Yesterday evening, Columbia University quietly notified Early Decision candidates to the Class of 2029 of their decisions — but not the rest of us! We’ve been kept in the dark regarding the Class of 2029 ED acceptance rate. Not that we at Ivy Coach are particularly surprised by this turn of events. Columbia received 5,872 binding ED applications to Columbia College (CC) and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) this cycle, a 2.28% decrease from last year’s 6,009 and a stark reflection of what was probably the worst year of PR for any elite university in recent memory. 

Columbia has long been tight-lipped about its admissions statistics, but this year, our famously accurate Ivy Coach crystal ball predicts that once is data emerges, it’ll show Columbia exiting 2024 with its tail between its legs, its dunce cap worn high, its cheeks blushing with the shame of campus antisemitism, it’s. . . you get the picture.

Columbia Early Decision Admissions Statistics Over 20+ Years

Last year, things might have been looking up for this Morningside Heights-based Ivy League school. Columbia recovered from being caught with its hand in the cookie jar misreporting data to US News & World Report for its annual ranking with a healthy showing of 6,009 applicants in its ED pool. This time around, it seems Columbia has returned to its bungling, mismanaged, and downright shameful ways (and perhaps has even strayed into more self-destructive territory!). But these claims require some historical context. To put the number of Early Decision applicants to Columbia’s Class of 2029 in a historical perspective, below is a breakdown of the school’s ED admissions statistics over the last 23 years. Rarely do we see an Ivy League school not even boast the third-highest number of ED applicants in its history in the latest admissions cycle!

Columbia Class Year	Number of Early Decision Applications Received	Number of Early Decision Applications Accepted	Early Decision Acceptance Rate
Class of 2029	5,872	Not Yet Released	Not Yet Released
Class of 2028	6,009	Not Yet Released	Not Yet Released
Class of 2027	5,738	840	14.65%
Class of 2026	6,305	650	10.31%
Class of 2025	6,435	650	10.10%
Class of 2024	4,318	650	15.10%
Class of 2023	4,461	650	14.60%
Class of 2022	4,085	650	15.90%
Class of 2021	4,086	651	15.90%
Class of 2020	3,520	621	17.60%
Class of 2019	3,373	632	18.70%
Class of 2018	3,298	650	19.70%
Class of 2017	3,126	601	19.20%
Class of 2016	3,088	631	20.40%
Class of 2015	3,217	627	19.50%
Class of 2014	2,983	631	21.10%
Class of 2013	2,841	639	22.50%
Class of 2012	2,582	597	23.10%
Class of 2011	2,429	594	24.50%
Class of 2010	2,275	582	25.60%
Class of 2009	2,156	570	26.40%
Class of 2008	1,939	560	28.90%
Class of 2007	1,805	572	31.70%

It’s important to note that this year’s decrease in ED applicants at Columbia cannot be attributed to changes in standardized testing policies, as is partially the case at some of Columbia’s peers. The presence of ’squeakers,’ or students who try to get into a school way out of their academic league by taking advantage of test-optional policies, was still felt in this year’s cohort. Columbia has maintained its test-optional policy even as many other schools have turned their back on the pandemic-related contingency. The squeakers were still there, and yet there was still a decrease. In other words, this year’s abysmal turnout is unique, entirely Columbia’s fault and Columbia’s fault alone.

Contextualizing Early Decision Applications to Columbia’s Class of 2029

Columbia has not broken any ED statistics records since the Class of 2025 when 6,435 students made binding commitments to attend the Ivy League institution if offered admission. The pandemic heavily impacted application pools that year when high school seniors were sitting at home under lockdowns and applying to our nation’s elite universities in never-before-seen numbers. With the Class of 2029’s applicant pool the smallest in years, all signs point to the fact that this ill-fated school will be unable for some time to recover all of the lost ground since the glory days of the Class of 2025.

Why? Because Columbia has been plagued by administrative mismanagement that quite literally put many students in danger, a president who resigned in shame after failing to beat allegations of fomenting a campus environment inhospitable to Jewish students, and PR that, as reported by The Columbia Spectator, caused many highly qualified admits to decline their offers of admission. It was a shameful year indeed for a school that had just recently recovered from another scandal relating to misreporting data to US News that many doubted the university could return from. If Ivy Coach’s crystal ball prediction — that once this ED data is revealed, it will indicate a steep hike in acceptance rate — is wrong, it will indeed be a miscarriage of justice. We at Ivy Coach have no plans to forget the scorn of this year.

A Breakdown of Columbia’s Class of 2029 Early Decision Admits

Columbia has neglected to release any data whatsoever on this incoming cohort of Early Decision admits. How many are men? Women? From Nebraska? The first in their families to attend college? Applying for financial aid? The fact of the matter is we don’t yet know and likely won’t know until many of these questions are answered by the Common Data Set, a comprehensive source of college admissions data, next fall.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Columbia Deferral

However, don’t let our choice feedback to Columbia impact your dreams of attending. Despite what campus administration might have you believe, everyone deserves a fighting chance to make it onto this prestigious campus.  

If you’ve been deferred by Columbia to its Class of 2029, waste no time in filling out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form. We’ll be in touch to outline our go-forward services for deferred candidates, including a PostMortem application review and assistance crafting a powerful Letter of Continued Interest. Ivy Coach’s Jen Duran, a former Columbia University admissions officer, knows how to competitively reposition applications around the highly specific and often weird singular hooks that Columbia admissions officers go nuts for.

And congratulations to Ivy Coach’s applicants to the Columbia Class of 2029! You all got in!