About Columbia GS

I'm at a freshman at a semi-target school and my prior education disruption qualifies me to apply for Columbia GS(school of general studies). GS students make up nearly 30% of Columbia undergrads, but from their notable alum page I didn't notice significant representation in traditional finance, which I am interested in. My goal is to recruit for IBD at BB and Elite Boutiques and probably even give places like KKR and Bain Capital a shot. I wonder do all these extremely selective places view Columbia GS as much of a target school as Columbia College or SEAS? Has there ever been cases when a candidate is "questioned" when recruiters find out they are from GS (whether through background check of transcripts or school directories)? If you know anything, I would really appreciate your knowledge/experiences!

4 Comments
 

Spot on take.

As a Columbia GS grad myself, it's all about what you make of it.

In terms of assimilation with the rest of the schools, I had a large number of SEAS/CC friends and we all helped each other out when it came to recruiting, but as the above stated, there will be micro-aggressions, which in my experience was mostly all in good fun.

As for post-grad roles, for GS folks, have seen HSW business schools / BB & EB IB / MBB Consulting / Software Engineering at FAANG, among others.

You won't be "questioned" as to your GS background from a recruiter, prospective team members, or anyone else - And if you are, probably not a firm you'd want to be joining.

 

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