Columbia . . . Manhattan’s Academic Powerhouse!
Many people consider the remarkable Manhattan campus of Columbia to be one of the university’s strongest assets. What is not as well known is that the current campus is actually the fourth campus that Columbia has called home in Manhattan! The move to the current Morningside Heights campus occurred a little more than a century ago in order to give Columbia more room to grow. What has largely been forgotten is the location of the campus Columbia moved “from” back in 1897. The former campus location was Madison Avenue and 49th Street East. Today, that location is among the most expensive and best known real estate in the world!
While Columbia now stands among the most powerful and elite universities on the planet, when it was founded in 1754, Samuel Johnson, the only faculty member, taught classes to a total of 8 students!
During the 1960’s and 1970’s, Columbia was often in the headlines as a collegiate focal point of political action and demonstrations. Not surprising since Columbia was the very first university to offer Political Science as an academic course of study.
With its sophisticated Manhattan location and elite Ivy League position, many consider Columbia beyond reach to all but the privileged few. They’ll be surprised to learn that 15% of Columbia’s undergraduate students are the very first members of their family to attend college! Academic accomplishment is much more important to the Columbia admissions office than social status. In fact, Columbia might just have the most economically, racially, and culturally diverse student body of America’s super elite universities.
Finally, when one Columbia student asks another student to turn down the music he or she is playing . . . perhaps they should remember that FM radio was created at Columbia!
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