The Ultimate College Fix

When I was accepted to the School of Engineering and Applied Science in March 2007, I was ecstatic. However, in the months after, I was quickly exposed to a wider variety of subjects and coursework. My interests shifted considerably, and I realized that I no longer wanted to be an engineer. Shortly after arriving on campus, I did some research on the transfer process and discovered that students required a 3.5 cumulative GPA to transfer into either of Columbia’s two undergraduate schools. Unfortunately, as the semester unfolded, I realized that achieving this goal would be no easy feat (at least for me). Not because I’m not strong in the liberal arts. I am. Instead, it was for the very reason I wanted to transfer: my mind and heart are not fit for engineering. After struggling in my three required science and math courses, the irony of my situation surfaced.

As I became more and more intellectually curious in my liberal arts courses, I could not pull myself together in physics and calculus. They simply did not inspire me. And it turned out that where my heart felt stimulated, my mind became energized. I managed to earn A grades in my writing, chemistry, and film courses, but did dreadfully in my physics and calculus courses—dreadful enough to push my GPA below the sacred 3.5 line. “Oh well,” I thought, “Even though I didn’t manage to get the 3.5, the admissions board will see that I excelled in my liberal arts courses and weigh that more heavily than the two science courses which won’t factor into my newly desired program.”

My academic adviser, who had spoken with several head honchos in admissions, made it clear to me that the board wouldn’t even read my application! She said that hopeful transfer applicants to both the college and SEAS, no matter from what university they hail (including Columbia), are subject to the same standards—regardless of your story, you won’t even have a day in court unless you reached the 3.5 promised land.

I’m a Columbia student, and they won’t even read my application. This might be rationalized as a weeding-out process, or we could try to convince ourselves that no admissions process is completely fair. Perhaps. But it gets worse. It turns out that current students requesting transfer can actually be at a disadvantage compared to outsiders seeking admission to Columbia for the first time. In the first term, for example, students from SEAS will all have a minimum of three science or math courses. So what happens to someone who, upon starting Columbia, has already realized that he wants to transfer? He will not have the opportunity to completely focus on his strengths so that his GPA will rise above the needed value. If the same student took four or five courses in another program with more flexibility, he might have a much easier time acquiring the prerequisite 3.5 GPA, since his courses could be tailored to his strengths.

Students who want to transfer to Columbia College or to the School of Engineering and who are having difficulties in the very classes they want to escape will not be able to transfer. This hardly seems like the fairest way to treat students already welcomed into the Columbia family and already indebted to the Columbia tuition collectors. Shouldn’t the University recognize that each of its two schools have a very specific course of study—one that could either cater to or harshly undermine a person’s GPA depending on that individual’s abilities.

In light of this, it seems only rational, and fair, that internal transfers not be immediately turned down because of GPA. Instead, it would make far more sense for each individual internal transfer to be studied carefully. Does the student demonstrate aptitude in his new preferred course of study? Has his GPA clearly been held down by particular subjects that will matter less in that new program? What do his teachers—our own faculty—think about this student’s prospects? These seem like logical questions to be asked before one’s own school disgruntles its youngest students still struggling to decide on their lives’ directions.

Of course, there will be cases when candidates from other schools ought to supersede Columbia students. However, the system fails, and fails greatly, when it compares apples to oranges: students from other schools who are already in their desired and most comfortable program who seek a better university, with Columbia students who realize their true talents and callings lay in a different subject area or course of study altogether—one that is impossible to focus on exclusively due to the focused Core Curriculum. Perhaps their talents in these areas are greater than the admitted outsiders. Even if they are not, why not give the possibility a thought and read their applications? That extra consideration may ultimately benefit the University as a whole since more students will come out satisfied with their education and the administration that guided them for four years.

The author is a first-year in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.