The Special Students Program

Postgraduate Nondegree Students

• If you hold a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent from an accredited American or foreign university, you may apply for admission as a Postgraduate Nondegree Student. This status gives you access to all Arts and Sciences courses for which you are prepared, except for some of those required for admission to medical or other health-profession schools. Persons interested in premedical or other health-related preprofessional courses should apply to the School of General Studies.
  
  
• As a Postgraduate Nondegree Student, you may register for any undergraduate or graduate courses included in the course listing, provided you can satisfy the prerequisites. Places in limited-enrollment courses such as undergraduate seminars are not normally open to postgraduates. Postgraduate students who are not preparing for admission to medical school or to graduate school in any of the health professions who wish to take courses in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, or physics may do so, but only with written permission from the Dean of Continuing Education and Special Programs.
  
  
• The undergraduate courses that you take as a Special Student usually are not credited toward a graduate degree either at Columbia or elsewhere.
  
  
• Graduate courses may result in advanced standing upon entering graduate school, but the authority to grant advanced standing rests with the graduate school in which you enroll, not with the Special Students Program. Columbia’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences may confer up to one "residence unit" of credit toward the M.A. or Ph.D. for work completed as a Postgraduate Nondegree Student in the Special Students Program; courses must be completed with a grade of B or better and must be approved for graduate credit by the student’s department. (A "residence unit" is equivalent to 15 points of academic credit.)
  
  
• Postgraduate Nondegree Students who wish to study a particular discipline are urged to contact the departmental adviser (see the department’s course listing) to plan a program of study. This step is especially important for those planning to apply to a graduate or professional school.

All students be advised that Columbia's School of General Studies will not accept the transfer of more than 15 points of credit towards the B.A. or B.S. for work completed as a nondegree student at Columbia.

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