Columbia University is a private institution that was founded in 1754. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 6,162, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 36 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Columbia University’s ranking in the 2019 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 3. Its tuition and fees are $59,430 (2018-19).
Located in New York City, Columbia is comprised of three undergraduate schools – Columbia College, The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of General Studies – as well as a number of graduate and professional schools, including the highly ranked Business School, Teachers College, Law School and College of Physicians and Surgeons. The university also has a well-regarded College of Dental Medicine and graduate Journalism School. Columbia offers a wide range of student activities, including about 25 Greek chapters, and more than 90 percent of students live on campus. Columbia is affiliated with Barnard College for women, the Union Theological Seminary and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Distinguished alumni include John Jay, founding father and first Supreme Court chief justice, and former President Barack Obama. Columbia also administers the Pulitzer Prizes.
Which borough in New York City is Columbia located in?
Columbia University’s main campus is located in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, situated in the Morningside Heights neighborhood. The Columbia University Medical Center – home to the medical, nursing, dental and public health faculties – is located in northern Manhattan in the Washington Heights neighborhood.
What are the admissions criteria for Columbia?
Prospective first-year students can apply to Columbia using The Common Application or the Coalition Application. For more specific information on application requirements for both domestic and international students, see the Applying section of the Columbia University profile page. According to the university’s website, Columbia takes a holistic approach when reviewing applications. This means admissions officers look at more than just students’ grades and test scores, including their extracurricular involvement, recommendations and other factors, such as family circumstances.
When does Columbia release early decision admissions notifications?
Early decision applications to Columbia are due by Nov. 1, and according to the university’s website, students will receive an admission decision in mid-December. According to U.S. News data, 21 percent of early decision applicants were admitted to Columbia for the 2016-2017 academic year. Regular decision applicants will be notified of their admission status by April 1.
Schools and Affiliates
Columbia College, the original core of the university, is now a coeducational undergraduate school. The school of medicine (est. 1767), which awarded the first M.D. degree in America in 1770, was absorbed into the independent College of Physicians and Surgeons (chartered 1807), which in turn was absorbed into the university in 1891. Also included in the university are the schools of law (1858); architecture, planning, and preservation (1896); and engineering and applied science, founded (1864) as the school of mines; the graduate school of arts and science, founded as the graduate faculties of political science (1880), philosophy (1890), and pure science (1892); and the schools of nursing (1892), general studies (1904), journalism (1912), business (1916), dental medicine (1916), public health (1922), social work (1940), international and public affairs (1946), and the arts (1948). Columbia has in the past operated schools of pharmacy (1904–76) and library science (1926–92) and offered professional courses in optometry (1910–56). Affiliates of the university are Teachers College (founded 1889, affiliated with the university 1898) and Barnard College (founded 1889, affiliated with the university 1900).
Much of Columbia’s work in the fields of political science and international relations is carried on through a large group of research institutes (e.g., the East Asian, the European, and the Russian, now Harriman, institutes). At Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., are the university’s Nevis physics laboratories. At Palisades, N.Y., the university operates the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which has extensive facilities for research in geophysics, geochemistry, and oceanography. The university enrolls some 22,000 students.
Columbia has formal educational ties to the Juilliard School of Music and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, to Oxford and Cambridge universities in England, to the Univ. of Paris, to Kyoto and Tokyo universities in Japan, and other educational institutions. It operates the Arden House conference center at Harriman, N.Y., and Reid Hall, an academic facility in Paris. The university library system, among the nation’s largest, has many important manuscript and rare book collections. Columbia Univ. Press was founded in 1893.
History
Its first president was Samuel Johnson (1696–1772), a clergyman, who held classes in the schoolhouse of Trinity Church. The administration of his successor, Myles Cooper, was interrupted by the American Revolution; the college was closed but was reopened as Columbia College (1784) in a building in lower Manhattan. Title was first vested in the regents of the Univ. of the State of New York but in 1787 it was transferred to the trustees of the college, who elected William Samuel Johnson president. In 1857, under Charles King (1789–1867), the college moved to a site at Madison Ave. and 49th St.; in 1897, under Seth Low, the move was made to Morningside Heights. The gradual addition of professional and graduate schools resulted in the assumption of the name Columbia Univ. in 1896; in 1912 the name became Columbia Univ. in the City of New York. Columbia College remained the undergraduate school and in 1919 originated the modern Contemporary Civilizations Core Curriculum requirements, for which it is still well known.
Notable presidents of Columbia include F. A. P. Barnard, Nicholas Murray Butler, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Grayson Kirk was president from 1953 to 1968 and was succeeded by Andrew Cordier. In 1970, William J. McGill was appointed president; his successor, Michael I. Sovern, was president from 1980 to 1993. George E. Rupp succeeded Sovern in 1993, and Lee C. Bollinger followed Rupp in 2002.
Student life
n 2017, Columbia University’s student population was 32,429 (8,868 students in undergraduate programs and 23,561 in postgraduate programs), with 42% of the student population identifying themselves as a minority and 28% born outside of the United States. Twenty-six percent of students at Columbia have family incomes below $60,000, making it one of the most socioeconomically diverse top-tier colleges. Sixteen percent of students at Columbia receive Federal Pell Grants, which mostly go to students whose family incomes are below $40,000. Fifteen percent of students are the first member of their family to attend a four-year college.
On-campus housing is guaranteed for all four years as an undergraduate. Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (also known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering) share housing in the on-campus residence halls. First-year students usually live in one of the large residence halls situated around South Lawn: Hartley Hall, Wallach Hall (originally Livingston Hall), John Jay Hall, Furnald Hall or Carman Hall. Upperclassmen participate in a room selection process, wherein students can pick to live in a mix of either corridor- or apartment-style housing with their friends. The Columbia University School of General Studies, Barnard College and graduate schools have their own apartment-style housing in the surrounding neighborhood.
Columbia University is home to many fraternities, sororities, and co-educational Greek organizations. Approximately 10–15% of undergraduate students are associated with Greek life. Many Barnard women also join Columbia sororities. There has been a Greek presence on campus since the establishment in 1836 of the Delta Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi. The InterGreek Council is the self-governing student organization that provides guidelines and support to its member organizations within each of the three councils at Columbia, the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, and Multicultural Greek Council. The three council presidents bring their affiliated chapters together once a month to meet as one Greek community. The InterGreek Council meetings provide opportunity for member organizations to learn from each other, work together and advocate for community needs.