What Columbia’s 2025–26 Common Data Set Reveals About College Admissions

What Columbia’s 2025–26 Common Data Set Reveals About College Admissions

By Christopher Rim | Sep 30, 2026, 03:37pm EDT

The last few years have posed significant challenges for Columbia University, as the institution has weathered federal funding cuts, a lawsuit and multi-million dollar settlement with the Trump administration, and the continued aftershocks of campus protests and resultant administrative backlash in 2023.

Amidst this season of institutional unrest, admissions data can provide a window into how these events have impacted the landscape for college applicants, as well as the overall reputation of the university. Columbia’s newly released 2025–26 Common Data Set shows that the most notable development is in applicants’ favor: the university expanded its entering class by roughly 20%, admitting its largest-ever class to Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).

Here are other major takeaways from the Common Data Set—and what the numbers mean for future applicants:

1. The Acceptance Rate Rose

Columbia admitted 4.94% of applicants to the Class of 2029, up from 3.86% the year before, marking an increase of more than a full percentage point, or roughly 28% in relative terms. This number is largely due to the significant increase in class size, which expanded by 180 students (a greater number than the 125 that the university initially promised). The expansion is also ongoing: the university admitted more students to the Class of 2030 than it did to the Class of 2028, as part of a planned increase in undergraduate enrollment.

Perhaps even more noteworthy than the acceptance rate itself is the fact that roughly 400 students were admitted from the waitlist, an unprecedented number for an Ivy League waitlist, which rarely exceeds double digit numbers—for instance, Yale only accepted 32 students off their waitlist in the same cycle; Princeton admitted 36.

Applicants should expect that with continuously growing numbers of admitted students, acceptance rates may continue to trend upward in the coming cycles. Further, while the waitlist is typically a longshot possibility at most Ivy League institutions, waitlisted students have substantially higher odds of ultimate acceptance at Columbia.

2. Domestic Students Saw the Most Growth

The new seats particularly benefitted domestic students. The acceptance rate for domestic applicants rose by 1.43 percentage points, whereas for international applicants, it rose by just 0.19 points. This means that nearly all of the expansion’s added opportunity went to students applying from within the United States. Columbia enrolled 1,522 domestic students and 275 international students in the Class of 2029, meaning international students made up only about 15% of the entering class.

This occurs amidst national concerns over sharp declines in international student enrollment across a wide range of institutions and school types. This comes amid national concern over sharp declines in international student enrollment across a wide range of institutions and school types. According to the Common App, international applications for the 2026–27 cycle fell 10%, the steepest decline on record. NAFSA projects that overall international enrollment at U.S. colleges will fall 9.5% this fall, a loss of roughly 111,000 students. Early fall numbers evidence this trend: Indiana University, for example, reported a 15.6% drop in international enrollment this year.

While this may seem on the surface like a positive trend for domestic students, the reality is not so simple. International students have historically generated significant tuition revenue for Columbia, where roughly 39% of students university-wide came from outside the U.S. in fall 2025, the highest percentage in the Ivy League at the time. When Moody’s lowered Columbia’s financial outlook to negative in May, it cited a shrinking international student pipeline among its concerns, alongside new caps on federal graduate loans and uncertain research funding. For students and applicants, the financial pressure has the potential to shape everything from aid budgets to the resources available to undergraduates in the coming years.

3. The Post-Affirmative Action Landscape Is Still Shifting

The data also offers further insight into how student bodies at selective colleges are evolving after the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision ending race-conscious admissions.

Across the overall student body at Columbia College and SEAS, the share of students identifying as Asian increased, while most other reported racial and ethnic groups declined. But the class-by-class numbers offer further nuance. Comparing the Class of 2028 to the Class of 2029, the share of Black students rose by 1.13 percentage points, while the share of Hispanic or Latino students fell by 0.47 points. Columbia’s School of General Studies, which serves nontraditional students, reported increases across most nonwhite groups.

Colleges are still adjusting how they build their classes under the new legal framework, and Columbia’s settlement also commits it to keeping admissions merit-based and not preferencing applicants by race or national origin. Year-to-year results will likely keep shifting as these policies settle.

The data emerging from Columbia show a university in transition. While the university remains a high reach for most students, the expansion means more available spots in incoming classes for highly qualified students, which may shift the odds in some students’ favor. What remains true, regardless of the evolving landscape, is that students need to start early building a cohesive application narrative that compellingly demonstrates how they will contribute to this new phase of Columbia’s growth.

Originally published on Forbes on Sep 30, 2026