Columbia College Chicago Overview

Columbia College Chicago is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Chicago, Illinois. The city atmosphere of Chicago makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

What Is Columbia College Chicago Known For?

• The highest award offered at Columbia is the master's degree.
• In 2017-2018, 31% of the faculty were full-time.
• The average Columbia student graduates in 4.2 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

Columbia College Chicago Rankings

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Columbia.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Movement & Mind-Body Therapies Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Health Professions Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value English Language & Literature Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Other Interdisciplinary Studies Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Arts & Media Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Drama & Theater Arts Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#71	Best Health Professions Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Columbia has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Movement Therapy and Movement Education Master’s Degree Schools	College Factual
#5	Best Recording Arts Technology/Technician Schools	College Factual
#11	Best Audiovisual Communications Schools	College Factual
#41	Best Value Colleges for Health Professions	College Factual
#44	Best Healthcare Schools	Healthcare Degree Search
#296	Best Health Professions Schools	College Factual

Where Is Columbia College Chicago?

Contact details for Columbia are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	600 South Michigan, Chicago, IL 60605-1996
Phone:	312-369-1000
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/columbiacollegechicago
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/columbiachi

How Do I Get Into Columbia?

You can apply to Columbia online at: www.colum.edu/apply

Admission Requirements for Columbia

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	recommended
High School Rank	considered but not required
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	considered but not required
SAT or ACT Scores	recommended
TOEFL	recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into Columbia?

Since Columbia has an acceptance rate of 90%, it is not too hard to gain acceptance into the school. Still, you need to be sure you complete your application in full and send in any other requested documents.

Approximately 37% of accepted students are men and 63% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 86%, and the acceptance rate for women is 92%.

Can I Afford Columbia College Chicago?

The overall average net price of Columbia is $40,616. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Columbia, approximately 62% of students took out student loans averaging $7,453 a year. That adds up to $29,812 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Columbia is 9.2%. This is about the same as the national default rate of 10.1%.

Columbia College Chicago Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 6,542 undergraduate students at Columbia, with 6,117 being full-time and 425 being part-time.

There are also 227 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 6,117 full-time undergraduates at Columbia, 41% are male and 59% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Columbia College Chicago students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	230
Black or African American	923
Hispanic or Latino	1,427
White	2,946
International Students	194
Other Races/Ethnicities	397

Geographic Diversity

Illinois students aren't the only ones who study at Columbia College Chicago. At this time, all 50 states are represented by the student population at the school.

At this time, 50 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 71 countries are represented at Columbia. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, South Korea, and India.

Online Learning at Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Master’s	TOTAL
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	312	24	336
Design & Applied Arts	272	0	272
Drama & Theater Arts	157	12	169
Arts & Media Management	106	21	127
Graphic Communications	82	0	82
Writing Studies	50	26	76
Music	56	11	67
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	63	0	63
Audiovisual Communications	53	0	53
Public Relations & Advertising	35	0	35
Journalism	34	0	34
Business Administration & Management	30	0	30
Marketing	27	0	27
Fine & Studio Arts	23	3	26
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	15	5	20
American Sign Language	15	0	15
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies	0	13	13
Dance	13	0	13
Communication & Media Studies	8	0	8
Ethnic Studies	8	0	8
Teacher Education Grade Specific	7	0	7
Computer Programming	6	0	6
Physics	3	0	3
General English Literature	2	0	2
Liberal Arts General Studies	2	0	2
Computer Software & Applications	0	0	0
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	0	0
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	0	0
Health & Physical Education	0	0	0
TOTAL	1,379	115	1,494

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Beyond My Ken under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.