COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

GENERAL INFORMATION

•location: Upper Manhattan, New York City

•Ivy League

•established: 1754 (the oldest in NY, 5th oldest in the USA)

•type: Royal (1754-1776), Private (present)

•President: Lee Bollinger

•Academic staff: 3,999

•Students: 27,942

COLORS

•White and Columbia Blue (Pantone 290)

•Columbia Blue (Jordy blue) derives from the Philolexian Society, the university's oldest student organization (1802)

HISTORY

•founded 1754 by royal charter of King George II of England

•1754-1784 – King’s College (8 students in class)

•1784-1896 – Columbia College

•1889 – affiliation with Barnard College for women

•1st school in the US to grant the M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree

ALUMNI

•five Founding Fathers of the United States (an author of the United States Constitution and co-author of the Declaration of Independence)

•three U.S. presidents

•29 foreign heads of state

•10 Justices of the United States Supreme Court, two of whom currently serve

•96 Nobel laureates

•38 living billionaires

•39 Academy Awards winners

•125 Pulitzer Prizes recipients.

CAMPUS

•the second largest landowner in NY (36 acre)

•main campus:

Morningside Heights (6

city blocks)

•underground tunnel system (more than a century old)

•University Library System

ADMISSION

• independent, private

•the third most selective college in the USA

•the second most selective college in the Ivy League

•6.9 percent of people who apply are accepted

•scholarships: 2007 – donation from a media billionaire alumnus John Kluge

•the Common Application

MAJORS

•Social sciences (22% of students)

•Engineering (21%)

•Biological and medicinal sciences (10%)

•English language and Literature/Letters (5%)

•Visual and performing arts (5%)