VOL. 23, NO. 23	MAY 20, 1998

olumbia College admissions figures broke records again this year, with a swell of applications and a declining rate of admission that rivals the nation’s most selective schools.

  “This was a very big year,” said Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Chris Colombo. “We’ve been on a steady upswing in visibility and applications for more than five years now, but this year was even more dramatic, so much so it has pushed our selectivity rate very close to our top competitors. And for the first time ever, we surpassed Yale in the number of students seeking admission.”

  For the second year in a row, Columbia expects to be in the top three most selective Ivy League schools, with Harvard and Princeton.

  The 12,250 applications received this year grew from 6,756 applications in 1993. The selectivity rate dropped to 14.2 percent from 30.4 percent in the same period. And the yield—the number of accepted students who matriculate—has grown enormously in that time: from 40.6 percent to 55 percent, according to the most recent admissions figures.

  “Last year, we were the only Ivy League school with a substantial increase in applications. This year, we are the only Ivy League school with a percentage increase better than nine percent,” Colombo said.

  Great strides were also made by the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, which this year saw a 15 percent increase in applications from last year, and 30 percent increase from the year before. The selectivity rate, 28 percent, is competitive with Caltech and MIT. The engineering school also continues to attract more women: About 30% of the engineering population is female, higher than the national average.

  The rising attraction of New York City and the strengths of the Core Curriculum are major factors in Columbia’s growing reputation. Yet the phenomenon is due in part to the University’s increasing national profile, particularly on the West Coast and in the South and SouthWest, where, according to admissions officers, Columbia had very little name recognition just five years ago. For example, in 1993, Columbia received only 895 applications from students on the West Coast. In 1998, that number jumped to more than 2,200.

  “Our geographic diversity has increased in ways that we want,” Colombo said. “We’ve made great efforts, and we are very pleased.”