Columbia is a big deal, and that is an understatement. As a top university in the United States and member of the famed Ivy League, Columbia also has the bonus perk of being located in one of the most famous and popular cities in the world: New York City. For international students, it isn’t just the allure of the top academics and bright lights, though — it’s also the three convenient international airports. Students coming from abroad who want to be able to go home are often surprised to learn how far many top universities are from a major airport with any chance of offering regular direct flights. For many, it’s hours of driving, or a mix of trains and busing, to even start getting home. From the Columbia Campus on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, it’s as little as 30 minutes to your terminal.

Columbia is a competitive school – you know this, of course. Last cycle, Columbia accepted 3.85% of students, down slightly from 3.9%. We only know this because of data published in the school paper, because Columbia does not fill out the Common Data Set (CDS). And because they don’t fill out the CDS, we also don’t know the exact numbers around their waitlist data. We do know, from looking at their peer schools and past experience, that their waitlist acceptance rate is probably around, or less than, 4%. Don’t fear, though, we’ve helped lots of students get off the waitlist and into Columbia.

Columbia University welcomes “over 125 transfer students each year,” to Columbia College and Columbia Engineering. The Ivy League schools loves transfer students, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get in. In the 2022-2023 application cycle, 3,254 students applied to transfer and only 10% were admitted. This is, however, higher than many of the other Ivies, which makes Columbia a strong transfer option for top students looking for a bigger challenge at the college level.