A top-ranked college of arts and sciences, distinguished by a singular, intensive Core Curriculum. Close contact with prize-winning, path-breaking faculty. Access to the resources of a world-class university and the world’s financial, cultural, and communications capital. A comprehensive advising system. Close ties with the University’s renowned graduate and professional schools, including law, business, medicine, arts, journalism, and international and public affairs.

Essential facts

• 4,400 undergraduates
• A student to faculty ratio of 6 to 1
• In the physical sciences, 3 to 1
• Nearly 80% of classes offered to undergraduates have fewer than 20 students
• More than 80 areas of study
• 22 science majors in all branches of the biological, natural and physical sciences
• Undergraduate research is highly encouraged with some admitted students offered up to 4 years or more of guaranteed research at time of admission
• More than a dozen conservatory-caliber arts majors and programs
• Instruction in nearly 50 foreign languages
• All undergraduates participate in The Core Curriculum, the nation's oldest singular curriculum of its kind
• The second highest retention rate in the country with 99% of undergraduates returning for sophomore year
• Nearly all students living on campus for all four years. A shared life with 1,400 Columbia Engineering undergraduates
• Nearly 300 study abroad programs
• More than 200 research institutes and centers; a wide range of world-class laboratories
• 22 libraries comprising one of the top 10 library systems in America
• New York is unparalleled in opportunity as the communications, creative, economic and political capital of the world and a leading center for scienctific, medical and technological innovation.