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
IN LUMINE TUO VIDEBIMUS LUMEN
In Thy light shall we see light (Psalms 36:9)
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%)
TRADITIONS
•First Year March – during orientation week freshmen exit Lerner Hall through its back doors, turn right and enter campus again through the main gates to officially become Columbia students
•The Varsity Show – an annual musical written by and for students, this is one of Columbia's oldest and finest traditions
•Primal Scream – on the Sunday of finals week each semester, students open their windows at midnight and scream as
loudly as possible