FAQs

Yes. The National College Match at Columbia University is binding. If you are admitted to Columbia through the National College Match, you are expected to attend.

If you have submitted a complete application to Columbia as a QuestBridge Finalist through the National College Match, you will automatically be considered for Regular Decision admission unless you contact Columbia and withdraw your application or are matched with a binding college or university.

QuestBridge Finalists should not submit any additional applications besides their QuestBridge Application. If you are applying through Regular Decision and would prefer to have your Common or Coalition Application be evaluated, please contact us at questbridge@columbia.edu.

No. You do not need to resubmit materials to Columbia if you apply through QuestBridge. We will accept the materials sent through your QuestBridge Application for our process. However, all school materials must be uploaded by a school official. If you submitted your own transcript to QuestBridge, we cannot accept that submission and request that you have a school official send a copy of your transcript to ugrad-confirm@columbia.edu with your name, high school and date of birth.

Yes. Students who are not selected as Finalists must submit the Common Application or Coalition Application. Columbia does not accept the QuestBridge application in lieu of these applications for non-finalists. Please note that you may submit the essay you composed for the QuestBridge application for your Common Application or Coalition Application if the content is appropriate for the essay prompts.

Please use your application status page to make sure your admissions application is complete. In order to access your status page, you will first need to select "Reset Password" and follow the instructions from there. Instructions for tracking your financial aid information will be emailed to you after you have submitted your financial aid documentation.

Applicants should maintain a valid email address during the entire application process, as most of our information is communicated electronically. Please ensure that your email account preferences and security settings permit Columbia University-sent email to be delivered without filtering or junk mail routing. If your email address changes, please notify us immediately on the application status page.

If you have any additional credentials you wish to include in your application, you may submit them directly via the application status page. 

Interviews are not part of the QuestBridge College Match Process or the standard admissions process. Please see the announcement from May 18, 2023.

All of Columbia’s financial aid is need-based, and Columbia meets 100% of demonstrated need for all admitted first-year and transfer students. All financial aid packages, including those of QuestBridge Finalists participating in the Match process, are based on demonstrated need. Our financial aid packages for applicants in Regular Decision will be determined in the same way as for those students who were selected through the College Match.

Columbia meets 100% of the demonstrated financial need for all students admitted as first-years, regardless of citizenship. Loans are not a component of Columbia financial aid packages and we will continue to cover 100% of your demonstrated financial need for all four years of study. For more information please refer to the Columbia/QuestBridge scholarship package description and visit the Financial Aid and Educational Financing website.

Yes. Columbia considers all interested Finalists to the QuestBridge National College Match program, regardless of citizenship status. Columbia will consider students who are not United States Citizens or Permanent Residents, including undocumented students or refugees and foreign citizens, for the QuestBridge National College Match. 

Non-citizens and international students are an integral part of the university and Columbia is deeply committed to enrolling a student body that includes students from around the world. We do not have a separate application or process for international students. Please refer to International Applicants for more information.

Yes. Columbia considers all interested finalists to the QuestBridge National College Match program, regardless of citizenship status.

We do not have fly-in programs for prospective applicants or QuestBridge scholars. You are always welcome to visit our campus for a campus tour, as well as any open houses or events we host on or off campus throughout the year. We also offer a wide variety of virtual programming, including information sessions and student Q&A chats, that can be accessed from anywhere. You can find more information on the Visit section of our website.

No. The Columbia-Juilliard Program is a cross-registration program that does not lead to an additional degree. The program offers Juilliard lessons for credit towards a degree at Columbia. However, Columbia-Juilliard Program participants may choose to apply to the Joint Program, which offers the opportunity to earn both a bachelor's degree from Columbia and a Masters of Music from Juilliard, in their junior year.

Yes. First-year candidates admitted to Columbia College under Early Decision may keep their candidacy open for the Columbia-Juilliard Program. However, successful Early Decision candidates must withdraw any Bachelor of Music applications to Juilliard (that is, an application to attend Juilliard as a full-time enrolled student, rather than as part of the Columbia-Juilliard Program) along with candidacy to all other institutions as part of the Early Decision binding agreement.

Yes. Candidates applying to both the Columbia-Juilliard Program and Juilliard's Bachelor of Music will need to check the appropriate boxes when completing their Juilliard application. Note that successful Early Decision candidates to Columbia must withdraw their Bachelor of Music candidacy to Juilliard, although they may keep their Columbia-Juilliard Program candidacy open.

