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.
Students transfer in from four-year and two-year colleges, including community colleges. If you’ve left college for more than a year, apply to the School of General Studies. This has its own application. If you want to study engineering, apply to Columbia Engineering, but it’s the same application as we’ll break down below.
Columbia does not use the Common App for transfers. Instead, they use the Coalition Application (SCOIR). They also only accept transfers for fall start. Strong applicants have exceptional grades and scores, and a clear vision for academic future (or even beyond). While they say that there is a minimum 3.5 GPA, it is rare to get into Columbia as a transfer without a 3.8 or higher. And if you are applying for Columbia Engineering, they especially expect to see two semesters of Calculus, Two semesters of Physics, and one semester of Chemistry.
Remember that, as a transfer student to Columbia, you’ll be required to complete the rigorous Core Curriculum, which will take up at least 30% (but likely more) of your time at Columbia. Because of this, it’s better to apply to Columbia as a first year (applying for sophomore year) as opposed to as a sophomore.
Now, let’s get into the application.
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The most important part of the Columbia transfer application, after your grades and alongside your recommendations, are the essays. These should not be rushed, and you need to follow a whole process of drafting, editing, and finalizing. This takes time, so plan ahead to make sure you have the runway to make it happen. A rushed application is a weak application.
THE ESSAYS
The List Question
List a selection of texts, resources and outlets that have contributed to your intellectual development outside of academic courses, including but not limited to books, journals, websites, podcasts, essays, plays, presentations, videos, museums and other content that you enjoy. (100 words or fewer)
This is both the most talked about question on the Columbia application, and the silliest. They want a list of media and cultural events like books, magazines, movies, tv shows, museums, gallery shows, theater shows. They don’t want author names, explanations, nor subtitles. Each item should be separated by commas or semicolons, and if you are asking “what does this tell them?” that is a valid question.
Without context, they have no way of knowing what is a book or a show, or a gallery. All they have is a list.
Because of this, students often think that the best approach is to sound impressive. While we understand the impulse, we have to suggest caution. Saying that you read the Economist, Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal, alongside listing a bunch of the longest books ever written smells more like performance than authenticity.
The most important thing, then, is to be true to who you are…with a filter. Don’t list a bunch of reality tv shows, but one or two alongside some more elevated offerings makes you human.
A hallmark of the Columbia experience is being able to learn and thrive in an equitable and inclusive community with a wide range of perspectives. Tell us about an aspect of your own perspective, viewpoint or lived experience that is important to you, and describe how it has shaped the way you would learn from and contribute to Columbia's diverse and collaborative community. (150 words or fewer)
This is a fun prompt, and a compact response. You have barely more than twice the length of the prompt itself to answer it in. What we like about this is that you have to get to the point and don’t have room to go astray — if you start out headed in the right direction.
So, what is the right direction? Story.
The best way to answer this prompt is with a single, focused story that speaks to an aspect of who you are, and that doesn’t require a lot of description for the reader to understand the importance of. This will leave you just enough room to connect your story and experience back to what Columbia offers and how you can contribute to their diverse and dynamic community.
Strong story ideas are focused, specific, and time-constrained, but you shouldn’t spend too much (if any) time trying to make your story unique. Universal stories that a wide range of application readers can connect to are some of the most powerful tales you can tell.
In college/university, students are often challenged in ways that they could not predict or anticipate. It is important to us, therefore, to understand an applicant's ability to navigate through adversity. Please describe a barrier or obstacle you have faced and discuss the personal qualities, skills or insights you have developed as a result. (150 words or fewer)
This prompt is interesting because it almost sounds like a “hardship,” prompt, but it isn’t really. Hardship prompts are ones that ask you to share a challenge, and they have a bad habit of becoming trauma-dumps. This prompt avoids that trap by framing the story they want to hear from you differently. They don’t necessarily want to hear what life has done to you — they want to know what you have done to life, even in the face of great challenge.
Great challenge, too, is relative. And the most powerful responses are often focused on the small, daily ways that you’ve had to navigate life. Maybe it’s navigating a disability, a responsibility, or a hurdle. Maybe a parent had an accident that required you to take on additional roles in your family while remaining a top student, or maybe you come from a geographic area or community with limited resources. Whatever your story, focus more on what you’ve done than on what’s been done to you.
Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia. (150 words or fewer)
This prompt is very important as a prospective transfer. Columbia only wants to accept transfers who have a strong sense of their academic path, and who know why Columbia is the best place for them to pursue it. Focus your response on specifics: specific programs, specific student groups, and especially specific aspects of the CORE curriculum. Something you shouldn’t write about, though, are study abroad programs. As a transfer, you are unlikely to have time to do a study abroad program. Emphasizing one here, then, would both waste space and shows a lack of knowledge of the rigorousness of the Columbia program, especially the CORE. You also shouldn’t spend time talking about your major because you’ll have room for that next.
What attracts you to your preferred areas of study at Columbia College or Columbia Engineering? (150 words or fewer)
This is where you’ll write about your prospective major, including specifics like a professor you’d love to study under, a course or two you’re excited about, a research opportunity, or maybe an internship program that would help launch you into your ideal career. The supplement is short, so you are trying to pack a lot of information into a small amount of space. However, you still don’t want to just list things out. Even a short, straight-forward supplement needs a story. Hook the reader at the start with a specific detail that is framed in an evocative way — maybe a moment with a professor during a lecture you listened to (in-person or virtually), or a piece of equipment you’re dreaming of getting to work with.
RECOMMENDATIONS
You will need two college recommendations as part of your application to Columbia. If you just got to college a few months ago, this can be tough. It can still be difficult even if you’ve been in school for a year, and it’s nearly always awkward regardless. The best recommender is the professor or instructor you have the strongest connection to in your prospective major. This part is the same as in high school. But in high school, you weren’t asking your teacher to help you abandon them. Here, you aren’t automatically leaving — you’re opting into it.
Columbia also allows for an optional third recommendation from an academic dean or counselor. We don’t believe that optional is optional if you want to get in, so you’ll definitely want this third recommendation as part of your application.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Start talking to your high school and college administrations as soon as you begin to consider a transfer. You’ll need transcripts, reports, and recommendations — and all of those take a lot more time to get as a transfer than when you were a high school senior. This is especially true for your high school documents because you aren’t really their problem anymore. They have no reason to prioritize you on their schedule other than kindness and goodwill.
Communicating early and consistently will increase the chance that they will go the extra mile for you.
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