Columbia University

INTRODUCTION ON COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Columbia University is a private Ivy League research institute in Upper Manhattan, New York. It was founded in the year 1754 as King's College by the royal charter of George II of Great Britain. Columbia has been the oldest college in New York and the 5th  chartered university of higher learning in the nation, making it one of 9 colonial universities founded before the Declaration of Independence. After the American Revolutionary War, King's College thoroughly became a state entity and later was renamed Columbia College in the year 1784. A 1787 charter had placed the institution under the watch of a private board of trustees before it was named Columbia University in the year 1896 when the university was moved from Madison Avenue to its current location in Morningside Heights which occupies thirty two acres of area. Columbia fall under one of the fourteen founding members of the Association of American Universities, and also was the first school in the United States to prevail the M.D. degree.

STUDENTS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

In fall 2014, student's of  Columbia University had a population of 29,870 (8,559 students in undergraduate programs and 21,311 in postgraduate programs), with about thirty nine percentage of the student population identifying themselves as a minority and twenty eight percentage born outside of the United States. Twenty-six percentage of students from Columbia have family incomes below $60,000 annually, which makes it one of the most socio-economically diverse top-tier colleges. Sixteen percentage of students at Columbia receive Federal Pell Grants, which mostly go to students whose family incomes are below $40,000 annually. Fifteen percentage of students are the 1st member of their family to attend a 4-year college.

TECHNOLOGY AND ENTREPRENEUR AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

The Columbia University Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) was founded and established in the year 1999. The student-run group aims to foster entrepreneurship on campus. Every year CORE manages and hosts dozens of events which  include talks, #StartupColumbia, a conference and venture competition for $250,000, and Ignite@CU, a weekend for undergrads interested in design, engineering, and entrepreneurship. Notable speakers in the program include Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey,[ Alexis Ohanian, Drew Houston, and Mark Cuban. By 2006,also CORE had awarded graduate and undergraduate students over $100,000 in seed capital.

COLUMBIA UNIVESITY ATHLETICS

A member institution from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in Division I FCS, Columbia fields varsity teams in twenty nine sports and is also a member of the Ivy League. The football Lions play home games at the 17,000-seated Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium. Almost one hundred blocks north of the main campus at Morningside Heights, the Baker Athletics Complex also comprises facilities for baseball, soccer, lacrosse, softball, field hockey, tennis, track and rowing, as well as the new Campbell Sports Center which opened in January of 2013. The basketball, fencing, swimming & diving, volleyball and wrestling programs are carried out at the Dodge Physical Fitness Center on the main campus.