The best things of the moment were outside the rectangle of Columbia; the best things of all human history and thought were inside the rectangle.

Herman Wouk, CC '34
Pulitizer Prize Winning Author

Virtually all Columbia undergraduates live on campus throughout their undergraduate experience and all first-year students live together on South Field (pictured above).

Columbia University in the City of New York

• Founded in 1754, Columbia was the first college established in New York, the fifth college established in the American colonies
• Two campuses at the top of Manhattan: the undergraduate campus in Morningside Heights and the Medical Center in Washington Heights
• 15 schools and four affiliate schools including Barnard College, a leading liberal arts college for women

Academic Life

• 4,000 faculty; 79 Nobel laureates; 40+ National Academy of Sciences electees; 20+ National Academy of Engineering electees; 140+ members of American Academy of Arts & Science
• 4,300 students and more than 80 areas of study in Columbia College
• 1,400 students and 17 areas of study in The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science
• Student to faculty ratio is 6 to 1, among the lowest in the country
• Nearly 80% of classes offered to undergraduates have fewer than 20 students
• The second highest retention rate in the country with 99% of undergraduates returning for sophomore year
• All undergraduates participate in The Core Curriculum, the nation's oldest singular curriculum of its kind
• Nearly $1 billion in sponsored research projects each year in over 200 research centers and institutes
• Among the top ten universities in America in federal research-and-development expenditures for science and engineering
• One of the top ten academic library systems in America

Campus Life

• The beaux-arts Morningside Heights campus is often regarded as one of the most beautiful urban campuses in the country
• 5,800 undergraduate students from nearly 100 countries and all 50 states with over 95% living on campus for four years
• Guaranteed housing for all four years in more than two dozen residential constituencies.
• More than one dozen dining facilities on campus and the ability to take your meal plan off campus into the neighborhood
• More than 500 student clubs, organizations and student-led initiatives
• 31 NCAA Division I athletic teams, part of the Ivy League, including a national championship in archery and a third place finish at Nationals in fencing
• Nearly half of undergraduates self-identify as students of color
• The largest percentage of undergraduates receiving Pell Grants among all Ivy League and other elite research institutions
• 16% of first-year students are the first in their family to attend college
• The largest percentage of African-Americans in a first-year class, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education's national ranking for elite institutions
• Top ten college for African Americans according to Black Enterprise Magazine
• Top ten college for Hispanics according to Hispanic Magazine
• Top ten college for Asian-American Pacific Islanders according to Asian Pacific Americans for Progress
• One of Reform Judaism Magazine's top colleges for Jewish students

New York

• The 'capital of the world' for just about everything, including the arts, finance, international politics, media and publishing
• Eight million people live in the city of New York, nearly 200 languages are spoken daily and there are dozens of unique ethnic communities throughout the city's five boroughs
• Morningside Heights is Columbia's home neighborhood, boasting an impressive array of academic institutions situated in the heart of Upper Manhattan near historic Harlem, Central Park and Riverside Park
• 24/7 subway system with a stop right outside Columbia's gates at 116th Street
• Thousands of internship opportunities annually through Columbia's Center for Career Education
• CU Arts Initiative offers discounted tickets to New York City institutions
• Passport to New York provides free access to nearly 30 museums and galleries
• Urban New York provides free trips to theater, walking tours of the city and other cultural offerings

The World

• Nearly 200 study abroad programs and various fellowship opportunities to work abroad
• The second largest international student body in the country (17% of first-year students)
• Columbia students in recent years have won more Fulbright Grants than those of any other university
• Pioneering research in interdisciplinary subjects making a direct impact on all parts of the globe
• Over 35,000 living undergraduate alumni and 250,000 total within Columbia's alumni network
• Alumni who have changed the world and include current and past world leaders, celebrated artists, renowned academics, innovative scientists and engineering leaders