Type Private Website gs.columbia.edu Phone +1 212-854-2772 Number of students 2,394 | Established 1947 Undergraduate tuition and fees 50,760 USD (2016) Color Columbia blue Dean Peter J. Awn | |
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Campus Urban, 36 acres (0.15 km; 0.056 sq mi) Morningside Heights Campus Affiliations Juilliard School, Sciences Po, City University of Hong Kong, and Albert A. List College (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) Address 408 Lewisohn Hall, 2970 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, United States Motto Lux in Tenebris Lucet; The light that shines in the darkness Notable alumni Similar Columbia University, Columbia University School of, Jewish Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary, Sciences Po Profiles | ||
Columbia university school of general studies student andrew
The School of General Studies is a liberal arts college and one of three official undergraduate colleges at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights, New York. GS is known primarily for its traditional B.A. degree program for non-traditional students (those who have had an academic break of one year or more, or are pursuing dual-degrees).
Contents
- Columbia university school of general studies student andrew
- Columbia university school of general studies student alejandra
- Defunct Predecessors
- The Establishment of the School of General Studies
- The Merging of the Columbia College and General Studies Faculties
- Academics
- Admission
- Eligibility
- Sciences Po Columbia University Dual BA Program
- Joint Bachelors Degree Program Between the City University of Hong Kong and Columbia University
- Combined Plan with the School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Notable alumni
- Academia
- Politics
- Literature and arts
- Technology and entrepreneurship
- Activism
- Music
- Film and entertainment
- Media
- Athletics
- Fashion
- Miscellaneous
- Notable students currently attending the School of General Studies
- References
GS students make up almost 30% of the Columbia undergraduate population and have been known to consistently earn the highest average GPAs among undergraduates at Columbia University.
GS offers dual degree programs with Sciences Po in France, the City University of Hong Kong, and List College of the Jewish Theological Seminary. GS is the historical home to dual-degree programs at Columbia University—the school is the first undergraduate college at Columbia University to offer joint programs with other universities. GS is also home to the Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program.
Numerous GS alumni have gone on to win prestigious fellowships, including the Rhodes Scholarship, the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and the Fulbright Scholarship. Notable alumni include Nobel Prize winners Simon Kuznets and Baruj Benacerraf, as well as Isaac Asimov, J.D. Salinger, Amelia Earhart, and Princess Firyal of Jordan.
Columbia university school of general studies student alejandra
Defunct Predecessors
GS's evolutionary ancestor is Seth Low Junior College, which was established in Downtown Brooklyn to help alleviate the flood of Jewish applicants to Columbia College. The entrance requirements for Seth Low Junior College were reportedly the same as those enforced in Columbia College. Following completion of the two-year program, graduates could complete their undergraduate degrees at the University's professional schools, such as the School of Law, Business School, or School of Engineering and Applied Science (all of which conferred terminal bachelor's degrees at the time) or earn B.S. degrees in the liberal arts as University Undergraduates.
Seth Low Junior College was closed in 1938 due to the adverse economic effects of the Great Depression. Henceforth, its remaining students were absorbed into Columbia's undergraduate population as students in the University Undergraduate program (previously, University Extension, which was established by Nicholas Murray Butler in 1904).
The Establishment of the School of General Studies
With an influx of students attending the University on the GI Bill following the resolution of World War II, in December 1946, the University Undergraduate program was reorganized as an official undergraduate college for "qualified students who, because of employment or for other reasons, are unable to attend other schools of the University" and designated the School of General Studies as of July 1947. In December 1968, the University Council permitted GS to grant the B.A. degree instead of the B.S. degree. Despite the objections of some members of the Columbia College Faculty, the Board of Trustees authorized the decision in February 1969 (at the time, the University only conferred the B.A. to graduates of Columbia College).
