Acceptance rate for Colombia University

What is the Acceptance rate for Colombia University? Columbia admissions is extremely selective with an acceptance rate of 7%. Students that get into Columbia have an average SAT score between 1460-1570 or an average ACT score of 33-35. The regular admissions application deadline for Columbia is January 1.

Will You Get Into Columbia?
Test Scores and High School GPA for Columbia University

What are Columbia University’s admission requirements? While there are a lot of pieces that go into a college application, you should focus on only a few critical things:

GPA requirements
Testing requirements, including SAT and ACT requirements
Application requirements

School location: New York, NY

Acceptance rate for Colombia University

If you want to get in, the first thing to look at is the acceptance rate. This tells you how competitive the school is and how serious their requirements are.

The acceptance rate at Columbia University is 5.9%. For every 100 applicants, only 6 are admitted.

This means the school is extremely selective. Meeting their GPA requirements and SAT/ACT requirements is very important to getting past their first round of filters and proving your academic preparation. If you don’t meet their expectations, your chance of getting in is nearly zero.

After crossing this hurdle, you’ll need to impress Columbia University application readers through their other application requirements, including extracurriculars, essays, and letters of recommendation. We’ll cover more below.

Acceptance rate for Colombia University
Columbia University GPA Requirements

Many schools specify a minimum GPA requirement, but this is often just the bare minimum to submit an application without immediately getting rejected.

The GPA requirement that really matters is the GPA you need for a real chance of getting in. For this, we look at the school’s average GPA for its current students.

(Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA. This school did not officially report its average GPA, but we’ve estimated it here using data from over 1,000 schools.)

With a GPA of 4.12, Columbia University requires you to be at the top of your class. You’ll need nearly straight A’s in all your classes to compete with other applicants. Furthermore, you should be taking hard classes – AP or IB courses – to show that college-level academics is a breeze.

If you’re currently a junior or senior, your GPA is hard to change in time for college applications. If your GPA is at or below the school average of 4.12, you’ll need a higher SAT or ACT score to compensate. This will help you compete effectively against other applicants who have higher GPAs than you.

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Acceptance rate for Colombia University
SAT and ACT Requirements

Each school has different requirements for standardized testing. Most schools require the SAT or ACT, and many also require SAT subject tests.

You must take either the SAT or ACT to submit an application to Columbia University. More importantly, you need to do well to have a strong application.

Columbia University SAT Requirements

Many schools say they have no SAT score cutoff, but the truth is that there is a hidden SAT requirement. This is based on the school’s average score.

As far as accomplishments go, getting into Columbia University in 2022-23 versus getting accepted into the NYC Ivy a generation ago are wholly incomparable. It would be like equating climbing Mt. Everest to meandering up a modest hill, and it only takes one quick glance at the historical admissions numbers to see that this analogy is far from hyperbole.

Here are the facts: The acceptance rate for the Class of 2026 was a menacingly low 3.7%. The parents of today’s applicants would have faced admissions odds roughly 9 times more favorable. That’s right, the acceptance rate at Columbia University for the Class of 1992 was 32% according to the school’s Office of Planning & Institutional Research. Even in 1997, when the acceptance rate had fallen to 17%, the average SAT score of an admitted applicant was 1346; today the average SAT score is in excess of 1500. All of this is to say—when it comes to Columbia admissions, the competition has never been more merciless, and the odds of success never more discouraging.

Acceptance rate for Colombia University

To give yourself the best shot possible, it is necessary to be aware of the following”

Columbia’s Class of 2026 early decision acceptance rate
Columbia’s Class of 2026 acceptance rate
SAT, ACT, and class rank of accepted Columbia University applicants
Admissions trends from the Class of 2026
How to stand out on your Columbia application
Columbia’s system for rating applicants
A look at the demographics of current Columbia undergraduates
The percent of accepted students that attend Columbia (yield rate)
Tips for applying to Columbia
How to approach the Columbia supplemental essays
How to assess whether applying to Columbia is even worth the $85 application fee (for you)
Let’s begin with an examination of the most recent admissions data.

Columbia: Early Decision Acceptance Rate – Class of 2026

Columbia received 6,435 Early Decision applications for the Class of 2026. A total of 650 students were accepted for a 10% ED acceptance rate. Clearly, the ED route gives you a far better route than applying to Columbia in the regular cycle.

Acceptance rate for Colombia University

Columbia Acceptance Rate – Class of 2025 & 2026

The 60,377 applications submitted for a place in the 2021-22 freshman class represented roughly a 50% increase over two years ago. Just 2,253 were accepted which works out to 3.73%. This is down from the 6.3% clip for the Class of 2024, just two years ago. The last time that Columbia’s acceptance rate was in the double-digits was for the Class of 2012 (10.7%).

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Columbia Admissions – SAT, GPA, and Class Rank

Among those enrolled in the Class of 2025, the mid-50% SAT range was 1510-1560 and the mid-50% ACT range was 34-35. An impressive 95% of admitted students placed in the top 10% of their graduating high school class.

