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Lemme explain this difference between The Columbia University School of General Studies and dear olde Columbia College one more time.

BHO, Jr (aka II) started Columbia University School of General Studies as a protegé of Bill Ayers, who had big juice at the school. Ayers got him from his bosom pal at Occidental, Prof. Larry Goldyn, Barry's queer commie mentor.

Barry was not a student at the prestigious Ivy League COLUMBIA COLLEGE. He was a walk-in to the Columbia University School of General Studies, where all one needed (needs) to enter, is a pulse and a check. Look it TF up, OK?

If you take enough General Studies courses, and your previous college stuff is approved, you get a Columbia COLLEGE diploma. Or, if the Bill Ayers fix is in. It's a private outfit, they can do whatever TF they want.

No mystery that no one at Columbia COLLEGE knew him. The high-SAT Ivy Leaguers at the COLLEGE wouldn't be caught dead speaking to a General Studies odd-ball geek, who took The GS bullshiite seminars taught by weirdo NYC old-time commie adjunct professors with bad hair and subway breath. Yeah, if there was room and you had a decent GPA, you might be allowed to take a real course with the COLLEGE fellows.

There are plenty of mysteries about Barry at Columbia. One of which ain't that he "wasn't there." This WA Root guy has been trying to dine out on this for years. He's as FOS as Barry.

You want a Columbia mystery?

How the hell did Barry take enough of the even bullshiite GS Seminars in the brief months he was there to qualify for that Columbia degree?

Well, he had to have been given academic credit for his "travels" etc. by a very lenient administration. And that, IMNVHO, is why they have sealed his records tighter than Lenin's casket. No one in the history of Columbia University ever left knowing less than this anusPOTUS. He be dumb.

You wanna another mystery? What was his relationship to the "Black Power" gang in NYC.

You wanna do research? Tell me what specifically caused the Bar of the State of Illinois to ask him to permanently resign. My theory? They couldn't figure out who he was, either.

Hi Kenny. I just wanted to correct you on a few things about GS. First off, as I'm reading through the material available on the Internet, it is painfully obvious that Obama was a GS student. But lets disambiguate that a bit shall we. The School of General Studies is one of four undergraduate schools at Columbia Unversity (The others are Columbia College, SEAS, and Barnard College). I also came to CU as a transfer and know first hand that CC doesn't take transfers except in very rare cases. GS is the defacto school for nearly anyone wishing to transfer in from another school. In fact, if you have taken more than a year off between secondary and post-secondary work you are required to apply to GS and barred from applying to CC. CC, is the traditional, straight from high school School. GS is almost always recommended for anyone with more than four semesters of college coursework. After two years at OXY it's nearly impossible that he would have been allowed to transfer to CC. He would have been admitted to GS. What GS is NOT is a “Walk-in” “write a check” gig. It is a degree seeking program and is treated as such. There is a separate continuing education department that allows for non-degree seeking study and classes ala carte, at leisure.

It is also, quite a bit harder than having “just a pulse,” to get in. While admissions requirements are not as academically focused as CC, academic performance is taken into account. I personally transferred with a community college GPA of 3.71 including Honors College distinctions, numerous officer positions in extracurriculars, and 7 years of full and part work and acting experience. Most of GS is made up of those who either left traditional schooling early to pursue professional careers otherwise (IE: we have many actors, dancers, and musicians among us), Military Veterans, or those that pursued careers after high school and returned to higher education later.

You also seem to disambiguate between GS and regular university classes. This is incorrect. While certain CORE requisites like Undergraduate Writing have separate GS sections tailored to those who may have had previous college work, the rest of all CORE and Major requisites are classes integrated with CC, SEAS, and Barnard. There is no difference. I've taken many classes with CC, SEAS, and Barnard students for mine. You also claim you get a CC diploma, this is incorrect and has been a matter of contention. GS graduates receive a Columbia University diploma in English like SEAS, CC receives one in Latin. That's the only difference.

It's indeed not a mystery that many CC’s didn't know him. GS tends to be a tight knit group of folk who are a little more mature and experienced than CC fresh from high school or prep-school. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's as cliquey as you describe, even now twenty+ years later, there's still a distinct divide between GS and the other schools socially. There are plenty of people, CC’ers and even GS’ers, in my major program I don't know after a year. It was an inside joke, that when they announced the GS Val and Sal just a few days ago, that they must be lovely, shame that no one’s met them. The rigor of study here is daunting. I fully believe when he says he became monk like, spending nights in Butler. I've done it myself. It is incredibly easy to become isolated, even in the time of Facebook and text messaging, in 1983 it would have been even harder.