Admitted to Columbia, Choosing Not to Attend
Accepted students are second-guessing whether Columbia is the community they applied to be a part of.
On April 16, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Harvard-Bound Students Stand Firm While Some Columbia Prospects Think Twice.” Although the article claimed that some students were thinking of turning down Columbia for other schools, all those interviewed still planned on attending Columbia if admitted. However, there is real—and growing—backlash from admitted students against some decisions the Columbia administration has made over the last two years. Sundial reached out to several prospective students about their concerns surrounding Columbia today.
All three students spoke to us on the condition that we not use their real names, citing the sensitive nature of the topic and pending admissions processes at other schools.
Columbia’s Recent Actions
Paul, a prospective law student from Chicago, said that although he was accepted to Columbia Law School, he is leaning towards attending the University of Michigan Law School instead. “Columbia was one of my top choices. It was really my dream school, since early college,” he told Sundial. “I think the developments over the last year and a half, particularly around their handling of the pro-Palestine protestors, was really disheartening.”
Paul wanted to believe that the administration would change their approach this year. “And then of course the demands from the Trump administration came, and their immediate capitulation there was just so disappointing to see,” he said.
In March, the Trump administration froze $400 million in funding to Columbia’s grant programs and sent a list of demands which included suspending and expelling students who participated in the Hamilton Hall takeover, enforcing strict time, place, and manner rules for protests, formally adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, and, most controversially, place the Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies department under academic receivership. On March 21, Columbia released a memo that outlined plans to acquiesce to many of the administration’s demands.
As a law student, Paul saw parallels between the University’s decision to heed the demands of the Trump administration and the recent promises made by top white-shoe law firms to do pro bono work for the Trump administration. In both cases, the government threatened institutional values, using Columbia’s funding and the firms’ clients to extract concessions.
“I understand they’re between a rock and a hard place,” Paul added. “But ultimately, they have the choice to have spines.”
Alice, a mechanical engineering PhD candidate from Maryland, also cited Columbia’s recent agreement to the Trump administration’s demands as one of the reasons for rejecting Columbia Engineering’s PhD offer.
“Sometimes organizations and agencies have to make decisions that prioritize their long-term survival,” she said. “I understand that when you don’t have money, you have to let people go and that affects people on an individual level, but it’s still disappointing.”
Both Paul and Alice praised Harvard for standing up to the federal government’s demands and wished Columbia had taken a similar path. However, it is important to note that Harvard has significantly larger institutional resources at its disposal and has less “exposed” funding than Columbia does. Currently, Harvard has around $8.7 billion tied up in multi-year grant commitments from the federal government, equivalent to 16.3 percent of its endowment, which is valued at $53.2 billion. In contrast, Columbia has more than $5 billion in multi-year grant commitments, and an endowment size of $14.8 billion as of 2024. This means that federal grants are equivalent to 33.7% of the total endowment size. The proportion of federal money Columbia receives relative to its endowment makes the University more vulnerable—and thus easier to coerce—than Harvard.
Columbia’s Reputation
Alice will attend the University of Maryland instead for her PhD. The two programs are ranked similarly for Mechanical Engineering, but she said the Columbia name still carries more prestige.
However, Alice believes that Columbia’s reputation now comes with strings attached: “For UMD, I think the reputation is increasing. The rankings are getting better, its CS school is very strong, and its engineering is also quite strong,” she said. “For Columbia, especially with what’s been happening, the reputation is not very in line with my political beliefs.”
Other students are still choosing to attend Columbia, despite concerns about recent events and the heightened spotlight on the University. Ethan, an incoming Columbia College freshman planning to major in political science and economics, was admitted in the early decision round to Columbia. “If you asked me a few months ago, I would’ve told you I am so excited about being there,” he said. “Right now, I still, for the most part, feel that way. My love for the school is still very much there. A lot of those feelings that I have, they’re not gone. They’re just being a little overshadowed by other feelings of anxiety.”
