Over 90 undergraduate areas of study are offered at Columbia. More than 75 in Columbia College from Creative Writing to Sustainable Development. Joint Programs offer additional opportunities with Columbia graduate schools and other institutions.
Grammy recognized faculty from Jazz Studies frequently play with undergraduates at local jazz clubs. |
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| Low Library is a signature landmark on campus and features the largest granite dome of its kind in North America. |
Pre-Medical, Dental and Law Programs
Joint Programs including Juilliard
Areas of Study
Bulletin/Catalog
Major AdvisingLearn more about a specific major or compare different majors in a variety of ways. Columbia: An IntroductionA short film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ric Burns, CC ‘78, featuring interviews with Columbia students, faculty and alumni. |
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 webpage 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. The two different programs available to students are described below.
The Exchange: Students can be invited to cross-register for weekly instrumental, jazz, and vocal instruction with the Juilliard faculty after completing the formal application and successfully auditioning at Juilliard. Annual juries are held at the end of each academic year, which determine eligibility to continue in the program. Most candidates admitted to the Exchange are incoming first-year students. The program is designed for up to three years of study with the option for students in their junior year to apply for the Joint Degree (see below) or petition for a fourth year of study in the Exchange.
Columbia College applicants interested in this program must submit a Juilliard Application for Admission, including pre-screening materials. Admission to the Exchange is most selective, with approximately 8-10 candidates admitted each year. On the Juilliard application, check the box for the Barnard-Columbia-Juilliard Exchange (instrumental, jazz, and voice lessons only), which is separate from applying to the B.M. program at Juilliard (full-time undergraduate study at Juilliard).
It is possible that a candidate may be admitted to both Columbia College and the B.M. program at Juilliard, but not admitted to the Exchange, given that the selectivity and rigor of the program is particularly keen. First-year candidates who are admitted under Early Decision to Columbia must withdraw their Bachelor of Music candidacy to Juilliard, but may continue with their candidacy for the Exchange.
The Joint Degree: Students can participate in a joint degree program that offers students the opportunity to earn the B.A. and M.M. in five years. To apply to the joint degree program, Columbia College students must have completed 94 points of course work, including the Core Curriculum requirements and major or concentration requirements, and have participated in the cross-registration program (see above) for at least one year. Voice candidates for the M.M. may need 6 years of study to complete the Joint Degree depending on preparation.
After completing the formal application and successfully auditioning at Juilliard in their junior year, students in the joint degree enter Juilliard in their senior year. Joint degree students will also spend the following year enrolled at Juilliard. Students receiving Columbia financial aid will be subject to Juilliard’s financial aid policies during their time at Juilliard.
Live auditions for both programs with the Juilliard School are conducted in early March for fall admission. The Juilliard application deadline is December 1. Interested candidates should obtain an application and audition information from the Juilliard Office of Admissions and submit it directly to Juilliard.
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.