On Monday, January 10, the School of General Studies (GS) welcomed new students to the GS community with the Spring 2022 New Student Orientation Program. 241 incoming undergraduate and Postbac Premed students were invited to the online event to learn about their peers, the GS staff, and the abundant resources GS has to offer before jumping into the academic semester.
Parents and family members of the students were also invited to attend a half-day of virtual orientation programming. Hosted by the GS Alumni Relations and Development team, these events introduced guests to the Columbia community and the resources available to support their students’ transition to Columbia.
During the New Student Welcome livestream, students and their family members heard remarks from several members of the GS and Columbia community, including Lisa Rosen-Metsch, Dean of the School of General Studies; Marlyn Delva, Dean of Students; and Dr. James Colgrove, Dean of the Postbaccalaureate Premedical program.
Directly following the New Student Welcome, families attended several diverse online programs.
Professor Sue Mendelsohn, Director of Columbia’s Writing Center and Associate Director of First Year Writing, treated guests to a sample University Writing course. University Writing is a one-semester seminar designed to facilitate students’ entry into the intellectual life of the university by teaching them to become more capable and independent academic readers and writers. Family members were encouraged to participate in the conversation and think in-depth about writing in an effort to experience what students learn in this popular course, as well as how to best support their students and their writing.
After Professor Mendelsohn’s interactive presentation, Dean Delva hosted a resource presentation featuring members of the GS academic advising team. Guests learned about the many resources available to students and were able to ask questions related to academic courses, registrations, and extracurricular opportunities.
The final event was an engaging Student and Alumni Panel featuring current GS students Drake Sherman and Maggie Khanna, and alumni Keith Hightower ’09GS and Lori Paulson ’21GS. Sherman and Khanna spoke about their paths to Columbia, advice they would give to new students, and some of the resources they find most helpful during the school year.
Hightower and Paulson reflected on their time as students and spoke about their favorite classes, tips for time management, and what they found to be the most helpful resources.
