GS Welcomes 100 New Students at Summer Welcome Event

The School of General Studies happily welcomed 100 undergraduate and Postbac Premed students from the incoming cohort at a first of its kind two-day virtual welcome event. To support the students' transition into the academic and co-curricular environment, students were invited to the online event allowing them to engage with the GS staff and one another, and to learn about the abundant resources that GS offers to students. 

Lisa Rosen-Metsch (Dean of the School of General Studies), Marlyn Delva (Dean of Students), James Colgrove (Dean of the Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program), and Christopher Thompson (outgoing GS Student Body President, GS Peer Advisor) began the two-day event by excitedly welcoming new students to the robust Columbia University and School of General Studies communities.

The Dean of Students Office then shared information regarding the varied resources offered by GS, including academic advising, academic support services, premedical support, student life, and student wellness. Marlyn Delva, Dean of Students, said, “During the summer, the Dean of Students Office is bringing the full capacity of our services to support new students transitioning to Columbia. Our advising and academic resource teams are eager to provide the guidance and resources to support student success and our Student Life team is continuously developing innovative programming to connect, engage, and further educate our students.”

The students in attendance learned about University Studies, a course offered through the Academic Resource Center (ARC) taken by all incoming GS students. The course is designed around one simple goal: to help students have a successful first semester at Columbia. Associate Dean of Students and Director of Academic and Learning Initiatives, Sara Remedios, said, “University Studies is an integral part of the transition support offered to incoming GS students. In light of online summer instruction, we have completely redesigned our instructional approach.” This summer, the ARC teaching team has put together a special online, flipped-classroom version of the course for students who are choosing to get a head start on coursework in our remote learning environment. The class includes self-paced lessons on metacognition and active learning, studying for technical courses, interacting with faculty, a debut lesson on learning well online will be taught by our Dean of Students, Marlyn Delva, and more. ARC tutoring, coaching, and one-on-one support services continue to be available virtually throughout the summer for all new and continuing GS students.

Students ended their first day by hearing from a panel of current students who shared their experiences at GS and answered questions posed by the incoming students. GS student leader, Christopher Thompson, said, "This is a really unique time for new students to be starting their journeys at Columbia, and what I saw during the summer welcome event was a lot more excitement about summer classes than we have ever seen before, so I’m really looking forward to maintaining that strong sense of GS community throughout the summer!"

The second day of the event began with a faculty lecture from Professor of Sociomedical Sciences and Dean of the Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program, James Colgrove, which offered students a preview of the integrative Columbia virtual classroom experience. Speaking on both the challenges and opportunities of online instruction, Dean Colgrove, said, "We are pleased to have the opportunity to introduce our incoming students to this style of learning and instruction and show them how online platforms can enhance student engagement.”

To close out the welcome event, students had the opportunity to meet fellow new students as well as chat with GS student leaders at the virtual GS social hour hosted by the Student Life team.

Incoming and prospective students alike are encouraged to learn more about the numerous resources and events available this summer at GS.