Basic Information
Type
Private
Geographical Reach
National
Location
New York, NY
Population
14,000,000
Website
https://www.columbia.edu/
Weather
Comfortable Days
105 (50%)
Sunshine Hours
2,535 (41%)
Days Without Precipitation
243 (42%)
Demographics
Total Undergraduates
8,595
Men / Women
51% / 49%
From State
17%
From Region
14%
Athletes
11.6%
Racial/Ethnic
White
27%
International
20%
Asian
19%
Hispanic
15%
Black
7%
Mixed
6%
Native American
0%
Men in the Entering Class
Men
Entering Class by Race & Ethnicity
Native
Asian
Black
Hispanic
White
International
Share of the full-time first-time degree-seeking cohort. Groups IPEDS reports separately — two or more races, and race unknown — are left out, so the lines don't sum to 100%.
Enrolled Undergraduates by Race & Ethnicity
Native
Asian
Black
Hispanic
White
International
Share of all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates, not just the entering class. Same excluded groups as above.
IPEDS Admissions (2011–2024), Graduation Rates (2011–2024) and 12-month Enrollment (2020–2025) surveys. Years a college didn't file leave a gap in the line.
Schools & Majors
| ⇅ | Trends | Degrees | Male/Female | Intl | Earnings | ROI | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia College | 2,148 | 50% / 50% | 20% | $105,543 | 94 | 90% | |
| Computer Science | 377 +39 | 64% / 36% | 23% | $189,073 | 100 | 95% | |
| Data Science | 6 +2 | 83% / 17% | 33% | $136,626 | 99 | — | |
| Information Science/Studies | 23 — | 57% / 43% | 17% | $178,806 | 100 | — | |
| Mathematics and Computer Science | 25 +5 | 52% / 48% | 24% | $171,832 | 100 | — | |
| Astronomy | 4 +1 | 25% / 75% | 0% | $95,534 | 88 | — | |
| Astrophysics | 11 +1 | 55% / 45% | 18% | $93,940 | 87 | — | |
| Chemistry | 12 +1 | 75% / 25% | 8% | $80,388 | 73 | — | |
| Climate System Science and Engineering (Course 1-12) | 7 +1 | 0% / 100% | 29% | — | — | — | |
| Geology/Earth Science | 12 +3 | 50% / 50% | 8% | $46,832 | 4 | 96% | |
| Materials Science | 2 — | 50% / 50% | 0% | $81,865 | 75 | — | |
| Mathematics | 40 +27 | 85% / 15% | 22% | $85,302 | 80 | 89% | |
| Mathematics-Statistics | 26 +7 | 73% / 27% | 27% | $153,793 | 100 | 90% | |
| Physical Sciences | 2 — | 50% / 50% | 50% | $96,344 | 89 | — | |
| Physics | 21 +4 | 81% / 19% | 19% | $94,458 | 88 | — | |
| Biochemistry | 18 +2 | 39% / 61% | 11% | $77,538 | 68 | — | |
| Biological Sciences | 58 +3 | 43% / 57% | 9% | $64,249 | 35 | 92% | |
| Biophysics | 7 — | 43% / 57% | 14% | $80,915 | 74 | — | |
| Computational Biology | 1 — | 100% / 0% | 100% | — | — | — | |
| Evolutionary Biology | 5 +1 | 20% / 80% | 0% | $90,771 | 85 | 90% | |
| Neuroscience and Behavior | 90 — | 32% / 68% | 16% | $71,831 | 56 | 92% | |
| Environmental Science | 8 +1 | 12% / 88% | 0% | $83,971 | 78 | 90% | |
| Economics | 307 +13 | 62% / 38% | 36% | $123,655 | 99 | 90% | |
| Economics | 36 +16 | 44% / 56% | 6% | $123,655 | 99 | 90% | |
| African American and African Diaspora Studies | 7 +5 | 57% / 43% | 0% | $50,788 | 7 | 93% | |
| American Studies | 17 +4 | 47% / 53% | 0% | $72,905 | 59 | 90% | |
| Ancient Studies/Civilization | 1 — | 0% / 100% | 0% | $68,764 | 48 | — | |
| Anthropology | 15 +6 | 47% / 53% | 7% | $62,759 | 30 | 85% | |
| Classical Languages | 10 +1 | 70% / 30% | 0% | $76,526 | 66 | — | |
| Cognitive Science | 33 +4 | 30% / 70% | 21% | $101,012 | 92 | — | |
