Areas of Study

Over 90 undergraduate areas of study are offered at Columbia. More than 80 in Columbia College from Creative Writing to Sustainable Development. Joint Programs offer additional opportunities with Columbia graduate schools and other institutions.

Areas of Study

Pre-Medical, Dental and Law Programs

Joint Programs including Juilliard

Pre-Medical, Dental and Law Programs

Medical, dental, and other health professional schools prefer that undergraduates complete a four-year program of study toward the bachelor’s degree. The College has devised a special premedical concentration that can be chosen instead of a “regular” concentration or major. Premedical concentrations exist in many departments including English, History, and Music among others. Students interested in beginning medical training directly after college can complete all of the requirements for entrance by the end of their junior year.

Columbia has an Office of Pre-Professional Advising to assist its students with applicants to medical, dental and law school. The mission of the Office of Pre-Professional Advising is to help Columbia College and Columbia Engineering students and alumni identify and refine their interests in professional school (law, medicine and other health professions including dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, etc.), provide guidance and support throughout the professional school application process and manage the pre-medical evaluation and the law school dean’s certification process. This guidance can be related to curriculum, course selection, professionally related extra-curricular opportunities, selection of schools, application requirements and procedures.

Joint Programs

The Combined Plan Program for Columbia College Students

The Combined-Plan (3-2) Program provides students with the opportunity to earn both the B.A. at Columbia College and the B.S. at Columbia Engineering in give years. Students must apply to the program in their junior year. The Combined Plan Web page provides more information on requirements and the application process.

The Juilliard School

Exceptionally talented Columbia College students may have access to instrumental and voice instruction at the Juilliard School through two distinct programs. Please visit the Columbia-Juilliard Exchange web page for more information. 

International Affairs Five-Year Program

The International Affairs Five-Year Program offers students the opportunity to earn both the B.A. and M.I.A. degrees in five years. The Junior/Senior Academic Advising Center will nominate candidates in the spring of their junior year. Information on application procedures is available in the advising center offices. Once admitted to the joint program, the student completes the senior year at Columbia College, but the bulk of the courses taken will be graduate-level ones acceptable to the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). A formal application to SIPA will be completed in the fall semester of the senior year. Admission to the joint program does not constitute admission to SIPA. To be eligible for the program, the student must have been enrolled in Columbia College for at least four semesters by the end of the junior year, completed a minimum of 93 credits, taken a basic course in economics, achieved competence in a modern foreign language, and completed all College Core requirements and major (or concentration) requirements with the exception of any 6 to 8 credits. These two courses may be taken during the senior year while completing the 24 points required by SIPA. Three points of the SIPA requirements may be taken in the junior year. Summer courses between the junior and senior year may be considered. The student must receive the B.A. with a satisfactory grade point average. Upon admission to SIPA, students must apply for housing and financial aid.

Public Policy and Administration Five-Year Program

The Graduate Program in Public Policy and Administration provides students with the opportunity to earn both the B.A. and M.P.A. degrees in five years. The application process is identical to that of the B.A.-M.I.A. program. The College will make the nominations in the spring. Candidates need to have taken college math, preferably a year of calculus. An introductory microeconomics course is highly recommended. During the senior year, 24 credits must be taken in the School of International and Public Affairs. It is therefore imperative that all College Core and major (or concentration) requirements be completed by the end of the junior year, with the exception of one or possibly two courses.

The AILE (Accelerated Interdisciplinary Legal Education) Program

The AILE Program annually provides up to one or two Columbia College students with outstanding records the opportunity to earn the B.A. and the J.D. degree in six years. Students matriculate at the Law School after their junior year, having completed the required 93 points including the College Core requirements and a concentration. Interested students must submit an application in the spring of their junior year to the Office of Pre-Professional Advising. Columbia College nominates one or two juniors each year; the final admission determination is made by the Law School Admissions Committee. (Transfer students and students with fewer than six semesters of study as Columbia College students on this campus [not abroad] before entering the Law School are not eligible for the program.) Prospective participants in this program must take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) no later than the February administration of the year of intended enrollment. After formal admission to the School of Law, the students are withdrawn from Columbia College. In the student’s second and third years at the School of Law, 12 points of course work taken only at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences must be completed. The courses must be approved beforehand by the student’s pre-professional advisor. AILE candidates are required to apply for the B.A. degree the term before they expect to graduate. Students should inform their dean of their plans to graduate in order to be considered for honors and Phi Beta Kappa. AILE students receive Columbia College and Law School degrees at the same time. Once admitted to the Law School, students interested in financial aid and housing should apply through the Law School.

Sciences Po in France

International mobility and overseas experience are invaluable assets for any graduate. Building on a strong partnership between Columbia and Sciences Po, the five-year BA/MA program allows selected undergraduate students from Columbia University to follow an intensive program aimed principally at students specializing in public and administrative affairs who wish to develop their intellectual and professional capabilities from a cross-cultural and transatlantic perspective.

The program includes three years of undergraduate study at Columbia and two years of graduate study in Paris at Sciences Po. Upon completion of this joint program, students obtain both the B.A. awarded by Columbia and the Masters Degree awarded in either Management or Public and International Affairs by Sciences Po, otherwise known as “Le Diplôme.”

Students apply in the second term of their sophomore year, are interviewed by a committee composed of faculty from both universities, and provisionally accepted at the end of their sophomore year. A second review is undertaken in the junior year before final acceptance into the program. Candidates must have at least three years of college-level French and have completed all Core and major or concentration requirements by the end of their junior year.