Columbia University, USA

Routinely ranked among the top 10 universities worldwide, Columbia currently has 23,000 students, 4,000 faculty and boasts an endowment corpus of $7.14 billion (Rs.33,558 crore)

Sited in the heart of Manhattan, New York, arguably the world’s premier business and financial epicentre, Columbia University (estb.1754) is a blue-chip Ivy League higher education institution routinely ranked among the Top 10 universities in the US and worldwide. In its league table of America’s best universities (2010), the U.S. News & World Report ranks Columbia No.8, while the Shanghai Jia Tong University table ranks it seventh among the world’s top 500 universities.

Hardly surprising given that over the past 250 years, 79 Columbia alumni and faculty have won the Nobel Prize; five were founding fathers of the US constitution; four alumni including the incumbent President Barack Obama have occupied the Oval office in the White House, Washington; nine became justices of the Supreme Court of the United States; 101 won the Pulitzer Prize; and 25 alumni have been awarded  Hollywood Oscars. Moreover as the birthplace of FM radio, genetics and anthropology, the nation’s oldest literary magazine and first Black student advocacy group, Columbia has a long and venerated tradition of social and scientific innovation.

Founded 256 years ago as King’s College by a royal charter of King George II of England with one class-room, a solitary professor and eight students, Columbia University currently has 23,000 students and 4,000 faculty on its muster rolls and boasts an endowment corpus of $7.14 billion (Rs.33,558 crore). Says Lee Bollinger, president of the university: “Columbia is the quintessential great urban university attracting students and faculty from 150 countries to engage with each other and with the cultural, scientific, and business enterprises that make New York City (NYC) one of the most exciting cities of the world.”

New York. Although its famous Twin Towers no longer pierce the Manhattan skyline, NYC (pop.8.4 million) is still widely regarded as the nerve centre of international business and hosts some of the world’s premier business and finance corporates. The Big Apple also boasts more globally famous landmarks than any other city of the world — the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and Ground Zero. Other popular attractions include Staten Island Ferry, the streets of SoHo (offering fine art galleries and upscale boutiques), Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Chinatown, Grand Central Station, Times Square, Central Park, Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art and the American Folk Art Museum

Campus facilities. In 1897 Columbia U moved is admin office from 49th Street, Madison Avenue to the 32-acre Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan, offering students access to all of New York city. Designed by McKim, Mead, and White, the renowned turn-of-the-19th century architectural firm, the Columbia campus is best described as an academic village in an urban environment. The varsity’s campus boasts some architectural gems including the Butler Library modeled on the Parthenon in Greece, and the Low Library, whose steps have served as a backdrop for numerous Hollywood films. The glass and steel atrium of the architecturally arresting Alfred Lerner Hall provides a spectacular vista for all action on campus. Several buildings including Low Library, Philosophy Hall (the site of the invention of FM radio) and Pupin Hall (which houses the physics and astronomy departments) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Columbia’s second campus is located two miles to the north of Morningside Heights in Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Hosting the Columbia University Medical Center, the 20-acre campus overlooks the Hudson River.

Columbia’s libraries host over 10 million volumes and 100,000 journal subscriptions, an extensive collection of electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, and other non-print formats. Sports facilities include the newly renovated Levien Gymnasium, the Dick Savitt Tennis Center, Lawrence A. Wien (football) Stadium, the Class of 1929 Boathouse and the Dodge Fitness Center, featuring aerobic and anaerobic exercise equipment, and 5,000 sq. ft of hard-wood floor exercise space for classes in aerobics, body sculpting, martial arts and yoga. Moreover there are over 500 clubs and organisations on campus.

Admission. The acceptance rate for the undergrad class of 2014 is 9.16 percent, making Columbia the fifth most selective college in the United States behind Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. Last year the Office of Undergraduate Admission received over 26,000 applications for 1,400 student places. Comments a Columbia Univ-ersity spokesperson: “As selective as admission to Columbia may be, we still employ a holistic admission process in which every single application is given a thorough review, and there is no minimum grade point average, class rank or SAT/ACT score one must obtain to be admitted into Columbia.”

The minimum eligibility criterion for admission into the varsity’s undergrad programmes is successful completion of Plus Two. Moreover all international students need to submit Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores. The minimum TOEFL score expected of most departments of Columbia is 600 (written) or 250 (computer version). Other documents required are official exam transcripts, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, information on extra-curricular activities and a declaration of finance by parents. For Master’s and doctoral degree progra-mmes, applicants must furnish records of all courses and examinations of university or tertiary level work completed, plus proof of graduation.

All first-year applicants are encouraged to submit their applications online. Columbia accepts only The Common Application with the required Columbia Supplement for first-year admissions. The application fee is $70 (Rs.3,290).

For further information contact Columbia University in the City of New York, Office of Undergraduate Admis-sions, 212 Hamilton Hall, Mail Code 28071130, Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027. Ph: 212-854-2522; Fax: 212-854-3393; e-mail: ugrad-ask@ columbia.edu.

Accommodation. Columbia provides housing for approximately 5,200 undergraduate students — 94 percent of all undergrads and 99 percent of all first-year students live in halls of residence. The university’s own 17 undergraduate residence halls and 16 brownstones (which house ten fraternities, three sororities, and nine special interest communities) are located on and around the Morningside campus. All admitted students are guaranteed housing for up to four years.

Degree programmes. Columbia’s three undergraduate schools, 13 graduate and professional schools, and a school of continuing education offer over 100 majors and concentrations (see box).

Summiya Yasmeen