Someone explained to me that there are the people who get admitted to columbia the normal way and that is very competitive, and there is a special admissions program for students who want a columbia degree, but are sort of commuter students...althogh they have the same degree, it is a different program.
Like the fact that Harvard Law is very competitive, but there is a part time program too,
Coupled with the fact that all of his student records are hidden away from any public review, I am inclined to believe Obama defrauded his way through his entire "education."
I presume that’d be like Harvard’s Extension School—generally open enrollment night school and summer school classes. They give regular Harvard credit and have their own, kind of BS-y, degrees. Some lesser colleges have similar programs as well.
Most universities have a program like that. Usually called something like the "College of General Studies", as opposed to the "College of Arts and Sciences" which a typical name for the main degree-granting division. "General Studies" students usually can't register for classes until all the regular students have already registered (so hard to get into a lot of the courses), and many departments require majors to be in the "Arts and Sciences" division and upper level courses are often only open to majors. It's not the "same degree" if it's from the General Studies division -- the diploma names the school/college/division which awarded the degree, and degrees from General Studies-type divisions are much less marketable, both to employers and graduate/professional schools.
But Obama was a regular matriculated student in Columbia College, which is the mian "Ivy League" undergraduate division of Columbia University. Given that he was a very intelligent black student, I'm sure he would have had no trouble getting in the regular way, given that affirmative action was pretty heavy in that era. He probably wouldn't have been able to get in if he'd been white, but that's true of most black students who attended top colleges in those days (and is still true now, to some extent).
And there are super-special programs for students with wealthy benefactors, too!!!