General Studies Lounge

Power in Numbers
By Editorial Board
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

The lack of viable statistics about the School of General Studies’ student body has been fodder for several General Studies Student Council meetings this month. Typically, most issues facing GS students concern housing, finance, and academics, but the lack of published statistical data related to these areas causes problems for GSSC, students, and applicants. The GS administration should provide more information about GS students’ studies, finances, and living situations beyond what is published annually by the Princeton Review so that solutions to longstanding problems can be addressed more effectively.

Currently, the University does not publish information about the number of years GS students spend at Columbia. Administrators contend that coming up with such an average is not plausible, but both applicants and the 54 percent of GS undergraduates who study full-time would undoubtedly consider this information important. Even after enrollment, the University fails to provide statistics on the percentage of GS students who succeed in procuring University housing. Although cursory demographic, academic, and campus-resource data is collected annually for publication by the Princeton Review and on the GS Web site, a more frequent and comprehensive snapshot of GS is needed.

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