Yes. Due to the highly selective admissions process for the Columbia-Juilliard Program, it is possible that applicants may only be admitted to Juilliard's Bachelor of Music degree and not admitted to the Columbia-Juilliard Program, regardless of their admission status at Columbia.

Yes. A small number of current Columbia College students apply (or reapply) to the Columbia-Juilliard Program each academic year, and occasionally students are admitted to participate for the following academic year. Once admitted into the Columbia-Juilliard Program, Columbia students may continue each eligible academic year pending their performance during annual juries at Juilliard.

The Columbia-Juilliard Program tuition for the academic year 2023-2024 is $8,586. Financial aid is available to cover the additional tuition expenses for Columbia-Juilliard Program participants based on demonstrated need and consistent with Columbia financial aid policies.

Please obtain application and audition information from Juilliard's Office of Admission, and submit the Columbia-Juilliard Program application directly to Juilliard.

Columbia notifies all candidates by mid-December for Early Decision or mid-April for Regular Decision. Juilliard notifies all Columbia-Juilliard Program candidates regarding admission specifically to the Columbia-Juilliard Program by mid-April. Candidates may hear sooner from Juilliard regarding pre-screening results and live audition dates.

Please refer to the Columbia-Juilliard Program for initial information, as well as the information provided by Juilliard. Prospective students with questions beyond those addressed on these pages may reach out to ugrad-ask@columbia.edu. For questions about The Juilliard School specifically, please contact their office directly at admissions@juilliard.edu.

If you are enrolled at either Columbia College or Engineering and you genuinely feel that you should attend the other, you may apply as an internal transfer student. Internal transfers must submit the Internal Transfer Application by March 1. There is no guarantee that you will be able to transfer to a different school. Undergraduate Admissions consults with the Berick Center for Student Advising to review your academic performance and curriculum and determine if a change is appropriate.

If you have applied to Columbia previously, the documents you provided at that time will not roll over, so you must resubmit any information requested by this transfer application. (Note: Standardized testing previously sent by the College Board or ACT does not need to be resubmitted.)

No. We do not accept applications for January/spring enrollment from transfer candidates.

To apply as a transfer, you must be enrolled in a "U.S.-style" college or university. A college or university is considered U.S.-style if:

• courses are offered term by term (quarters, semesters, etc.);
• a grade is given for each course in each term;
• your college/university can provide an English-language transcript showing those courses and those grades.

If your school is not U.S.-style as defined above, you must apply as a first-year student, by the appropriate Early Decision or Regular Decision deadline, and only in your first year of study; if you have begun your second year of study or beyond, you are no longer eligible to apply to Columbia as an undergraduate at all. Should you be admitted to Columbia and accept our offer, your post-secondary work cannot be considered for credit and you acknowledge that credit may not be received for any or all coursework taken at the previous college/university.

A college is considered to be "U.S.-style" if courses are offered in similar terms to United States colleges (i.e. quarters, semesters, etc.), you will receive a grade for each course in each term and you will also receive an English-language transcript. If your current college or university is not U.S.-style, as defined above, and you have completed one year or less, you must apply as a first-year student, by the appropriate Early Decision or Regular Decision deadline. Students who do not attend U.S.-style colleges are unable to apply as transfer applicants to Columbia.

If you have received your high/secondary school diploma and will have completed one full year or more of college courses, you must apply as a transfer student. However, if you are applying to Columbia College and have taken a break of more than one full year from college, you should submit an application to the School of General Studies. Applicants to The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science should proceed with the transfer application regardless of any break in schooling.

You are not eligible to apply to Columbia College. Instead, you must apply to the School of General Studies. Applicants to The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science should proceed with their application.

Potential applicants to Columbia College who have taken a break of more than one full academic year in their education (with the exception of those who must complete national military service) should consider instead Columbia’s School of General Studies; the same is true for students who wish to attend a part-time program. Applicants to The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science should proceed with this transfer application regardless of any break in schooling.

In order to be eligible for the Higher Education Opportunity Program as a transfer, you must currently be enrolled at a similar program in New York State.

Visiting Students may not subsequently apply for transfer admission. Also, you may not apply simultaneously as a transfer and as a visitor. However, Visiting Students may subsequently apply for admission to the Combined Plan Program.

To be eligible to enroll at Columbia, you must have completed, or be in the process of completing, the equivalent of one full academic year, typically a minimum of 24 credits. Please review the Academic Credit for Transfer Students guide for more information.

