Columbia University
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ABOUT
Established
in 1754, Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in
Upper Manhattan, New York City. 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.
With an
undergraduate acceptance rate of 5.8 percent, Columbia is currently the third
most selective college in the United States and the second most selective in
the Ivy League after Harvard. Its first president was none other than the
literary great Samuel Johnson, and over the years Columbia has produced
numerous distinguished alumni, from Oscar winners and Nobel laureates to Supreme
Court judges. Three US Presidents and the authors of the Declaration of
Independence and American Constitution were also schooled at Columbia. It also
runs the highly distinguished Pulitzer Prize, an annual award for achievements
in journalism, literature and musical composition.
The
university is organized into 20 schools, including undergraduate schools such
as Columbia College, the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied
Science, and the School of General Studies, as well as graduate schools such as
Columbia Law School, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia
Journalism School and Columbia Business School. It also had global research
outposts across the world. Its total student body numbers around 28,000 and is
comprised mainly of postgraduates, with roughly 8,500 undergraduate
students.
Columbia’s
main campus is Morningside Heights, occupying around six city blocks in the
Morningside Heights district of New York. It’s home to the neo-classical Butler
library, one of the largest buildings on campus, and almost two dozen
undergraduate dormitories. The university also owns 7,800 apartments in the
local area, which house faculty members, students, and staff.
The
campus was designed along Beaux-Arts principles and was a late 19th century
vision of a campus where all disciplines could be taught. Some of its standout
features include the Low Memorial Library, a National Historic Landmark, the
site of the invention of FM radio, and the location where the nuclear fission
of uranium first took place.
More
significant for students are The Steps, a long series of granite steps which
are a popular hangout and meeting place, and the bronze figure of Alma Mater, a
female figure draped in an academic gown who serves as a daily reminder to
students of their scholarly duties.
Tags:
Education