Columbia and international students

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hi! </p>

<p>I have a question concerning Columbia's international students' admission. As I understand, Columbia is need-based but NOT need-blind for international student- that is, it will NOT admit international students only based on their academic and personal application but also on their ability to pay for the tuition and living expanses (financial application). </p>

<p>From what I understand, international students who are in need for high financial aid (>$20,000) have much lower chances for admission than those who only need a minimal amount of aid. In fact, there is a direct relationship between the ability of an international student to pay for college and his chances to get admitted- the less financial aid an international student needs the better chances he (or she) has. </p>

<p>So my question is simply- is that really the case in Columbia?</p>

2

<p>Of course. “Need-aware” means just what it sounds like—Columbia considers whether or not international students can pay when choosing to admit them. Given the huge number of international students who apply, and the obscene wealth of some of them, this isn’t surprising. Unless a student is a prodigy or has beat the odds to apply from a region of the world that doesn’t often send students to Ivy League schools, they generally won’t be accepted if they need aid. Someone poor from Sudan might get in, but probably not someone poor from China or Abu Dhabi, given the high number of wealthy and academically successful students who apply from those regions.</p>