Courses may be eligible for transfer credit if they are analogous to undergraduate courses offered in Columbia College and Columbia Engineering, and you have received a grade of C- or better for Columbia College or a B or better for Columbia Engineering.

If admitted, you will receive a Transfer Credit Evaluation (TCE), informing you of how many credits you have (tentatively) been awarded. Final credit approval will not be granted until all final official transcripts from previous institutions have been received and been reviewed by your advising dean and/or academic department.

There aren't any courses that are strictly required for admission as a transfer. We require a minimum of 24 credits, or the equivalent of one academic year, to transfer.

If you are applying to The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (Columbia Engineering), we would certainly hope to see strong math and science preparation (Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, etc.). Columbia Engineering recommends that prospective transfers follow a course of study similar to our First Year-Sophomore program.

If you are applying to Columbia College, we recommend only that you take courses that are similar in content to courses offered in Columbia College. You should familiarize yourself with the appropriate course bulletin to get a sense of which courses might be appropriate.

You may certainly apply to transfer without having received an Associates degree.

No. You must submit transcripts from all post-secondary institutions you have attended for a complete transfer application.

Columbia has extended its test-optional policy for both first-year and transfer applicants to Columbia College or Columbia Engineering through the 2023-2024 application cycles.

Due to the timing of the transfer process, we are generally unable to consider grades earned in the second semester of the year of application; thus, high school grades and rigor of program are important in the evaluation of transfer credentials, especially for students applying for sophomore standing. If you have applied to Columbia previously, the documents you provided at that time will not roll over; you must resubmit any information requested by this transfer application.

Interviews are not a part of Columbia's admissions process for transfers or any other applicants. Please see the announcement from May 18, 2023.Therefore, you should use the application as the appropriate platform to discuss and/or explain anything that you feel is of particular importance.

Paper applications are not available. Transfers must apply online using The Coalition Application. We do not accept the Common Application for transfer candidates.

All transfer applicants who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States or students granted refugee visas by the United States are read in a need-blind manner. Foreign students applying for aid must understand that such aid is awarded on an extremely limited basis. Columbia meets 100% of demonstrated financial need for admitted transfer students, and Columbia does not give any scholarships for academic, athletic or artistic merit.

Please visit the Financial Aid website for more information on financial aid for transfer students, including all required forms.

There are no academic, athletic or talent-based institutional scholarships at Columbia, as all of our institutional financial aid is need-based. However, our students are often the recipients of merit-based scholarships from outside organizations (state grants/scholarships, local/national merit-based awards, etc.).

The Core is the cornerstone of undergraduate academic life at Columbia. Even those transferring in with advanced credit should expect to take elements of the Core, if not all of it. Students are very rarely exempt from Core classes like Literature Humanities, Contemporary Civilization, Art Humanities and Music Humanities.

As a transfer, you will be guaranteed housing during your time at Columbia, unless you choose to move off-campus at any time, at which point the housing guarantee is forfeited. All transfer students are housed with their class in upperclass residence halls. Assignment is based on seniority and building preference with applications processed on a rolling basis. Students are notified by email when rooms are assigned.

No. Transfers are not required to live on campus.

You should speak with the liaison at your school, who can advise you on an appropriate course of study and/or other institutional requirements that may determine when you will apply. While most students apply in their third year, you may apply in your fourth year and still be considered for guaranteed admission. Students may apply only up to one year after they have graduated.

Yes. You are permitted to apply, and your materials will be reviewed by the Combined Plan Admissions Committee in a competitive review process.

Please speak with the liaison at your school in order to determine which classes fulfill Columbia pre-engineering and major course requirements. Our Pre-Curriculum Course Descriptions describe the topics covered through our prerequisite courses, which may help you guide you and your school liaison.

Your pre-engineering GPA includes all of the science and mathematics prerequisite Foundation Courses and Major-Specific Courses, as listed in our Curriculum Guide. Your overall GPA includes all courses you have completed towards your home institution's degree, up through the spring semester of application.

Please speak with your liaison. If your institution has awarded you any college credits for work done in high school, Columbia will accept this credit. Your liaison will determine whether these credits fulfill Columbia prerequisite courses.

Please note that this credit must be indicated on your college transcript and that your liaison must note that you have knowledge of the course material from successful transfer of this college credit. Otherwise, you will need to send an official score report with your AP/IB scores  along with your school’s policy on accepting credits, in order to demonstrate your knowledge of the course. Please note that additional information on your school’s credit policies may be required as part of your application.