Columbia University in the City of New York

Admission to Columbia University is exceptionally selective, and the university maintains strong drawing power among admitted applicants. In the 2027 US News Best Colleges rankings, Columbia placed at number 12, recovering from rank 18 in 2023. For the class entering in 2025, the undergraduate admit rate was just 4%, which was higher than only 13% of schools in its peer group of similarly ranked private research universities. Securing an acceptance is challenging as tens of thousands of applicants are turned away each cycle. Once admitted, students demonstrate a clear commitment to attend: Columbia's yield rate stood at 64.9% in 2025, higher than 70% of peer institutions. This high yield confirms that Columbia is a preferred destination for the majority of students who receive an offer.

Prospective applicants to Columbia must present stellar academic credentials to be competitive. In 2025, Columbia's median SAT score was 1550, which was higher than 72% of peer schools in its comparison group of private research universities. Test score submissions have become more selective, with middle scores approaching the maximum on both the SAT and ACT sections. For international candidates, unofficial applicant cases collected by Forward Pathway provide additional context: admitted international students held a median unweighted GPA of 3.95 and a median SAT score of 1480. In comparison, denied applicants in those unofficial records had lower GPAs and test scores. These metrics indicate that high school students aiming for Columbia should target near-perfect grade averages and test scores near the top of the testing scales.

Columbia's academic profile is heavily oriented toward advanced degrees, awarding 10,423 master's degrees in 2025 alongside bachelor's and doctoral degrees. At the undergraduate level, degrees show moderate concentration, with the top three fields accounting for 35.8% of bachelor's completions. The largest undergraduate major is Computer Science with 377 graduates in 2025, followed by Econometrics and Quantitative Economics. These popular fields also yield high financial returns; according to 2023 earnings data, Computer Science graduates earned a median salary of $135,612 one year after graduation. At the graduate level, the university's largest programs align closely with its highest-ranked disciplines. In the 2026 US News graduate rankings, International Policy and Management ranked number 1, Accounting ranked number 1, and Business Law ranked number 2. Master's programs also draw heavy global enrollment, led by quantitative management disciplines.

Columbia enrolls a predominantly graduate student body with substantial representation from international and Asian students. In 2025, graduate students made up 73.9% of total campus enrollment. Among incoming undergraduate freshmen, Asian students accounted for 392 students, representing 25.2% of the class. International students also formed a sizable undergraduate cohort. In the graduate division, international scholars represented the single largest group at 11,933 students, accounting for over four in ten advanced-degree seekers, while Asian students comprised several thousand additional scholars. Across both divisions, White, Hispanic, and Black students contribute to a varied campus population. This demographic balance means prospective applicants enter a campus environment where graduate research dominates and international and Asian backgrounds are deeply integrated into academic life.

Columbia's age structure reflects a sharp division between its undergraduate and graduate divisions. In 2025, undergraduates were concentrated heavily in traditional college ages: students aged 20 to 21 made up the largest group at 39.8%, while those aged 18 to 19 accounted for 30.6%. Older undergraduates form a smaller secondary group. Conversely, the graduate population is mature and career-focused, with students aged 22 to 24 comprising 41.8% of enrollment and those aged 25 to 29 representing 35.5%. This balance means undergraduate life centers around young adults progressing straight from high school, while the broader campus climate is shaped by young working professionals and advanced researchers pursuing postgraduate degrees.

International enrollment at Columbia has grown steadily across both undergraduate and graduate divisions over the past decade. By 2025, undergraduate international students accounted for 20.5% of enrollment, rising from earlier years and placing higher than 93% of peer institutions in its group of similarly ranked private research universities. At the graduate level, international representation expanded to 45.9% in 2025. International degree earners are distributed differently depending on degree level. Among 2025 master's degree recipients, international students earned 56.3% of all awards, concentrating heavily in quantitative disciplines such as Computer and Information Sciences, Operations Research, and Management Sciences. At the undergraduate level, international graduates concentrated primarily in Econometrics and Quantitative Economics, followed by Computer Science. This sustained international growth demonstrates that foreign students are an integral part of Columbia's academic community, particularly within technical and quantitative graduate programs.

Applicants considering Columbia University can explore several other higher education options within the greater New York metropolitan area. Directly across the street, Barnard College is an undergraduate women's liberal arts college located just 0.1 kilometers away, ranked 19th among national liberal arts colleges in the 2027 US News rankings. Just over 1 kilometer north in Manhattan is CUNY City College, a public national university ranked 156th. Further south in the city, New York University sits 5.8 kilometers away in Greenwich Village, holding a rank of 31 among national universities in the 2027 US News rankings. Across the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey, Stevens Institute of Technology is located 5.5 kilometers away, ranked 59th nationally. These nearby institutions offer students alternative academic settings across different campus formats.

Campus safety at Columbia reflects the realities of an open university setting in an urban environment. In 2025, the campus crime rate per 1,000 students was 6.2, reflecting a moderate increase from a decade earlier. Looking at cumulative totals across the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, the most common reported infractions involved disciplinary actions and property offenses rather than major violence. Disciplinary referrals for alcohol violations formed the largest category, totaling 231 incidents over those three years. Theft was the leading property crime, with 177 incidents recorded from 2023 to 2025, followed by 62 drug-related disciplinary referrals. Other reported incidents across this timeframe included smaller counts of stalking, motor vehicle theft, and dating violence. For incoming students, these records suggest that day-to-day safety concerns revolve primarily around alcohol rule enforcement and property vigilance in a major metropolitan center.