Admissions Trends & Notes (Class of 2026)

Students from all 50 states and 86 countries were admitted into the Class of 2026.
The number of admitted students into the Class of 2026 who identified as students of color increased by 4%.
The number of first-generation and Pell Grant-eligible students increased as well.
Columbia University extended their test-optional policy through the 2023-24 cycle.
The number of applications and acceptance rate were almost identical for the Class of 2025 and Class of 2026.
How to stand out on my Columbia application

One glance at the incredible list of Lion alumni and you’ll get a sense of what the university is looking for: the next generation of politicians (Barack Obama), award-winning writers (Langston Hughes, JD Salinger), entrepreneurs (Robert Kraft, Warren Buffett), and actors/actresses (Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal, Kate McKinnon). Your special talent might not ever make you as famous as the aforementioned individuals, but it’s important that you stand out somehow in any number of ways. Perhaps you are the best oboe player in your state, the top pole vaulter in your region, a top-finisher in a nationwide physics competition…you get the idea. It helps to be able to shine brightest among thousands of other individuals who also sport 4.4 GPAs and 1550 SAT scores—these are just a few of a million possible examples.

Acceptance rate for Colombia University

Additionally, there is a definite advantage enjoyed by athletes recruited to one of Columbia’s NCAA Division I sports teams. Approximately 775 current Columbia students are also varsity athletes. Of course, these athletes also have to be quite accomplished inside the classroom. In one recent year, an incredible 42% of Columbia athletes made the Dean’s List.

For advice about how to stand out on the extracurricular front, check out our previous blog entitled How Many Extracurricular Activities Do I Need for College?

How Columbia Rates Applicants

Columbia engages in a holistic admissions process that will result in the university selecting “those that we believe will take greatest advantage of the unique Columbia experience and will offer something meaningful in return to the community.” Toward that aim, there are six factors that Columbia considers above all others:

Curriculum & grades
Context (family and community circumstances)
Extracurricular activities
Character
“Fit”
Recommendations
Columbia uses a committee-based approach and no applicant is admitted without “discussion and examination” from more than one admissions officer. Lastly, the university “seeks diversity of personalities, achievements and talents, and of economic, social, ethnic, cultural, religious, racial and geographic backgrounds.” On that note, let’s check out the demographics of the Class of 2024.

Acceptance rate for Colombia University

Who Actually Gets Into Columbia?

Geographically, the states that sent the greatest number of students into the Class of 2025 were:

New York
California
New Jersey
Texas
Florida
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Illinois
North Carolina
Virginia
Like other Ivy League schools, an advantage can be had if you hail from a less populated state with fewer qualified applicants. Elite colleges value “geographic diversity” which means if you live in a remote area like Montana or Idaho, your admissions prospects will get a boost.

Next, we look at the 13% of international students in the most recent freshman class. The following foreign countries sent the most students to the Class of 2025:

China
United Kingdom
Canada
India
Hong Kong
Turkey
Singapore
South Korea
Brazil
Ethiopia
Looking at ethnic identity, the breakdown of the Class of 2025 was as follows (percentages do not add up to 100% as applicants can list multiple races):

White: 54%
Asian American: 28%
Hispanic: 20%
African American: 18%
American Indian: 4%
Looking at the category of possible first major, Class of 2025 Columbia grads intended to study:

Math and Natural Sciences: 26%
Arts & Humanities: 23%
Engineering: 24%
Social Sciences: 26%
Undecided: 1%
The figure that jumps out here is the extremely low number of undecided students. This tells us that Columbia is primarily looking for students with a strong academic focus. Of course, it also speaks to the professionally-focused applicant pool.

The gender breakdown of the Class of 2025 was relatively even:

Female: 50%
Male: 48%
Non-binary and others: 2%
Columbia’s “Yield Rate”

Columbia’s yield rate—the percentage of accepted students who elect to enroll, divided by the total number of students who are admitted—is 67%. This places them above schools like Dartmouth (64%) and Cornell (64%), but behind schools like Yale (83%), Stanford (80%), and Penn (70%).

Tips for Applying to Columbia

If you plan on joining the 60,000+ Columbia hopefuls for the next admissions cycle, you should know the following:

Columbia does not guarantee an alumni interview, but they are offered all over the world from October to March each year. When you apply, your info will automatically be sent to an alumni interviewer in your area and they will contact you. However, some interviewers are willing to conduct the session over the phone or Skype. For advice on what types of questions you should be prepared to answer/ask visit our blog—College Interview Tips.
Columbia does not consider “demonstrated interest” so you will not be judged on whether or not you made a campus visit, contacted an admissions officer, etc.
Make sure to dedicate sufficient time and effort to the supplemental essays and short answers required by Columbia; they are quite extensive. In the 2021-22 cycle, they were as follows:
Essay Prompts

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List Questions:

List the titles of the required readings from academic courses that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school.
the titles of the books, essays, poetry, short stories or plays you read outside of academic courses that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school.
the titles of the print or digital publications, websites, journals, podcasts or other content with which you regularly engage.
List the movies, albums, shows, museums, lectures, events at your school or other entertainments that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school (in person or online).
Short Answer Questions:

Columbia students take an active role in improving their community, whether in their residence hall, classes or throughout New York City. Their actions, small or large, work to positively impact the lives of others. Share one contribution that you have made to your family, school, friend group or another community that surrounds you. (200 words or fewer)
Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? (200 words or fewer)
Please tell us what from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) attracts you specifically to the areas of study that you noted in the application. (200 words or fewer)
For a detailed look at how to tackle these essays, visit our blog entitled: Columbia Supplemental Essay Prompts and Tips.

Acceptance rate for Colombia University

Should I Apply to Columbia?

Ultimately, if you fit the mold of the typical student accepted at Columbia then it is worth your effort and $85 to submit an application. At the same time, one has to keep in mind that the university rejects 96 of every 100 applicants that apply, and the bulk of these individuals have exceptional credentials similar to your own. Thus, it goes without saying that all teens applying to this or any other Ivy need to also have a proper mix or “target” and “safety” schools on their college list.