Founded in 1754 and the fifth oldest institution of higher learning in America, Columbia University in the City of New York encompasses more than a dozen graduate and professional schools and the over 8,000 undergraduates studying in Columbia College, Barnard College, the College of General Studies and The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. Columbia Engineering is one of the oldest engineering schools in the U.S., developing future engineering leaders through its unique educational approach which includes a first-year hands-on design course; close student-to-faculty interaction with extensive undergraduate research opportunities starting as early as the first year; a broad-based core curriculum, liberal arts minors and interdisciplinary courses; programs and projects that foster entrepreneurship and socially-responsible innovation; and trailblazing internship and civic engagement programs in New York City and around the world. Students choose among over 100 majors and concentrations and thousands of research, internship and job opportunities.
Columbia maintains an intimate college campus within one of the world’s most vibrant cities. Located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, Columbia not only offers access to all of New York City, the ultimate classroom, but also guaranteed four-year housing within a traditional campus surrounded by a residential neighborhood lined with bookstores, cafes and parks.
Columbia College grants the Bachelor of Arts degree in more than 100 programs of study in the humanities, social sciences, and pure sciences, including many interdisciplinary majors. Columbia Engineering grants the Bachelor of Science degree in 16 engineering fields. The renowned Core Curriculum unites all Columbia undergraduates by providing a common foundation in literature, philosophy, science, art, history and music, and caps classes at 22 students to afford close interaction with Columbia's renowned faculty.
Called "the quintessential great urban university," Columbia is diverse in every way: students come from 50 states and over 90 foreign countries; over half of undergraduates are students of color, and over 500 student organizations are offered, including 31 NCAA Division I Ivy League athletic teams and dozens of community service organizations, performance groups, political clubs and publications. Columbia students take part in extracurricular groups of all kinds: artistic (theater, music, dance, film, and visual arts), athletic (thirty-one Division I varsity sports and dozens of club and intramural sports), communications (the Columbia Daily Spectator, the Columbia Journal of Literary Criticism, WKCR-FM, and many others), community service (Amnesty International, Big Brother/Big Sister programs, after-hours tutoring programs, a volunteer ambulance squad, and partnerships with dozens of hospitals, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters), and pre-professional (the Charles Drew Pre-Medical Society, the National Society of Black Engineers, and more). Other groups represent students’ ethnic, religious, political, and gender identities. There are 30 fraternities and sororities. Alfred Lerner Hall houses office and meeting space for student organizations, a black box theatre, a cinema, the James H. and Christine Turk Berick Center for Student Advising, and many dining options.
With a six percent admissions rate, Columbia University ranks tied as the second most selective school in the United States. In 2015, six percent of students who applied were admitted to Columbia University (1,655 of 27,603 applicants). The admissions rate for the School of Engineering was seven percent (567 of 8,647 applicants).
According to the fall of 2015 statistics, Columbia College students received 40 percent of tuition as financial aid ($91.8 million). According to the US News & World Report, 49 percent of full-time undergraduate students received need-based financial aid and the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $47,490. The Office of Financial Aid and Educational Financing believes that cost should not be a barrier to students pursuing their educational dreams. All first-year candidates who are U.S. citizens or have U.S. permanent resident or political refugee status are considered for admission without regard to their financial need. International students who do not fit into the above categories should be aware that their admissions process is not need-blind; their financial need is taken into account at the time of admission. Regardless of citizenship, Columbia meets the full demonstrated need of every student admitted as a first-year or transfer student. All financial aid at Columbia is based on need, in the form of grants and student work only, not loans.