The School of General Studies is entirely separate from the School of Continuing Education.
GS awards bachelor degrees (mostly BAs, some BSs) and a post-baccalaureate certification in premedical sciences. It has rigorous admissions requirements including test scores and transcripts. It is not open enrollment, and you must be working toward a degree (or the postbac premed certificate).
The School of Continuing Education doesn't award undergraduate degrees, and general classes are closer to open enrollment. SCE does have some professional masters degrees, like actuarial science, that I believe do require admissions.
My understanding is that Gac has been at Columbia for 20 years. The first ~7 were taking English classes through the School of Continuing Education. After that he was admitted to GS to pursue a bachelor's degree. However that wasn't automatic for him, or anyone.
GS awards bachelor degrees (mostly BAs, some BSs) and a post-baccalaureate certification in premedical sciences. It has rigorous admissions requirements including test scores and transcripts. It is not open enrollment, and you must be working toward a degree (or the postbac premed certificate).
The School of Continuing Education doesn't award undergraduate degrees, and general classes are closer to open enrollment. SCE does have some professional masters degrees, like actuarial science, that I believe do require admissions.
My understanding is that Gac has been at Columbia for 20 years. The first ~7 were taking English classes through the School of Continuing Education. After that he was admitted to GS to pursue a bachelor's degree. However that wasn't automatic for him, or anyone.