Application Requirements
Apply here.
Fee payment must accompany the online application.
In the Academic History section of your online application, you must list all institutions attended for at least one term, regardless of the number of credits received. This includes individual courses for academic credit, certifications, certificates, transfer coursework, study abroad, second bachelor’s degrees, and advanced degrees.
Instructions for Submitting Transcripts When Applying
Applicants must upload an unofficial transcript from each institution attended for use in review of their application. Falsification, forgery, and misrepresentation of any type will risk forfeiture of admissions and/or enrollment. Forfeiture may occur whenever an integrity lapse is discovered, and may include admissions revocation, expulsion, or another sanction outlined within the Student Conduct and Community Standards.
International coursework
Due to the impact of COVID-19 on institutions of higher education, adjustments to our WES requirements have been made. Applicants who attended an institution outside of the United States will not be required to submit official World Education Services (WES) course-by-course evaluations in order to be evaluated for admission.
Applicants must upload an unofficial transcript from each institution attended for use in review of your application, as well as any degree certificates. For Indian universities, this includes all semester mark sheets. If your university provides transcripts in a language other than English, both the original language document and English translation are required. If admitted, you will be required to provide official WES course-by-course evaluations (international coursework) for all post-secondary academic coursework and credentials. Applicants for the Spring 2021 semester must provide official WES course-by-course evaluations by no later than December 21, 2020. We recommend starting the WES course-by-course evaluation process as soon as possible so that you are able to meet this deadline.
Falsification, forgery, and misrepresentation of any type will risk forfeiture of admissions and/or enrollment. Forfeiture may occur whenever an integrity lapse is discovered, and may include admissions revocation, expulsion, or another sanction outlined within the Student Conduct and Community Standards. Applicants would not be entitled to request any refund of the application fee, enrollment deposit or tuition in the case that the official transcript deviates from the unofficial.
Instructions for using WES
WES must complete a course-by-course evaluation of all international post-secondary coursework and credentials. Please select the WES basic course-by-course evaluation (with GPA and course-levels) and request to have WES send your evaluation to Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies. The school can be found by searching Columbia University and then selecting School of Professional Studies.
WES evaluations will be reviewed, and the determination of degree equivalency to U.S. degrees is at the discretion of the School of Professional Studies.
WES evaluations will be reviewed, and the determination of degree equivalency to U.S. degrees is at the discretion of the School of Professional Studies.
Instructions for Submitting Official Transcripts (Admitted Students Only)
If admitted, you will be required to provide official academic transcripts (domestic coursework) and/or WES course-by-course evaluations (international coursework) for all post-secondary academic coursework and credentials.
Domestic coursework
All students who have attended a college or university in the United States must submit certified and secure electronic transcripts directly from their school or via the vendor that provides that service for their institution to transcripts [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu.
If a school does not offer electronic delivery, you must write to transcripts [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu to provide us with the link to your institution’s webpage regarding transcript orders. After verification, we will respond with further instructions.
International coursework
If any of your post-secondary coursework is from an institution outside of the United States, and you have completed additional international coursework since the initial WES evaluation was provided, you must request an updated report and have WES send your updated course-by-course evaluation to Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies.
When you submit a completed WES course-by-course evaluation for an international institution, we will review and verify its contents. If the WES evaluation meets our requirements, we will not require a separate official transcript from that school.
The statement of academic purpose should address the following:
- your purpose and interest in pursuing a degree in bioethics
- how the program fits into your overall professional and/or personal goals, focusing in particular on the connection between the program and your academic, professional and/or personal experience
- a brief discussion of a particular bioethical issue of interest to you
References may be required.
After you have submitted your application and fee, you will be required to submit a 1-minute video essay. You will be given time to create test videos to ensure that your system is working properly. When you are ready, you will be given a randomly selected prompt for which you will have one minute to prepare and one minute to record a response. You will not be able to re-record your video. Please note that the video essay response should be your own thoughts and should not be rehearsed or prepared beforehand.
English Language Proficiency
To be considered for admission, students must be comfortable with rapid and idiomatic spoken English. If the language of instruction of your undergraduate degree conferring institution was English and you completed two or more years at the institution, you need not take further steps to prove fluency. However, if your undergraduate education was not conducted in English, or you completed fewer than two years at your degree conferring institution where English was the language of instruction, you must provide official scores on the TOEFL or IELTS.
Applicants who are required to provide test scores must submit a current TOEFL iBT or IELTS score report and have a minimum score of 100 on the TOEFL iBT or receive a 7.0 or higher on the IELTS. If you have TOEFL paper scores, please contact apply [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu to discuss their use. Applicants receiving scores below the posted minimums may be advised to apply directly to the American Language Program. Unofficial scores should be included as part of your application; however, official test scores will be required for your application to be considered complete and ready for admission review. TOEFL and IELTS scores are valid for two years after your test date. (Use school code 2594 to report TOEFL scores.)
If you are unable to provide official scores on the TOEFL or IELTS due to the closing of testing centers, you may submit a request to use the DET Duolingo English Test in order to demonstrate English proficiency. Applicant DET Duolingo English Test scores must meet the Columbia SPS minimum requirement of 120. Applicants may also be asked to complete an interview using a video conferencing tool.