Columbia University

New York, NY · founded 1754 · 36,000 students · private research university · Ivy League

Known for: Columbia is renowned for its Core Curriculum, a rigorous liberal arts foundation required of all undergraduates, and its location in New York City providing unparalleled access to cultural, professional, and research opportunities.

Rankings

U.S. News national: #12
QS World: #15
Times Higher Education: #11
ARWU Shanghai: #8
Forbes: #10

Top programmes

Journalism
International Relations
Engineering
Business
English and Comparative Literature
Political Science

Notable alumni

Barack Obama — 44th President of the United States
Ruth Bader Ginsburg — U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Warren Buffett — Investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
Alexander Hamilton — Founding Father and first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Langston Hughes — Poet and leader of the Harlem Renaissance
Jake Gyllenhaal — Academy Award-nominated actor
Joseph Pulitzer — Newspaper publisher and founder of the Pulitzer Prize
Eric Holder — 82nd U.S. Attorney General

Traditions

Orgo Night
Tree Lighting Ceremony
Varsity Show
Class Day on the Steps of Low Library
Midnight Breakfast during finals

If Columbia University were…

As a food: New York City street halal — Iconic, only truly works in this specific location, unpretentious but beloved, and you're eating it at 2am between the library and your apartment because it's there and it's good and you're too busy for anything else. Co
As an athlete: LeBron James — Came in with huge expectations, delivered on all of them, dominates through a combination of natural gifts and relentless work, and never lets you forget they're the best in the game. Both have that 'I belong at the top
As a person alive today: Ruth Bader Ginsburg — Columbia Law 1959, tied for first in her class, spent her career dismantling barriers with surgical legal precision, became a cultural icon. She embodies Columbia's urban intellectual warrior ethos—brilliant, relentless,
As a historical figure: Alexander Hamilton — Attended King's College (Columbia's original name), scrappy immigrant outsider, wrote his way into history, built financial systems from scratch, and died in a duel. Pure Columbia: urban, ambitious, intellectual firepowe
As a movie or TV show: The Social Network — Brilliant, ambitious people in small rooms arguing about ideas that will reshape the world, fueled by competition and insecurity, set against elite institutions. Columbia kids are Zuckerberg and the Winklevii simultaneou
As a US president: Barack Obama — Columbia College '83, political science, lived in a walk-up on 109th Street, embodied urban intellectualism mixed with pragmatic ambition. He's the modern Columbia archetype: globally minded, socially conscious, Ivy cred
As a city: London — Dense, historic, global financial and cultural capital, where the university is embedded in the urban fabric rather than isolated from it. Both are places where world-changing ideas and commerce happen on the same crowde
As an element: Uranium — Powerful, dense, literally split here in the Manhattan Project, and can either power cities or level them depending on application. Columbia's intellectual energy is concentrated, urban, and has reshaped the world for be
As a car: 2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo — Core Curriculum rigor wrapped in Manhattan ambition—expensive, high-performance, unapologetically urban, and always double-parked outside a hedge fund interview. Butler Library meets Wall Street in a $120k package that s

Campus life

Columbia's campus life is defined by its urban setting in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, where students balance rigorous academics with access to the city's endless cultural and professional opportunities. The campus itself is a compact, gated oasis with a strong sense of community despite the metropolitan surroundings. Social life includes a vibrant club scene with over 500 student organizations, Greek life, and frequent engagement with New York City's arts, dining, and internship landscape.