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Home » Law Schools » Rankings and Profiles » Columbia University School of Law
Established in 1858, the Columbia University School of Law is consistently considered to be among the handful of the best law schools in America. Given its location and reputation in New York City, its Ivy-league status and its long history of academic excellence, Columbia’s high rank and prestige should come as no surprise. For qualified applicants wishing to learn and work in the legal capital of the world, there is perhaps no better place to attend law school than Columbia. Admissions and Tuition Applicants interested in applying to Columbia should be prepared to face a tremendously selective admissions process. Last year, the school received around 8,500 applications, about 1,200 of which were accepted. Typically, the accepted applicant corps boasted a median GPA of 3.72 and a median LSAT score of 172.
For those with their hearts set on attending Columbia, the school offers a binding Early Decision option. Applicants who wish to utilize this option must agree to attend Columbia if accepted, must complete their applications by November 15th, and are typically notified in December. Like most elite law schools, Columbia’s yearly tuition rates are in the $45,000 range. Despite sizeable grants received by nearly half the student body in a typical year, students are usually faced with around $120,000 in debt upon graduation. Given Columbia’s excellence in job placement, this debt is not a major concern for most applicants. Academic Reputation and Curriculum Academically, Columbia is among the few most respected law schools in the country. Though strong in all areas, its intellectual property and tax law programs are held in especially high regard, while its international law specialty is considered by some to be second to none. Further, Columbia places high emphasis on its clinical training program and offers students the opportunity to engage in several unique and novel clinics. First year students must enroll in predetermined required classes, and can expect class sizes to be large, usually above 100 students per class. After the first year, students are mostly free to choose their own courses, nearly half of which will contain less than 25 students. Columbia’s faculty to student ratio is a respectable 9.3:1, and the school has, as of 2006, embarked on a mission to increase the number of faculty by 50%. Quality of Life
Employment Prospects and Bar Passage Securing employment at top law firms has been likened to ‘shooting fish in a barrel’ by some Columbia graduates. In fact, many Columbia law students have secured full-time jobs before they begin their third year at the law school, and nearly all have done so before graduation. Often, students are offered employment with the same top firms at which they interned or worked during the summers after their first and second years. Of course, many of these employment opportunities are in the New York City area, as Columbia is often considered the premier school for job placement in the top law firms in the city. Nevertheless, Columbia’s reputation reaches far beyond New York, as more than 10% of each graduating class accepts positions in the West.
Synopsis In all facets, the Columbia University School of Law is among the very best in the nation. The school offers students diverse and exceptional academic opportunities during their time at Columbia, and it enables them to secure lucrative employment opportunities at some of the best law firms in New York City and throughout the country prior to graduation. As a result, many of the most qualified law school applicants set their sights on Columbia each year. Contact Information Columbia University School of Law Quick Reference U.S. News Ranking: 4th 
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Published October 2006, last updated October 2009
Aside from the usual emphasis placed on an applicant’s ‘numbers’, Columbia prides itself on the diversity of its student body and thus seeks out applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Further, in a typical year, nearly 10% of Columbia’s entering class consists of international students, a percentage far greater than most other elite law schools. 
Located in Manhattan’s ever-expanding Upper West Side, Columbia offers students an endless number of ways to pass their prized free time. The school is surrounded by restaurants, clubs and bars of all varieties, and everything that New York City has to offer is accessible via a short ride on the subway. Also, because the law school is connected to the main campus of the university, law students have the rare opportunity to enjoy a ‘real’ college campus in Manhattan. All of this comes at a high price, however, as the cost of living for Columbia’s law students is among the highest in the nation.
The bar exam rarely impedes Columbia grads, as nearly 95% of the school’s graduates typically pass the exam on their first attempt. Once they have passed the bar, most Columbia graduates begin their jobs at top private law firms, earning, at the median, $160,000 in their first year. Overall, Columbia trails only Harvard in terms of the number of its graduates employed at the top 20 law firms in the country. For students wishing to pursue judicial clerkships, Columbia has established reliable access to these opportunities, as over 10% of a typical graduating class accepts clerkships.