Admissions

Admissions

Columbia Journalism School’s degree programs are designed for a diverse and global student community, from those with little to no journalism experience to those who have been working in the field for years. Our students arrive at Pulitzer Hall hailing from dozens of countries and states and from a wide range of educational backgrounds.

Applications for the 2024-25 school year are now closed. The Application for the 2025-26 school year will open in August 2024.

Why Columbia?

Centers and Institutes

Meeting of students and faculty
You will have the chance to engage with our eight world-class centers and institutes, which serve as global industry leaders in journalism innovation, research and training.

World-Class Faculty

Professor speaking with students
You will have the opportunity to take small, hands-on classes in all storytelling mediums taught by distinguished journalists, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the Peabody Award, the Emmy Award, the National Magazine Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Report in N.Y.C.

Students in New York
You will tell stories across the vibrant communities of New York, an inexhaustibly exciting and international city that is also one of the great media capitals.

Career Development

Lecture Hall
You will participate in the largest journalism career expo in the world and receive thorough, one-on-one career development counseling and the year-round opportunity to network with news organizations from across the U.S. and around the globe.

Prizes

Pulitzer Prizes sign
You will have the opportunity to meet with many of the recipients and jurors of the preeminent journalism prizes that are administered by the school.

Alumni Network

Alumni speaking
When you graduate, you will join the more than 15,000 members of the Columbia Journalism School alumni community, which spans the globe and offers professional and social networking throughout the year.

Explore Our Degree Programs

Group of students working with a professor
Master of Science

9.5 months

The Master of Science Program offers a broad and flexible curriculum in which you can select a world-class education in the journalism mediums and subjects that matter to you, all while you gain the fundamental professional skills in reporting, storytelling and ethics that will make you stand out throughout your career.

Group of students working
Master of Science, Stabile Investigative Specialization

9.5 months

The Master of Science, Stabile Investigative Specialization offers the in-depth training needed to uncover wrongdoing and hold institutions and individuals accountable through investigative reporting.

Student with video camera and tripod
Master of Science, Documentary Specialization

12 months

The Master of Science, Documentary Specialization offers extensive training in reporting, visual storytelling, camerawork and editing - leading to the creation of a professional-quality documentary film.

Group of students working
Part-time Master of Science

Two academic years and a summer 

The Part-time Master of Science provides a flexible but no less rigorous curriculum designed for students to earn their degree while also maintaining a job.

Group of students working
M.S. in Data Journalism

12 months

The M.S. in Data Journalism provides the hands-on journalistic and computational training needed to tell deeply reported data-driven stories in the public interest.

Group of students working
Dual M.S. in Journalism and Computer Science

Two academic years

The Dual M.S. in Journalism and Computer Science offers the specialized training to develop technical and editorial skills in all aspects of computer-supported news gathering and digital media production.

Group of students in discussion
Master of Arts

9 months

The Master of Arts trains experienced journalists to go deeper and equips them with subject-area expertise in one of four concentration areas - Arts & Culture, Business & Economics, Politics, or Science - so they can explain complicated issues to the public through ambitious, compelling storytelling. 

Group of students working
Ph.D in Communications

Typically completed in five to seven years

The Ph.D. in Communications offers a select group of students a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the relationships between people and media that trains them over several years to become professors, research scholars and policy makers.

Many Paths Lead to Columbia

Photo of Tarin Almanzar, Associate Dean of Admission & Financial Aid

“Whether you are new to journalism or looking to accelerate your career in the field, Columbia has degree programs that will meet you where you are and help you achieve your professional goals. Regardless of where you’ve studied, worked or lived before, if you are passionate about storytelling, this is the ideal community for you.”

Tarin Almanzar, Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid

The Columbia Student Experience

Photo of Jaden Edison, 22 M.S. Stabile
Jaden Edison, ‘22 M.S. Stabile

“You might think coming here: ‘It’s Columbia, it’s an Ivy League, it’s going to be competitive.’ That couldn’t be further from the truth. Everybody is here to support one another. And we all have our individual goals, but everybody was super open to giving advice and accepting feedback. It was like we were all working as one to get to the end goal, which was graduation and then to continue our careers. Some of my best friends now are the people whom I met when we were all in front of Pulitzer Hall at orientation.”

Photo of Jose Alison Kentish, ‘20 M.A. Science
Jose Alison Kentish, ‘20 M.A. Science

“The M.A. Program is something that will change your life. Some mornings, I still look back on it because I miss everybody. I miss my former classmates. I miss the relationships that we’ve established with our professors. I had not experienced that level of support before — it was new to me. If you know that you’ve worked hard, that you have some experience in reporting and that you find you’ve been trying to find your niche, I would tell you to go for it. It’s the experience of a lifetime.”
 

Photo of Thomas Copeland, ‘23 M.S.
Thomas Copeland, ‘23 M.S.

“I always knew I wanted to come to Columbia because it’s a world leader in audio and broadcast journalism. All of the professors here are industry leaders, so I knew I would be learning from the best in the business. I remember looking at pictures of Columbia when I was living in Belfast, and never really believing I could make it here, but I did. And, in my time here so far, my skills, my abilities and my passion for this business have just been utterly transformed. I’ve never been more excited to start a career in journalism.”

Photo of Rachel Pilgrim, ‘20 M.S.
Rachel Pilgrim, ‘20 M.S.

“Choosing the J-School was probably one of the best decisions I could have made for my career trajectory, not only because of the work I did and the tools that I got, but because of the people I met. The network there is immense. And after I got published in The New York Times, the amount of people from the J-School who reached out to me, and created a network with me just from that one article, was really awesome.”