Academics

Course Credit

All courses must be taken for credit. Auditing is not permitted.

Course Levels

• To register for classes, students must first meet with their College Edge academic advisor and obtain approval.
• College Edge students typically enroll in lower-level (1000–2999) courses
• College Edge students are restricted from enrolling in graduate level courses, workshops, and/or seminar courses.
• Courses offered through Barnard College and Columbia CORE office are also restricted to College Edge students. Please work with your assigned advisor to determine which courses are available for registration. 

Course Prerequisites

Departments and individual instructors place prerequisites on courses to indicate the information or capabilities they will take for granted in the course. Students should take prerequisites seriously to prevent encountering academic difficulty in courses too advanced for them. Students without the stated prerequisites but with some equivalent coursework may apply through their academic advisor for permission to take the course.

Classes offered through the Psychology Department and Economics Department require special permission from the department, even if the student meets the prerequisites. Students must consult their academic advisor to obtain permission. Note that the Economics Department only considers classes taken through Columbia College as meeting the prerequisites.

Coursework

Plan to spend two to three hours of study outside class for every hour spent in class. A three-hour class session could require up to nine hours of preparation.

Attendance

The instructor should be notified in advance of any absences. If unforeseen circumstances cause a student to miss more than two class meetings, the student should consider withdrawing from the course. Individual instructors may impose their own more rigorous attendance requirements.

Students may not attend class unless they are officially enrolled, and a class cannot be added to a student's program after it has been completed.

Classes take place on Columbia's Morningside campus and students are expected to attend all classes and laboratory periods.  Instructors may take attendance into account in assessing a student's performance and may require a certain level of attendance for passing a course. Students are held accountable for absences incurred owing to late enrollment.

Due to summer courses being more intensive than academic-year courses, students enrolled in the summer term are expected to attend every class meeting.

Religious Holidays

It is the policy of the University to respect its members' religious beliefs. In compliance with New York State law, each student who is absent from school because of his or her religious beliefs will be given an equivalent opportunity to register for classes or make up any examination, study, or work requirements that he or she may have missed because of such absence on any particular day or days. No student will be penalized for absence due to religious beliefs, and alternative means will be sought for satisfying the academic requirements involved.

Transfer Credit

College Edge students should consult their intended undergraduate institution regarding the transfer of college credits earned through the College Edge program.

Courses taken as P/F option may not be transferable to your home institution.

Columbia’s School of General Studies will accept up to 15 credits from the School of Professional Studies toward the B.A. or B.S. degree.

The University reserves the right to withdraw or modify the courses of instruction or to change the instructors as may become necessary. We recommend you speak with your academic advisor for the most up-to-date information available.