| Comparative Literature | 16 — | 44% / 56% | 12% | $71,818 | 56 | — | |
| Creative Writing | 38 +14 | 34% / 66% | 8% | $62,369 | 29 | 86% | |
| East Asian Studies | 12 +10 | 33% / 67% | 17% | $72,905 | 59 | 90% | |
| English Language and Literature | 90 +27 | 38% / 62% | 19% | $68,367 | 47 | 86% | |
| Ethnic Studies | 11 +17 | 27% / 73% | 0% | $50,788 | 7 | 93% | |
| French | 1 +4 | 0% / 100% | 100% | $73,585 | 60 | 79% | |
| German | 3 +6 | 100% / 0% | 0% | $75,992 | 65 | — | |
| History | 95 +25 | 52% / 48% | 11% | $61,022 | 25 | 88% | |
| Humanities/Humanistic Studies | 2 +4 | 0% / 100% | 50% | $89,944 | 84 | 94% | |
| Italian | — +2 | — | — | $73,585 | 60 | 79% | |
| Latin American and Caribbean Studies | — +3 | — | — | $72,905 | 59 | 90% | |
| Linguistics | 6 +3 | 17% / 83% | 0% | $76,261 | 66 | — | |
| Near Eastern and Semitic Languages | 10 +7 | 10% / 90% | 30% | $90,429 | 85 | 95% | |
| Philosophy | 38 +16 | 68% / 32% | 16% | $31,588 | 1 | 76% | |
| Philosophy and Religious Studies | 4 — | 75% / 25% | 0% | $61,774 | 27 | — | |
| Political Science | 209 +24 | 53% / 47% | 16% | $90,798 | 85 | 87% | |
| Religion | 9 +4 | 33% / 67% | 0% | $59,813 | 22 | — | |
| Research & Experimental Psychology | 116 +28 | 34% / 66% | 21% | $73,499 | 60 | 84% | |
| Slavic Languages | 5 +5 | 60% / 40% | 20% | $76,409 | 66 | — | |
| Social Sciences | 36 +7 | 28% / 72% | 22% | $70,041 | 52 | 97% | |
| Sociology | 46 +9 | 50% / 50% | 13% | $85,582 | 80 | 94% | |
| Spanish | 1 +4 | 100% / 0% | 0% | $73,585 | 60 | — | |
| Sustainability Studies | 50 +2 | 36% / 64% | 20% | $79,288 | 71 | 83% | |
| Architecture | 20 +1 | 40% / 60% | 5% | $78,207 | 70 | 90% | |
| Art History and Archaeology | 26 +16 | 23% / 77% | 19% | $51,351 | 7 | 93% | |
| Dance | 2 +4 | 50% / 50% | 0% | $48,728 | 5 | — | |
| Drama and Theatre Arts | 8 +2 | 50% / 50% | 0% | $33,812 | 1 | 90% | |
| Music | 9 +5 | 44% / 56% | 0% | $43,988 | 3 | 94% | |
| Urban Studies | 22 — | 32% / 68% | 5% | $74,958 | 63 | — | |
| Visual and Performing Arts | 82 +14 | 32% / 68% | 20% | $71,212 | 55 | 83% |
| ⇅ | Trends | Degrees | Male/Female | Intl | Earnings | ROI | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science | 348 | 50% / 50% | 19% | $121,234 | 98 | 94% | |
| Applied Physics | 13 — | 85% / 15% | 23% | $132,555 | 99 | — | |
| Biomedical Engineering | 56 — | 16% / 84% | 11% | $85,002 | 79 | 87% | |
| Chemical Engineering | 22 — | 41% / 59% | 14% | $111,927 | 97 | 97% | |
| Civil Engineering | 14 — | 36% / 64% | 7% | $89,660 | 84 | 94% | |
| Computer Engineering | 21 — | 52% / 48% | 14% | $177,537 | 100 | 100% | |
| Earth and Environmental Engineering | 13 — | 38% / 62% | 23% | $94,868 | 88 | — | |
| Electrical Engineering | 28 — | 68% / 32% | 21% | $104,421 | 94 | 88% | |
| Industrial Engineering | 11 — | 82% / 18% | 45% | $136,930 | 99 | — | |
| Mechanical Engineering | 69 — | 61% / 39% | 6% | $96,749 | 89 | 93% | |
| Operations Research | 55 — | 53% / 47% | 36% | $186,286 | 100 | 95% | |
| Applied Mathematics | 46 +11 | 54% / 46% | 28% | $123,386 | 99 | 100% |
Financial
Tuition & Fees
$76,150
ROI Percentile
95th
Retention & Graduation
Full-Time Retention
98%
4-Year Graduation Rate
81%
6-Year Graduation Rate
96%
Transfer-Out Rate
0%
Six-Year Graduation Rate
Graduated
Students finishing within 150% of normal time. Each year labels the cohort that entered six years earlier — 2024 tracks the class that started in 2018.
