Talk:Columbia University School of General Studies
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[edit] Criticism of GS
Someone should write something about the controversies surrounding GS. Many have called it "Columbia's back door," and there is a lot of resentment among Columbia College students that GS is an embarrassing dilution of the Columbia experience. At the very least, the disparity between admission rates, SAT scores, class rankings, etc. should be noted.
I personally am undecided about GS (I've known some interesting people in GS, such as a prima ballerina, as well as some total doofuses), but I think that in an encyclopedia article this should be addressed, since it's such a common criticism.
Aroundthewayboy 23:25, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
This isn't really an apt comparison. Typically, CC applicants are ineligible to apply to GS and vice-versa. The exception to this is JTS students and actor/ballerina types. While the admission rates are higher at GS than CC, they are not always higher than SEAS, and its entirely unclear that that "quality" of students is lower (supposedly GS has the highest average GPA). Considering that a huge number of GS students are transfers (with time off) from Columbia's peer institutions, its probably very unlikely that there is much disparity between SAT scores and such--at least for those who started college right out of high school. Coffeemilk 09:50, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
I am a current GS student and I'd like to add to this apples/oranges debate. CC students can be compared to well-oiled machines. They have been jumping through the hoops for so many years now that they usually just hit the ground running. GS students are, by nature, more rusty. I agree that some GS students are not up to par but I have also met many CC students who like, can't, like, understand why they have to take Art Hum. I've had several professors (notable ones) tell me they always enjoy papers written by GS students because they project more depth and experience than what their younger CC students can produce. Conversely, I have noticed that CC students do much better in the quantitative and hard science courses because they have been sharpened to a much higher extent than students who have not had to maintain the type of thinking required to excel in such fields.
CC students are top notch and deserve the opportunities they have worked so hard to attain. They are also the product of a life process that requires things such as access to good schools, strong parenting, money, and a greater capacity/opportunity for early maturity. The pressure is intense beyond belief. No argument there. There is probably a good argument in stating that CC students have made more sacrifices than GS students in order to attain their seat in class, too. Who knows? To make a case for CC being superior to GS due simply to a difference in application standards is to make a case for Darwinism, though. Higher education exists in order to empower anyone who seeks it out. To limit its opportunities to those who "survived the best" early in life condemns higher education to the same elitist myopia so often displayed in the worlds of business and politics. Higher education should be an exception to the institution of Darwinism and programs such as GS represent prime examples of such logic.
[edit] Other
Major school of columbia university, page needs expansion. --[[User:Ctrl build|Ctrl_buildtalk 
]] 05:35, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Harvard Extension
I reverted the entry on Havard Extension because the school is different in nature to the Yale, Brown, and Columbia programs. The two main differences being (1) Admission to Harvard Extension is open enrollment, and admission to a degree program within H.E. is granted as a matter of course. This is not the case for the other three. (2) Harvard sets aside a separate faculty for extension courses. At Columbia GS, CC, and GSAS share a single faculty. Brown REUs are part of Brown College, and the same goes for Yale special students. Coffeemilk 01:50, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
- the harvard extension school has open enrollment for people who want to just take a class or two but has a nominal admissions process including foundation courses for people who want to be what they call a degree candidate and recieve a bachelors or a masters. most of the extension faculty are full time harvard college profs who teach at the extension school as well as the college or the graduate school. most of the extension school classes are run from the same syllabi as the college or the graduate school. its close but not exactly the same as GS.
- Penn also has a College of General Studies like columbia. students study during the day with the reg students.
>Penn does have a College of General Studies, but the students are not integrated into the curriculum the same way that GS students are at Columbia. Penn GS students have a separate faculty, and require special permission to take classes during the day within the traditional undergraduate college.
[edit] recent updates
The page was recently updated, and the two major changes are:
- A new picture of the School’s logo.
- a Notable Alumni and Attendees section.
I think that the picture that was added is outdated. If anything, we should add the current seal, not the sketch that was the basis for the current seal.
Also, I object to the addition of Notable Alumni and Attendees. This is going to make the article unecissaraly long (as future editors add who they consider to be famous). In additiona, we will also have editing wars over who is and who is not important enough to be included. Instead, I recommend manking this list into a category, so that the information is acceable, but not part of the main article. Before I make these changes, I wanted to see if there are objections or better suggerstions.
Best. Matan 14:42, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
I think we should keep Notable Alumni/Attendees. It should be cleaned up a bit. I'm not clear why the author of 1 novel need be included. I would remove:
Irma B. Jaffe Philippe I. Reines Max Aguilera-Hellweg Joe Connelly
Any objections? I think with these removals and you've got people of note and the top of their field. I'm ambivalent regarding Mac Borg.
-ws Wwsnyc 20:15, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
Re: Recent updates
I am unable to find any recent logos freely available online, except for the logo that is the GS Student Council's. You can take off the one I added if you wish. With regards to Notable Alumni and Attendees, I am simply going with the wikipedia convention of adding an alumni section to any article about specific colleges. It is on the Wikipedia entries for Columbia University's undegraduate schools, Columbia College, SEAS and Barnard.
Adc
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- I changed the shield image. As for the Notable Alumni and Attendees, since no one else seems to mind, lets keep it for now. If it gets too much, we can re-open the issue. Best, Matan 04:01, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Current Students
I wonder about the advisability of listing current students. If these students were listed without their knowledge, it's creepy (even if the information does come from items published on the GS or Columbia websites or in school newspapers such as the Spectator or the Record). If they listed themselves, it's a little sad. In either case, I wonder what the encyclopedic value of this section is. 160.39.247.200 19:57, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
Im the one who added the section. Looking at it now it doesnt seem to be beneficial. Any thoughts before I go ahead and delete it? 06:40, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
- I would remove the current students section. The alumni section can also use some trimming... Matan 15:51, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] links to "cu-wiki"
To the anonymous user who is adding links to the “cu wiki,” please read this section to understand why I removed it: Wikipedia:External links#Links normally to be avoided
Best, Matan 20:06, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] The GS handbook?
It seems like a user pasted a lot of information from the GS handbook about requirements, policies, etc. This is problematic for two reasons: 1) It is plagiarism. 2) It is not encyclopedia-style info. We have a link to the GS homepage, and people can find out if they can fulfill the language requirement with an SAT II score by going to the source. I am planning on removing all this new information within the next two days, unless someone can show me that this 1) does not violate the school's copyright info, and 2) should be part of Wikipedia. Best, Matan 18:45, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
- I removed the plagiarized info that was copied from GS’s Viewbook. We can’t have plagiarism on Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Copyright problems. In addition, if someone wants to read about which classes fulfill the literature requirement, or about the need to consulate with a GS advisor before declaring a major, she or he can read the most updated info on the GS website. This should not be part of an encyclopedia. Matan 01:50, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
