Columbia University

Law School Overview

U.S. News Rankings

Ranking score and category

Rank Category Name #4 Best Law Schools

Specialties Locked in Clinical Training Locked in Environmental Law Locked in Intellectual Property Law #4 in International Law Locked in Tax Law

Law School Overview

The Law School at Columbia University has an application deadline of February 15. The full-time program application fee at the Law School at Columbia University is $85. Its tuition is full-time: $55,488 per year. The student-faculty ratio is 8.0:1. The Law School at Columbia University has 254 full- and part-time faculty on staff.

There are about 400 students in each class at Columbia Law School, and law students can choose elective courses as early as the spring of their first year. Law students can also tack on an additional master’s or doctoral degree to their J.D., completing programs at other Columbia University schools like the Business School, the Graduate School of Journalism, and the Mailman School of Public Health. There is also a joint degree program offered through other institutions, including Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Columbia Law School does not offer part-time or evening programs.

Columbia Law School has special programs to help law students pursuing specific placements, such as judicial clerkships or teaching careers. The school also has about 30 centers on campus, which explore topics as varied as global legal transformation and Israeli legal studies. For a further international slant, law students can study abroad in more than 10 countries and can complete a foreign degree while abroad. Students can live in university housing on the school’s campus in New York City.

Notable alumni include Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and former President Theodore Roosevelt.

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Year founded	1858
Public/private	Private
Law school designation	National

Admissions

Application deadline	February 15
Full-time program application fee	$85
Part-time program application fee	N/A
Admissions Phone	(212) 854-2670
Admissions E-mail	admissions@law.columbia.edu
Web site	http://www.law.columbia.edu

Academics

Full- and part-time faculty	254
Student-faculty ratio	8.0:1
Total faculty	274

Student Body

Enrollment (full-time)	1,290
Gender distribution (full-time)
J.D. candidates graduating in 2011-2012	469

Cost

Tuition and fees
Full-time: $55,488 per year
Room and board	$16,940

Careers

Employed at graduation 2	93.2%
Median private sector starting salary	$160,000
Median public service starting salary	$55,000

Library

Total volumes and volume equivalents

1,226,388

* Law School Overview details based on 2012 data