Applying to Ivy League schools these days is no joke. And Columbia is right up there with the absolute best of them. A city campus in the heart of NYC, Columbia is a fantastic school for those interested in outstanding academics in one of the cultural epicenters of the world. But if you want to get into Columbia, you’re going to have to have an ironclad strategy. We help our students gear themselves towards specific programs within the nation’s top universities. Here are the most popular majors at Columbia:
POLITICAL SCIENCE
142 grads from the 2021-2022 class at Columbia received degrees in Political Science. Poli Sci at Columbia offers both a major and a concentration. There are also other interdepartmental majors with Economics and Statistics. Coursework ranges from Racial and Ethnical Politics, Latino Political Experience, Modern Political Thought, Russian Propaganda Dom & Global Politics and Game Theory & Political Theory.
ECONOMICS / FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
Economics is an extremely popular major amongst the Ivies, and with 102 degrees conferred for the class of 2021-2022 (and another 76 in Financial Economics), Columbia is no exception. The Department of Economics is one of the programs of its kind in the world and in addition to majors in Economics and Financial Economics, it also offers joint majors in Math, Philosophy, Political Science, and Statistics. The department offers a range of some 40 classes for undergrads.
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Computer Science is another popular major at Columbia and at universities across the country. It’s a career-focused major with plenty of jobs in the industry. Courses include Open Source Development, Innovation & Design Lab, Mobil App develop IOS, Applied Machine Learning and Casual Inference for Data.
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology is another major that’s popular at universities everywhere. This major is research-focuses and offers a series of lectures for students. Courses include Fundamentals of Human brain imaging: from Theory to Practice, Thinking & Decision Making, Drugs & Behavior, Social Psychology, and the Science and Psychology of Music.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BEHAVIOR
This major is cosponsored between the Department of Psychology and the Department of Biological Sciences. Courses that satisfy the major include Regulation of Behaviors for Survival, Cell Biology, Evolutionary Biology in the Genomic Era, Seminar in Epigenetics, Transformative Concepts in Systems Biology, From Curiosity to Cure Case Studies, and more.
HISTORY
The Department of History offers both a major and a concentration. Courses include the Global First World War, Columbia 1968, African Communities in New York, Holocaust and American Culture, Egyptian History, the Mundane Comedy, Global Cold War, and more. The Department encourages study abroad and offers both lectures and seminars for its undergraduate students.
It’s important to hone in on a particular major or program when applying to a highly-ranked school. In such a competitive environment, students have to find a way to stand out. We advise our students to pick an academic brand early on in high school and position themselves as an expert in a particular area. That way, once it’s time to apply, our students can make the case that a specific program within their top-choice school is a natural extension of the academic area of expertise they’ve been building throughout high school.
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