Columbia College Chicago Admission
Columbia College Chicago Undergraduate Program
Columbia College Chicago Application

The Facts

Columbia College Chicago is a moderately sized, private, liberal arts institution located in the city of Chicago, Illinois, with an emphasis on educating students interested in the creative arts. The school is home to over 8,000 undergraduate students, and approximately 2,000 graduate and part-time professional students. The students are able to take courses in one of the three undergraduate schools, or the graduate school, which offer academic programs in the areas of the visual, performing, media, and the communication arts. These academic divisions offer broad majors in the areas of business (which consists solely of a program in marketing management), communications and the arts (the largest program, housing majors in advertising, art, dance, film arts, multimedia, and more), education, engineering and environmental design, and the social sciences (which contains interesting majors in cross-cultural studies and interpretation for the deaf). Some of the most popular major choices are in the areas of art, film, video, and management.

Admission to Columbia College Chicago isn’t terrifically competitive numerically or academically, however, the students applying for certain artistic programs must often submit a portfolio in order to be considered for admission. Last year, over 3,025 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 2,550 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 1,525 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming Fall semester. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1040 to 1080, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 20 to 26. Additionally, more than 52% of those admitted were ranked in the top 10% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of 3.48.

Columbia College Chicago has a less than stellar student to faculty ratio of 27:1, which is not terribly impressive for such an intimate and art-centric school. However, many teachers instruct multiple classes in order to allow students to have enough one on one instruction time with their professors.

The Social Scene

Chicago is a wonderful city, particularly for performing and visual artists. There are plenty of museums, theaters, and exhibitions going on all the time, and Columbia College students are constantly taking advantage of these offerings. Public transportation is fairly quick and efficient, and because the school is so urban, most students don’t own cars. Columbia College has no fraternities or sororities, but students seem to prefer it that way. There are, however, over 30 student-run clubs and organizations that run the gamut from a branch of LGBT, to a literary magazine and a radio and television station.

The dating scene is certainly diverse, and you are guaranteed to find a match, particularly if you’re into lots of piercings...

What’s Good

“This school is a great hidden jewel in the world of arts education. Not many people have heard of it, but why, I just don’t know.”

“The teachers are all working professionals themselves, which really gives you valuable insight to the world into which you will be entering.”

“I love Chicago! There is always something going on to help enrich your studies.”

What’s Bad

“Sometimes I wish we had a real campus. We’re basically just integrated right into the city.”

“There are a lot of people that can get very uppity about their artistic motivations, blah blah blah. It gets very tiresome.”

“I must admit, there are some classes that are too big for the subject they’re in. It’s hard to do sculpture in a big class setting.”

Let the Penn Group help you apply to college.

• View our services
• Send a request now
• Read articles about applying to college