/internship positions(e.g. Facebook) require undergrad applicants to have a BS not a BA/AB.
If anyone would like to offer insight on this, please do so as I’m interested in learning about this as well.
Back door? If your parents donate a 100 million dollar academic building, then you can walk in through the front door, and they’ll even hold the door open for u.
@gpuccini
“Potential applicants to Columbia Engineering should proceed with this transfer application regardless of any break in schooling”
Source : https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/apply/transfer
I haven’t seen or heard about GS students transferring to SEAS. (Though I have heard about GS students doing the Combined Plan. However, you have to understand the rigor of the Combined Plan as it can easily jeopardize your GPA) So if you have some interests in engineering, it is better to apply to SEAS.
There is no age limit when applying to SEAS, thus non-traditional students can also apply to SEAS.