About the School
Columbia University in the City of New York, established in 1754, is a private Ivy League research university in Upper Manhattan, New York City. Columbia contains the oldest college in the state of New York and is the fifth chartered institution of higher learning in the United States, making it one of nine colonial colleges founded prior to the Declaration of Independence. It was established as King's College by royal charter of George II of Great Britain and renamed Columbia College in 1784 following the American Revolutionary War. The college has produced numerous distinguished alumni. With an undergraduate acceptance rate of 5.5%, Columbia currently stands as the third most selective college in the United States and the second most selective in the Ivy League.
The university is organized into twenty schools, including undergraduate as well as graduate schools. The university also has global research outposts in Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Paris, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Asunción and Nairobi. There are nearby institutions that are affiliated with Columbia including Barnard College, Teachers College, List College, and Union Theological Seminary. Columbia's General Studies School also has joint undergraduate programs available through the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, University College London, Sciences Po, City University of Hong Kong, Trinity College Dublin, and the Juilliard School.
