Early-Decision

Across the country, counseling and recruitment have gone almost exclusively virtual, a transition that has laid bare the impact of class disparities on high school students’ access to higher education—and kept university admissions officers struggling to make up the difference.

Amid concerns about voter suppression, mail-in ballots, and COVID-19, Columbia University has created two early voting sites for the 2020 general election.

When I came to Barnard, I already knew that I wanted to graduate early. On paper, it seemed feasible. However, almost everyone I spoke to warned that it would be incredibly difficult. Still, I did not consider an increased workload grounds for abandoning my desire. My parents have taken on more than their fair share of work to care for me. Easing their financial burden by graduating early was the least that I could do. Graduating early would make it financially possible for my brother to apply to his dream schools and for our parents to afford our educational and vocational aspirations past college.

“Is the library always this crowded on a Saturday?”

With an admissions rate of 13.7 percent, down from the class of 2021’s 14.8 percent, Barnard College’s class of 2022 will be the most selective in the college’s history.

Open a new tab. (Wait, no, come back so that I can give you the rest of the directions.) Now type “graduating early Columbia University.” You can try modifying your search by making it a full sentence or even adding a question mark. You’ll get the same results.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions received 4,086 early decision applications to Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science this year, once again setting a record for the largest number of early decision applicants in Columbia history.

Early decision applications to Barnard for the class of 2021 increased by 19 percent this year.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions received 3520 early decision applications to Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science this year, setting a record for the largest pool in Columbia history.