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Columbia University in the City of New York Data & Information Overview

434 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
4% Acceptance Rate
Get the facts about Columbia University in the City of New York. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more.
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How Well Is Columbia University in the City of New York Ranked?

#14 Best Colleges in Nation
#2 Best Colleges in NY
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2024 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Columbia University in the City of New York was awarded 434 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is clinical, counseling & applied psychology.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

College Factual ranked Columbia as #14 out of 2,217 colleges and universities in the country on its 2024 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation! Columbia has maintained this ranking for at least two years in a row.

Columbia is also ranked #2 out of 142 schools in New York.

See all of the rankings for Columbia University in the City of New York.

Is It Hard to Get Into Columbia?

4% Acceptance Rate
51% Of Accepted Are Women
43% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Columbia University in the City of New York has a very low acceptance rate of 4%, making it one of the most selective out of all the colleges and universities in the nation. It's probably a good idea to apply to other schools in addition to Columbia just in case you don't make the cut.

Average Test Scores

About 43% of students accepted to Columbia submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 720 and 770. Math scores were between 750 and 800.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Columbia University in the City of New York  ( 720 to 770 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Columbia University in the City of New York  ( 750 to 800 )
200
800
Columbia received ACT scores from 28% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 34 and 35.

ACT Composite Scores for Columbia University in the City of New York  ( 34 to 35 )
1
36

Learn more about Columbia University in the City of New York admissions.

Columbia University in the City of New York Faculty

6 to 1 Student to Faculty
49% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At Columbia, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 6 to 1. That's much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunites to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Columbia University in the City of New York is 49%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  49 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Columbia University in the City of New York

99% Freshmen Retention
86% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 99% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Columbia University in the City of New York enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  99 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Columbia the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 86%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  86 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Columbia University in the City of New York.

Columbia University in the City of New York Undergraduate Student Diversity

7,509 Full-Time Undergraduates
45.9% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
49.1% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 8,148 undergraduates at Columbia with 7,509 being full-time and 639 being part-time.

How Much Does Columbia University in the City of New York Cost?

$22,823 Net Price
7% Take Out Loans
$53,352 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Columbia is $22,823. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Columbia

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$9,873 $4,699 $8,106 $16,916 $44,438

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Columbia, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Columbia, approximately 7% of students took out student loans averaging $13,338 a year. That adds up to $53,352 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Columbia is 1.7%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Columbia University in the City of New York.

How Much Money Do Columbia Graduates Make?

$89,871 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Columbia with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $89,871 in their early years. That's great news for Columbia students since it is 112% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Columbia University in the City of New York make the most money.

Location of Columbia University in the City of New York

New York State
7,509 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private not-for-profit institution located in New York, New York. The city atmosphere of New York makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

Get more details about the location of Columbia University in the City of New York.

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Contact details for Columbia are given below.

Contact Details
Address: West 116 St And Broadway, New York, NY 10027
Phone: 212-854-1754
Website: www.columbia.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/columbia
Twitter: https://twitter.com/columbia

Columbia University in the City of New York Majors

125 Majors With Completions
2,654 Undergraduate Degrees
8,388 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 125 majors graduated from Columbia University in the City of New York. Of these students, 2,654 received undergraduate degrees and 8,388 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Computer Science 352 $108,903
Economics 282 $73,902
Political Science & Government 231 $52,096
Child Development & Psychology 165 $41,906
Other Social Sciences 159 $44,253
History 133 $40,546
General English Literature 100 $38,726
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 86 $40,198
Area Studies 64 NA
Other Visual Art 64 $37,826

Learn more about the majors offered at Columbia University in the City of New York along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Columbia

23% Take At Least One Class Online
4% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2020-2021, 7,666 students took at least one online class at Columbia University in the City of New York. This is a decrease from the 28,177 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 7,666 1,494
2019-2020 28,177 25,843
2018-2019 1,794 655
2017-2018 1,724 586
2016-2017 1,609 474

Learn more about online learning at Columbia University in the City of New York.

If you’re considering Columbia University in the City of New York, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Columbia? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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