Six-Year Graduation Rate by Gender
Men
Women
IPEDS reports the cohort as men and women only.
Six-Year Graduation Rate by Race & Ethnicity
Asian
Black
Hispanic
White
International
Each group's completers over its own share of the entering cohort. Groups making up less than 2% of everyone this college graduated over the period are left off — their rates swing on a handful of students and read as noise.
IPEDS Graduation Rates survey, 2011–2024. Years a college didn't file leave a gap in the line.
Earnings by Major Category
Each major category's degree-weighted estimated median 5-year earnings at this college, expressed as a z-score against the national degree-weighted distribution for that category. 0 is the national average. The shaded band between +1.28 and −1.28 marks the central 80% of the national distribution (10th–90th percentile).
Academics
| ⇅ | % | Degrees | Male/Female | Intl | Earnings | ROI | Employment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35.3% | 881 | 44% / 56% | 15% | $74,707 | 63 | 87% | ||
| Computer Science | 17.3% | 431 | 64% / 36% | 23% | $186,795 | 100 | 95% | |
| Business & Economics | 13.7% | 343 | 60% / 40% | 33% | $123,655 | 99 | 90% | |
| Engineering | 12.1% | 302 | 49% / 51% | 18% | $120,907 | 98 | 92% | |
| Physical Sciences & Math | 7.3% | 183 | 65% / 35% | 22% | $104,367 | 94 | 94% | |
| Life & Natural Sciences | 7.2% | 179 | 37% / 63% | 13% | $70,827 | 54 | 92% | |
| Arts | 6.8% | 169 | 33% / 67% | 14% | $65,986 | 40 | 87% | |
| Agriculture & Food Science | 0.3% | 8 | 12% / 88% | 0% | $83,971 | 78 | 90% |
Research R1
| ⇅ | Research $ | Rank | Federal | Industry $ | PhDs | Rank | PhD students | Postdocs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Sciences | $759M | #12 | 74% | $75.7M | 35 | #56 | 130 | 821 |
| Life & Natural Sciences | $293M | #15 | 81% | $3.6M | 96 | #22 | 613 | 247 |
| Physical Sciences & Math | $150M | #19 | 78% | $2.1M | 65 | #40 | 544 | 217 |
| Engineering | $122M | #40 | 81% | $5.8M | 84 | #43 | 733 | 176 |
| $75.1M | #19 | 36% | $2.5M | 237 | #3 | 222 | 32 | |
| Computer Science | $36.1M | #18 | 83% | $2.1M | 29 | #24 | 206 | 30 |
| Education | $4.9M | #102 | 98% | $0 | 33 | #124 | — | — |
| Agriculture & Food Science | $4.7M | #94 | 33% | $0.6M | 8 | #60 | 29 | — |
| Business & Economics | $2.8M | #138 | 12% | $0.0M | 38 | #18 | 178 | — |
| Total | $1,448M | #19 | 74% | $92.4M | 625 | #24 | 2,655 | 1,523 |
Expenditure and funding source: NSF HERD, FY2024. Degrees: IPEDS completions, 2023–24. Students and postdocs: NSF Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates, fall 2024, which covers science, engineering and selected health fields only. An em dash means the source does not report the figure, which is not the same as zero.
Admissions
Uses Common App
Yes
Acceptance Rate
4%
Yield (Unbound)
41%
Early Decision 1
Nov 1
Regular Decision
Jan 1
Acceptance Rates
| In-State | Out-of-State | International | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Decision | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Early Decision | 13% | 13% | 13% |
Acceptance & Yield
Acceptance
Yield
Applicants, Admitted & Enrolled
Applicants
Admitted
Enrolled
IPEDS Admissions survey, 2011–2024. Years a college didn't file leave a gap in the line.
Standardized Tests
Test Policy
optional
Submitted Test Scores
63%
SAT Range
1510
–
1560
SAT Math Range
770
–
800
SAT RW Range
740
–
780
SAT Composite
25th
75th
SAT Math
25th
75th
SAT Reading & Writing
25th
75th
Submitting a Test Score
Submitted
IPEDS Admissions survey, 2011–2024. Years a college didn't file leave a gap in the line. Test-score submission adds SAT and ACT submitters, capped at 100% — a student can send both.
Rankings
Academics
Future Patagonia Vest Owners
Top Investment Banking Feeders
Will Network for a Superday
Future Ambulance Chasers
Top Law School Feeders
Future SCOTUS Clerks
College Costs
We Marked It Up Just to Put It on Sale
Highest List Price
Luxury Good
Prestige
Grandma Eyebrow Raisers
Easy Brags for the Prestigious-Conscious
Ivies, But
My Tribe
Call Your Mother!
