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I went to Columbia. Many reasons folks wind up in General Studies. Two common ones are you didn’t get into good schools but your dad is both loaded and encouraging that a Columbia degree is worth it. Another is you’re between 40 and 60 and trying to reinvent yourself and/or your love life.

It’s a cash cow, akin to the Learning Annex.

[andi999]

What does your love life have to do with a Columbia degree?

[simtel20]

The implication is that you meet the students grads and professors of the university and they are now part of your social circle and your dating pool.

A while back a friend in her thirties went to Columbia's teachers college and ended up marrying one of her professors so I guess it's more common than I realized.

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What I was remarking on was that there was a certain subset of the 'back to school' cohort, in my day, who were basically reinventing their life, and often post-divorce.