Columbia University Dual Degree International Programs- WAY UP
Sometimes you just get lucky- and boy did we have a great visit.
Columbia University has something called the “Dual Degree International Programs”. If enrolled in the program, you spend your freshman and sophomore years abroad, and then your junior and senior years at Columbia. The campus choices are Trinity College in Dublin, City University in Hong Kong, Tel Aviv University in Israel, and Sciences Po a French university with four campus choices of LeHavre, Menton, Poitiers, or Reims. Classes abroad are in English. At Columbia you are enrolled in the School of General Studies. When you graduate, you will get two diplomas- one from Columbia University and one from the foreign university.
We attended an afternoon midweek information session and my wife, son, and I were the only ones in attendance so it became a customized discussion of the program (we are interested in Tel Aviv University and I believe there are a lot of differences in the details of the programs). When we were finished it was time for our tour of the Columbia campus- it was a beautiful day and the campus is really striking and felt surprisingly large and separate from the surroundings.
The best part was we had the tour guides, plus a tour guide in training, and one of the tour guide’s friends decided to join- so we had five tour guides for just the three of us!!!
Because of the personal attention we had a lot of questions that were answered and a lot of concerns that were assuaged. There is a lot of close advising from both schools that happens through the duration of the program so that you can meet all of the requirements (and yes even have room for electives). When you return to Columbia junior year all the students from all of the international programs are housed together so you have this cohort of people starting out together and you don’t feel lost. The School of General Studies is more of an administrative division than anything else so students are in classes with Columbia College, SEAS, and Barnard students and everyone gets the Columbia University degree just like the Columbia College students. (There are some murmurs out there that if you are in the School of General Studies you are a “lesser than” or red headed stepchild but the tour guides assured us this was a lot of nonsense and had prestigious internships and career outcomes to back it up)
The student guides were super enthusiastic about the program. They felt very supported throughout the four years and didn’t feel disadvantaged when starting late at Columbia and were integrated into Columbia clubs and activities and internships and career opportunities.
It is a separate application from Columbia University and you cannot apply to both. The dual degree international program does not take common app- it has its own application and only has a regular decision option. The Tel Aviv University program has about 40 students a year. I think it takes a certain type of student to succeed in this type of program but if there is any interest at all, it is worth looking more into because I think it is a great opportunity and it is a lot more supportive and cohesive of a program than it might appear at first glance.