From its door-opening Ivy League education to its location in one of the world’s great cities—New York, New York—Columbia University possesses a number of qualities particularly appealing to college-bound students. Columbia is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious universities (it was founded before the American Revolution) and has a long tradition of attracting the best and brightest applicants hoping to join the ranks of the university’s celebrated alumni.
Like other Ivy League schools, Columbia attracts high-performing students who consistently rank at, or near, the top of their class and who perform extremely well on standardized exams. Competitive applicants to Columbia will need to have a strong GPA and test scores.
Great academics alone aren’t enough to earn admission to Columbia, but they help to ensure an applicant is considered. Highly selective schools that receive an abundance of applications use a tool known as the Academic Index to screen out unqualified applicants. Academic Index is a summation of an applicant’s entire academic performance into a single numerical score and failure to meet Columbia’s benchmark can rule an applicant out before their application is even read.
Columbia University is practicing test-optional admissions for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 application cycles, meaning that applicants aren’t required to submit standardized test scores as part of their application. However, it’s generally considered a wise strategy to submit test scores if they fall within the middle 50% range, especially if they are on the high end of the spectrum.
Here’s what to expect when applying to Columbia University.
Columbia accepts both the Common Application and the Coalition Application. It will also accept the QuestBridge Application from QuestBridge Finalists. There is an $85 application fee at Columbia. For applicants for whom the fee poses a significant financial burden, fee waivers are available.
There are two pathways to admission into Columbia: early decision and regular decision. Early decision is binding and applicants who apply for it commit to attending the university if accepted. Early decision candidates have an advantage in admissions—Columbia’s early decision acceptance rate is 11.9% while its overall acceptance rate is a scant 3.8%.
Application Path
Application Deadline
Supplemental Essays: Columbia applicants are required to respond to four-short answer prompts as part of their application:
Columbia applicants are also asked to submit two short lists as part of their application:
Essays are a valuable tool for students intent on standing out in a crowded field of applicants, and strategically responding to Columbia’s questions can make the difference in finding yourself in New York the following fall or not. CollegeVine’s article, How to Write the Columbia University Essays 2022-2023 , provides valuable insight into how to craft attention-grabbing responses. CollegeVine Essay Review can provide free feedback from other students or paid feedback from experts to those who’ve already begun crafting their responses.
Interviews: Interviews are conducted by student interviewers and volunteer members of Columbia’s Alumni Representative Committee. Applicants outnumber interviewers, consequently, they’re not a required part of a Columbia application. The university places minor emphasis on interviews in admission decisions and those not offered an interview are not at an admissions disadvantage.
Early decision applicants will receive their admission notifications by mid-December, while regular decision applicants will receive their admission decisions by April 1.
Application Path
Application Notification