Counselors

As the college application season gains momentum, we recognize and commend all that counselors and other high school educators do to serve their students. We want to provide support as you and your students navigate the college admissions process. 

View 2022-2023 Regional Officer Assignments

Three students travel down the walkways together. The entire side of the building is glass and greenery can be seen outside.

Important Notes About Our Application Process

  • Columbia is test-optional for applicants to Columbia College or Columbia Engineering. Please review our standardized testing policy for additional details. Students are at no disadvantage in our process if they do not submit scores from these tests.
  • Students can easily determine their fee waiver eligibility and receive an application fee waiver. If students are concerned about the cost of our application fee, please consult our fee waiver eligibility form.
  • We can extend deadline flexibility to students who are experiencing extenuating circumstances, such as community disruptions, wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters. We will also accept supporting documentation from counselors and teachers after the application deadline without the need for school staff to request an extension.
  • Last year, we developed this detailed overview of our admissions review process to help you and your students better understand how Columbia makes admissions decisions. Please also review our Class of 2025 profile to learn more about last year's entering students. When the Class of 2026 profile is available, it will be posted here.

Connect with Columbia, Virtually and In-Person

Even with our admissions officers' return to the road, Columbia continues to focus on providing robust virtual programming for students to learn more about our community from wherever they may be.

  • We encourage students to participate in our live virtual programming, including student Q&A sessions and panel presentations, to get an introduction to Columbia and determine if our community could be a good fit for them.
  • Interested students can dive deeper into Columbia with our virtual tour and the Blue View, a ten-part video series that features admissions officers and students discussing campus life, the Core Curriculum, affordability and more.
  • We are pleased to share that Undergraduate Admissions Campus Tours have resumed visiting select indoor spaces. As a result, all Undergraduate Admissions visitors are required to affirm that they are vaccinated against COVID-19 and bring proof of a primary vaccination series to their Campus Tour. The student-led tours provide a general overview of academic and student life at both Columbia College and Columbia Engineering and feature the guide’s personal anecdotes and experiences as a member of the undergraduate community.
  • Each fall, Columbia Engineering offers a free selective program, the Columbia Engineering Experience, designed for high school seniors who are interested in learning about our unique engineering education. Applications are available in mid-August.

Commitment to Affordability

  • Beginning in 2022-2023, Columbia is tuition-free for students coming from families with incomes under $150,000. Families whose annual income is less than $66,000 will have a parent contribution of $0. As well, incoming first-year students from low-income families will receive a start-up grant of $2,000 to ease their transition to college.
  • Columbia expects to award $200 million in scholarships and grants in 2022-2023. We are committed to covering 100% of demonstrated need for all admitted students.
  • The average grant awarded at Columbia is $61,680.
  •  It only takes 3 minutes to estimate financial aid eligibility with our college cost estimator.

Columbia Community Updates​

  • We are excited to have Josef Sorett take the helm as dean of Columbia College and Vice President of Undergraduate Education. Dean Sorett previously served as a professor of Religion and African American and African Diaspora Studies, chair of the Department of Religion, and director of the Center on African-American Religion, Sexual Politics and Social Justice. Dean Sorett joins Shih-Fu Chang, who was recently appointed dean of The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science after serving in an interim capacity last year, as key figures in shaping and leading the undergraduate experience at Columbia.
  • The Center for Career Education has long supported our students and alumni in the job search process, providing expert advising, access to valuable employer and networking events, and resources such as funding grants for low-paid and unpaid internships. In the past year, CCE has further strengthened those efforts with 73,880 job and 27,455 internship postings. Checking in with our Class of 2021 graduates, 93.5% are in post-grad plans, with 72.9% working and 20.3% continuing education at places like Columbia, Stanford, Oxford, Harvard and MIT; 94.5% interned or did research while at Columbia. We are proud to say that more than 1,300 job seekers attended the CCE fall Undergraduate Career Fair which saw recruiters returning to campus. 
  • Columbia University continues to operate on the cutting edge of interdisciplinary education. The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences recently announced a new major in Climate Systems Science, designed for students who want to understand the past, present and future climate system and learn strategies for solving the climate crisis. Another new addition to the Columbia College bulletin, Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary field drawing on tools and ideas from psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, economics, computer science and philosophy, with affiliated faculty in each of these disciplines. Climate Systems Science and Cognitive Science join other new programs in the last several years, such as a special concentration in Public Health, the Climate School and the Linguistics major.
  • Columbia is home to one of the most diverse student bodies in the country, and we are committed to providing an inclusive and affirming environment for all students. Our colleagues at Multicultural Affairs provide programs, resources and support for personal identity development, mentorship, intercultural learning, social justice education and institutional advocacy. The @Columbia series, encompassing Disability Justice, First-Generation and Low Income, International, LGBTQ and Students of Color programs, promotes connection for historically and socially underserved communities and campus-wide education initiatives through student-led advisory boards. The Columbia Mentoring Initiative emphasizes identity development, emotional health, academic success and belonging within a peer-led “family” structure. To further support identity groups on campus, Indigehouse, a long-term home base for Columbia’s Indigenous and Native students, recently opened as a Special Interest Community on 113th Street.
  • The Columbia undergraduate community's compliance with public health protocols has allowed us to welcome our student body back to campus to participate in our intimate residential community and in-person classes while continuing to protect the health of our campus and our surrounding New York City community. Columbia has a COVID-19 vaccination mandate in place for all students, faculty and staff. 

Reminders from Undergraduate Admissions​

Standardized Testing

  • Columbia is test-optional for applicants to Columbia College or Columbia Engineering. Please review our standardized testing policy for additional details.
  • If applicants desire, they may self-report ACT and SAT test scores on their application. Our office will verify scores for all enrolling students.
  • Columbia does not require the optional writing portion of the ACT or SAT.

    Explore and Connect

    Matching a student with Columbia

    If you are a counselor, teacher or school administrator supporting a student’s candidacy for admission to Columbia, you may be interested in reviewing a few of the following pages to help orient you in our application process:

    These pages can give you an idea of what we’re looking for in our applicants, how our process works, and important dates and deadlines.

    Professional Resources