Ethan told me that although the publicity surrounding Columbia right now makes him nervous, he thinks that most media representations of Columbia have been blown out of proportion. “I don’t think when I’m there, I’m going to feel the effects of what’s going on right now,” he said.
He added that, before, people seemed to clearly distinguish between the culpability of the administration and the personal integrity of students. However, he thinks the recent discourse has grown more vitriolic, and blame is being pushed not only onto the administration, but also the students who choose to attend the institution—he is worried that if you are a student at Columbia, people will think that “it means you agree with what the administration is saying.”
Ethan also expressed concern that Columbia’s recent actions will affect his future in a more material way. He wondered if future employers would look at his Columbia diploma and ask, “Is this student antisemitic?" Or “Is this student in support of suppression of free speech?”
Larger Political Anxieties
Amidst the political turmoil surrounding higher education and the uncertainty of research funding, some prospective students are seeking out overseas programs instead of trying to stay in the U.S.
Alice said that she knew many peers who chose to apply to school overseas—even those who had completed their undergraduate programs in the U.S. For the graduate community in particular, many international students form the backbone of the research. “Unfortunately, because of all the barriers and the direct threats to their safety that is happening in the U.S., a lot of international students are not able to come here, and a lot of professors obviously prefer to have U.S. citizens as students,” she added.
Ethan is an international student applying from Singapore. Perhaps surprising those who have criticized Columbia’s perceived lack of support for its international students, he felt that the University is doing the best it can to protect its international scholar community.
“The international community is, I would say, a lot more in support of what Columbia did, rather than what Harvard did,” he said. “The people who suffer as a result of Harvard’s decision would be the international students. Because you saw what he did,” Ethan continued, referring to the Trump administration’s threat to not grant student visas for international students attending Harvard. “A lot of international students are like, ‘Yeah, just listen to what he wants, so we can still go get our education.’”
Weathering the Storm
Ethan believes that, despite the media firestorm and the animosity directed at Columbia, the University will survive intact. “There seems to be this sentiment on the internet right now of: ‘Everyone needs to boycott the school, reject your acceptances, don’t go there, don’t visit, don’t give them your money,’” he told me. “I think that’s counterproductive. The school has been around since 1754. What has it produced since then? There’s no doubt this school produces world-renowned research and amazing people.”
He felt that recent events would be a blip in the school’s history. “I don’t think that turning our backs on a school that has done so much good for the world is the right response when they make a mistake, or when they do something that goes against their mission,” he said. “It’s so common to idolize these schools. We think that they can do no harm. But then we learn very quickly that almost every elite institution, if you look at their history, you could find some trace of something sketchy that goes against their principles.”
“You can’t internalize that,” he added. “Get your degree. Get the best education that you can.”
Paul said he was grateful to have other options for law school, and he understood why some students might still choose Columbia. “I would encourage students who are on the fence to really think about the experience they want to have. To think about the kind of institution they want to support for their time, and what they actually want to feel day-to-day, walking through campus, and if they want to feel proud of their institution at the end of the day or not,” he said. Of the students who choose to still attend Columbia, Paul said, “I hope it’s true for them that, in the next three years, everything on the ground is actually fine.”
Looking to the Future
Ethan said that after speaking to some current students at Columbia about the situation, his anxieties have settled. “I have to remember that it’s the students and the professors that make the institution,” he said. “The administration doesn’t make it what it is.”
“I’m still so excited,” he added. “I don’t think people should turn down their acceptances. They should think more critically. Don’t just think about the name, or what’s happening right now.”
“For all we could know, this could fizzle out by fall. Don’t let somebody in a TikTok comment section who says ‘Columbia’s reputation is tarnished forever’ decide where you want to matriculate.”
Ms. Chen is a rising sophomore at Columbia College studying linguistics, cognitive science, and East Asian languages & cultures.
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