In 2019, our students joined 109 media organizations at the time of graduation.
Nearly 77 percent (220 out of 285 students) who graduated from the Master of Science and Master of Arts (excluding Knight-Bagehot Fellows) has post-graduation plans lined up (i.e. internships, fellowships, full-time and part-time jobs, continued in another academic degree program, or freelanced) within three weeks of graduation. This statistic is a 3% increase from 2018 and is higher than the usual 71-75 percent range we’ve seen since 2011. The number of students finding employment rises with each passing week of summer.
Most of our international students are legally permitted to work for one year in the U.S. after graduation if they apply for an Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa. International M.S. students in our three-semester M.S. data program and our dual degree computer science program qualify for longer-term STEM visas.
Our international students are competitive in the U.S. job market for short-term internships and positions while on OPT but will find the landscape very challenging. Longer-term work authorization (also known as sponsorship) is rarely granted, so international students should expect to return to their home countries at the conclusion of their OPT year. Once back home, our international graduates typically find that their Columbia degree has made them highly marketable.
The Class of 2019 landed at these companies after graduation:
| AARP Magazine | inewsource | Science Friday |
| ABC - ABC News | Inside Edition | Seattle Times |
| ABC News - Eyewitness News | INSIDER | Slate |
| ABC - Good Morning America | Inverse | South China Morning Post |
| ABC - London | Izon Magazine | Spectrum News/NY1 |
| Adobe | Jerusalem Post | Standard Group |
| Al Jazeera | Jerusalem Press Club | Story Mechanics |
| ALM Media | Kansas City Star | SurvivorNet |
| Altice USA/News 12 (Bronx) | Karma Network | Talking Points Memo |
| Anchorage Daily News | Lafayette Group | Telemundo |
| Atlantic Media | FT (Life Annuity Specialist) | The Associated Press |
| Atlas Obscura | Los Angeles Times | The Brooklyn Paper |
| BBC | McClatchy/Charlotte Observer | THE CITY |
| Bloomberg | McClatchy/The Miami Herald | The Daily Beast |
| Brightwire | Meredith Corp./PEOPLE magazine | The Delacorte Review |
| Brut. (America) | Minneapolis Star Tribune |
The GroundTruth Project |
| Business Insider | MLB/NHL | The Hechinger Report |
| CBS Radio | Morning Brew | The Marshall Project |
| CCB (China Construction Bank - Fintech) | NBC | The New York Times |
| CNBC | NBC - WYFF (TV) | The Paper |
| CNN | New York Daily News | The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Coda Story | New York Foreign Correspondents Association | The Real Deal |
| Columbia Journalism Review | New York Post | The Sacramento Bee (Report For America) |
| Columbia Journalism School | Newsday | The Texas Tribune |
| CQ/Roll Call | Newsguard |
The Trace |
| Democracy Fund | Newsweek | The Wall Street Journal |
| Deseret News | Nikkei Asian Review | The Washington Post |
| Diverse: Issues in Higher Education | NJ Advance Media |
TIME |
| Engima | NowThis | Times-News (Magic Valley, Idaho) (Report For America) |
| Esquire | NPR | Transmitter Media |
| Eurasianet | NPR - Planet Money |
Tribune Broadcasting-WPIX (TV) |
| Folha de S.Paulo | Phoenix New Times |
USA TODAY |
| Forbes | Police Chief Magazine | VICE - VICE News Tonight |
| FRONTLINE | Quartz | VICE - VICE on HBO |
| Harper’s Magazine | Religion Unplugged |
WGBH (radio) |
| Hearst | Reuters | WHYY (radio) |
| Helsingin Sanomat | Reuters Institute at Oxford University | WNYC (radio) |
| Huffington Post | Sarasota Herald-Tribune |
Yellowstone Public Radio |