Most Jewish
Huge Community
Engineering
It's Not About Molecules, It's About Pipes
Chemical Engineering
Math Masochists Scared of Actual Chemicals
Playing House
Civil Engineering
Bridge Builders
Resistance Is Futile
Computer Engineering
O(1) Touch Grass (Theoretically Computable)
Resistance Is Not Futile
Electrical Engineering
Ohm My God
Drill, Baby, Drill
Energy & Mining Engineering
My Precious
Making Spreadsheets Go Brrrr
Industrial Engineering
The Suits
Is It a Solid? Is It a Liquid? Yes.
Materials Engineering
Alloy Stars
WD-40 & Duct Tape
Mechanical Engineering & Robotics
Whiteboard-preferred
Computer Science
Explaining That HTML is Not a Programming Language
Computer Science (A&S)
Chalkboard Masochists
Physical Sciences & Math
Quants, Proofs & p < 0.05
Applied Mathematics & Statistics
Wall Street's Favorite Feeder Schools
Breaking Bad
Chemistry
Quantum Masochists & Chalkboard Wizards
Rocks and Whales
Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Plate Tectonics Elite
The "I Understand Interstellar" Elite
Physics & Astronomy
We Cited Ourselves in the Standard Model
No Words Allowed
Pure Mathematics
Theorem Crafters
Life & Natural Sciences
Pre-Med Reject Waiting Room
Biology
Darwin's Favorites
Memorizing 206 Bones
Human Biology
The Cadaver Club
Lord of the Petri Dish
Microbiology & Immunology
Antibody Avengers
Staring at a Gel Electrophoresis Until Our Eyes Bleed
Molecular Biology & Genomics
Helix Heavyweights
Action Potentials
Neuroscience
Rat Maze Architects
Agriculture & Food Science
Doomsday Prepping with Data
Environmental Science
Planet Savers
Health Sciences
Future Heroes (With 12-Hour Shifts)
Nursing
Florence Nightingale's Heirs
Legal Drug Dealers
Pharmacy
Dosage Masters
Saving Lives One Spreadsheet At a Time
Public Health
Epidemiology Elite
Sweat Equity
Sports & Fitness
The Training Room
Business & Economics
PowerPoint Presentation Power Rankings
Business Administration
We Don't Actually Offer Undergrad Business
Pivot Tables & Missing Pallets
Business Analytics
VLOOKUP Virtuosos
It's Basic Supply and Demand, Bro
Economics
The "Saltwater" Keynesian Minions
Wolf of Wall Street Prep
Finance
Wait, I Majored in Econ?
Tik-Tok Generation
Marketing
Campaign Ready
Humanities & Social Sciences
I Think, Therefore I Major
Cognitive Science
The Qualia Quibblers
Much Ado About Nothing
English, Literature & Writing
The Great American Novelists
Saving the Planet, One Policy at a Time
Environmental Policy & Sustainability
Sustainability Wonks
Smashing the Patriarchy 101
Gender Studies
The Theorists
Model UN Generation
Government & Politics
Future Senators
Hindsight is 20/20 (And So is My Salary)
History & Archaeology
The Archivists
Passport Stamp Collectors
International Relations
UN Delegates
I'll Figure Out the Career Later
Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary
Renaissance Wannabes
The "Why Are We Here?" Support Group
Philosophy & Ethics
Armchair Philosophers
Feelings, But With Error Bars
Research & Experimental Psychology
Textbook Authors' Legacy
Decolonizing the Curriculum
Regional & Ethnic Studies
Diaspora Scholars
Arguing with God for a Grade
Religion
Sunday School Professors
Everything is a Construct
Sociology & Anthropology
Social Theorists
Grammar Police Academy
World Languages & Linguistics
Grammar Nerds
Education
Surviving PTA Karens
General Education
Shaping the Shapers
Hablas Pedagogy?
Languages Education
Polyglot Professors
History Repeats Itself
Social Sciences Education
Civics Class Stars
Everyone Gets a Medal
Special Education
Differentiated Instruction
Show Your Work, Then Teach It
STEM Education
Math Whisperers
Arts
Sleep Deprivation by Design
Architecture
Studio Culture
Explaining Splatters to Rich People
Art History & Management
The Curatorial Elite
Lights, Camera, Tuition
Film
Festival Circuit Royalty
The "Will Paint for Food" Brigade
Fine & Studio Arts
The Ivory Towers of Paint
Eight Hours of Scales
Music
Practice Room Prophets
Theatre Kid Generation
Performing Arts
Encore Worthy
Professional
Future Lawyers (and Their Future Anxiety)
Law
SCOTUS Hopefuls