For autumn 2027 entry the SAT and ACT are optional at Columbia. A year later they become required. For an international applicant, testing is not the only thing that differs: so does the way financial need is weighed.
Columbia College and Columbia Engineering requirements for autumn 2027 entry: the application and Columbia questions, this cycle’s testing policy, English, Early Decision, aid for international students and cost. With an explanation of what each rule means for an applicant from another education system.
Four questions that shape the strategy.
No. Applicants for autumn 2027 entry (the 2026-27 cycle) choose whether to submit scores. From the 2027-28 cycle Columbia will require the SAT or ACT. Exit exams that are required to graduate from school (A Levels, the IB, the French Baccalaureate, national exams) must be submitted regardless.
Need-aware: for international applicants, financial need is taken into account in the admission decision. For those admitted, Columbia meets 100% of demonstrated need regardless of citizenship and without loans. Aid must be requested with the application: an international student admitted without it cannot change that status later.
Early Decision: 1 November, binding, decision in mid-December, financial documents by 15 November. Regular Decision: 1 January, financial documents by 15 February, decisions in late March, reply by 1 May.
Proof of English is required whether or not SAT or ACT scores are submitted. Minimums: IELTS 7.5, TOEFL iBT 105 up to 20 January 2026 or 5.5 afterwards, Duolingo 135, Cambridge C1/C2 191. Exemption: English as the home language or language of instruction throughout secondary school, or SAT EBRW of 700+ or ACT English/Reading of 29+.
The direct answer: a first-year applicant chooses one of two schools, and at Columbia College the first years are shaped by a required core shared by every student.
For more than a century the Core Curriculum has defined a Columbia College education: Literature Humanities, Contemporary Civilization, Art Humanities, Music Humanities, Frontiers of Science and University Writing, plus Global Core, a foreign language and science. Core seminars have up to 25 students.
Columbia accepts first-year applications to Columbia College or Columbia Engineering. For Engineering one of the two teacher recommendations must come from a maths or science teacher, and the final Columbia question asks directly about the chosen fields.
For the applicant this is a question of fit, not prestige: the Core means years of shared reading of foundational texts and discussion. It can frustrate someone who wants to specialise at once, and it can be the strongest argument for Columbia for someone who enjoys arguing about texts.
The direct answer: one list question of up to 100 words and five short answers of up to 150 words each; together they show the applicant’s intellectual life and why Columbia specifically.
| Question | Length |
|---|---|
| Texts, resources and outlets that have shaped your intellectual development outside class | up to 100 words |
| An aspect of your life or experience and how it will shape your learning and contribution at Columbia | up to 150 words |
| A time you disagreed with someone and what you took from it | up to 150 words |
| A situation in which you navigated adversity, and how you changed | up to 150 words |
| Why you are interested in attending Columbia | up to 150 words |
| What attracts you to your preferred areas of study at Columbia College or Columbia Engineering | up to 150 words |
The list question cannot be prepared a week before the deadline: it shows what the applicant has actually read and listened to for years. For an international applicant it is an advantage when the list honestly reflects their own language and culture rather than a set of familiar English-language titles.
The direct answer: Columbia accepts every secondary curriculum and reads the record within its own system, but documents not in English must be officially translated and submitted with the originals.
The direct answer: the 2026-27 budget is USD 99,774; aid is need-based only, there are no merit scholarships, and international applicants are read need-aware.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Tuition | 72 800 USD |
| Fees (including a one-time USD 730 for first-year students) | 4 160 USD |
| Housing | 12 522 USD |
| Food | 7 128 USD |
| Books and supplies | 1 320 USD |
| Personal expenses | 1 844 USD |
| Total budget, travel excluded | 99 774 USD |
Columbia reads US citizens and permanent residents, refugees, DACA recipients and undocumented students need-blind. For other international applicants need is taken into account. In 2023-24 Columbia awarded USD 19 million in aid to international students.
Columbia publishes general thresholds: below USD 66,000 of family income the parent contribution is zero; below USD 150,000 tuition is free (with typical assets). For an international applicant admission is decided first, with need taken into account, and only then do these rules set the size of the award.
At Columbia the strategy for an international applicant turns on two questions: whether to submit a test in an optional year, and how to combine a need for aid with a binding early round.
Whether to submit the SAT or ACT depends on how strong the result is relative to the rest of the profile, not on “it is allowed, so I will not”.
The decision to request aid is made once: for an international student it cannot be changed after admission.
Whether the applicant is ready for years of shared humanities reading and can write about it convincingly.
IELTS 7.5 and TOEFL 105 are minimums, not targets: below them an application will not be considered.
College or Engineering determines the recommendations, the final Columbia question and which school subjects need to be strong.
The EDMONT sequence: formal eligibility → academic competitiveness → funding → fit with the university and programme → application strategy. We do not calculate admission probabilities and we promise no outcome.
Tell us where the applicant is studying now, the intended year of entry and whether the family needs financial aid.
The Columbia University pages this page was checked against.
The EDMONT editorial standards set out how we check facts, date material and correct errors.
In a test-optional year, and with international applicants read need-aware, the decisions about testing, aid and the early round depend on one another. A profile review brings them into one strategy.
ELIGIBILITY → TESTING → FUNDING → ROUND → APPLICATION