The Merging of the Columbia College and General Studies Faculties
In 1990, the Columbia College (CC), School of General Studies (GS), and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) faculties were merged into the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, which resulted in the complete academic integration between the School of General Studies and Columbia College. As a result, both GS and CC students receive B.A. degrees conferred by the Trustees of Columbia University through the Faculty of Art & Sciences, and GS is recognized as one of the two official liberal arts colleges at Columbia University, along with Columbia College.
Academics
GS students make up almost 30% of the Columbia undergraduate population and have been known to consistently earn the highest average GPAs among undergraduates at Columbia University. This statistic should be qualified with the fact that 23% of GS students are part-time students who have significant, full-time work commitments in addition to their academic responsibilities (which is also the case for some full-time students). Since 2010 (and until 2017), GS has been the only undergraduate college at Columbia University to produce any Rhodes Scholars.
The School of General Studies confers the degree of Bachelor of Arts in more than 70 majors. All GS students are required to complete the Core Curriculum, which includes classes in Writing, Literature/Humanities, Contemporary Civilization/Social Science, Art Humanities, Music Humanities, Global Core, Quantitative Reasoning, Science, and Foreign Language.
In addition to its bachelor's degree program, the School of General Studies offers combined undergraduate/graduate degree programs with Columbia's Schools of Law, Business, Dental Medicine, Social Work, International and Public Affairs, Teachers College, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, as well as undergraduate dual-degree programs with the Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the Dual BA Program Between Columbia University and the French University Sciences Po.
Admission
Admission to Columbia GS is highly selective and "extremely competitive." Admission standards are among the highest in the nation: the SAT score range (25th-75th percentiles) for admitted students is 1330–1530 out of 1600 on the new SAT (680-770 on the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Section and 650-760 on the Mathematics Section). The average GPA of admitted students is 3.9/4.0.
Admission requires a formal application as well as submission of official SAT or ACT test scores, academic transcripts, essays, and recommendations; if the test scores are older than eight years, applicants may instead take the General Studies Admissions Examination. Interviews are conducted in person and on the phone.
Eligibility
Eligibility for admission requires that applicants have taken a minimum of one year or more off from academic studies, or have extenuating circumstances which preclude them from attending Columbia College full-time. Prospective Columbia undergraduates who have had a break of a year or more in their education, have already completed an undergraduate degree, or are pursuing dual undergraduate degrees are considered non-traditional and must apply to GS. GS students have the option to attend part- or full-time.
Sciences Po Columbia University Dual BA Program
The Dual BA Program is a unique and highly selective program in which undergraduate students earn two Bachelor of Arts degrees from both Columbia University and Sciences Po (one of the most prestigious and selective universities in France) in four years. This program is geared towards traditionally-aged applicants in high school.
Students spend two years at one of three Sciences Po campuses in France (Le Havre, Menton, or Reims), each of which is devoted to a particular region of the world. At Sciences Po, undergraduates can pursue majors in political science, economics, law, finance, history, among others. After two years at Sciences Po, students matriculate at Columbia University, where they complete the Core Curriculum and one of over 70 majors offered at Columbia. Graduates of the program are guaranteed admission to a Sciences Po graduate program.
Joint Bachelor's Degree Program Between the City University of Hong Kong and Columbia University
This highly selective program is open to top-ranked undergraduates enrolled at the City University of Hong Kong and allows graduates to receive two bachelor's degrees from CUHK and Columbia in four years. Undergraduates spend their first two years at CUHK and their final two years at Columbia, where they complete the Core Curriculum and choose one of 70 majors offered at Columbia.
Combined Plan with the School of Engineering and Applied Science
GS students are eligible for guaranteed admission to the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) through the Columbia Combined Plan program, under the condition that they complete the necessary prerequisite science and mathematic courses. Students in the program receive a B.A. in a liberal arts discipline from GS and a B.S. in an engineering discipline from SEAS. Students may apply for the Combined Plan program in their junior (3-2 program) or senior (4-2) year of undergraduate study.
Notable alumni
An asterisk (*) indicates an attendee who did not graduate.