Application Requirements
Apply here.
You must submit all materials directly, not through an agent or third-party vendor, with the sole exception of submissions by the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Program and its three partner agencies IIE, LASPAU and AMIDEAST, and by the Danish-American Fulbright Commission (DAF), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), and Vietnam Education Fund (VEF).
If you have any questions about this requirement, please contact the admissions office apply [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu (apply[at]sps[dot]columbia[dot]edu).
Fee payment must accompany the online application.
In the Academic History section of the online application, you must list and upload unofficial transcripts for all post-secondary institutions attended for at least one term. This includes all graded coursework, in progress coursework, summer program(s), study abroad program(s), or transfer coursework unless:
- You did not earn academic credits;
- You completed less than 11 credits (on a traditional US credit scale) outside of your home institution. If you completed more than 11 credits outside of your home institution, then you must provide us with unofficial transcripts/ the coursework must be included on your WES evaluation.
If requested, you may be required to provide transcripts or mark sheets from any and all post-secondary institutions.
Applicants who attended a U.S. institution must submit:
- Unofficial transcripts for each institution attended.
Note: Unofficial transcripts must include your name, the name of the institution, each of the terms attended, the courses you took and the grades you obtained.
Applicants who attended an international institution must submit:
- An official ICAP course-by-course evaluation* by World Education Services, Inc. (WES), a third-party verification agency, that includes all post-secondary coursework completed outside of the United States. This is required for your application to be reviewed. The evaluation may take several weeks to be completed and sent to SPS. You should start your evaluation as soon as possible after you begin your application.
Applications will not be reviewed until we have received all of your transcripts and/or WES evaluations.
* Please note that if you completed 18 credits or less abroad, instead of submitting a WES evaluation, you may submit an unofficial transcript for admissions consideration. If admitted, you must order an official transcript to be sent to SPS directly from the institution abroad.
Please upload your résumé or CV. Please be sure to include all relevant work experience, professional organizations, or activities that would be relevant to evaluating your candidacy for admission.
Two recommendations are required as part of your application. Recommendations should be submitted from academic and/or professional sources. Please note:
- If you are in your last year of undergraduate study at the time of applying, you are required to submit at least one academic recommendation from a faculty member at your undergraduate degree-conferring institution. The second recommendation may be academic or professional;
- If you received a bachelor’s degree within 2 years of the date of the application, you are strongly encouraged, but not required, to submit an academic recommendation;
- If you received a bachelor’s degree more than 2 years prior to the date of the application, you are not required to submit an academic recommendation.
Recommendations should be submitted by:
a) a faculty member with whom you have studied at your undergraduate degree-conferring institution who can assess your academic work, intellectual ability, and academic potential for graduate work. The recommender should have instructed you directly, academic advisors are not appropriate.
AND/OR
b) a current or former supervisor (preferred) or work associate/project leader who can attest to your professional abilities. If you manage your own business and are your own supervisor, you may select a client as your recommender. Personal references are not appropriate.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All recommendations must be submitted using a professional or academic email domain. References submitted from personal or anonymous email domains (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo, 123.com, 163.com, qq.com etc.) may result in your application being considered ineligible for admission. If you are unable to provide a professional email address for your recommender, please email us at apply [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu (apply[at]sps[dot]columbia[dot]edu) with an explanation of why a professional email address cannot be provided.
Your statement of academic purpose (500 words) should clearly and concisely address the following questions in a single, well-organized essay:
- What are the main reasons you have decided to apply for the Program?
- What are your career goals (i.e., which titles or roles would you like to hold in the near and distant future)? What are one or two major outcomes you would like to achieve as a result of attending the Program?
- Given the Program curriculum, which topic areas are of greatest interest to you and why? Where possible, use specific course titles and/or instructor names.
- How does your background help prepare you for the Program?
- In which ways have you engaged with the HCM Program prior to this application (e.g., events, info sessions, interactions via social media or with faculty, students, or alumni)? What did you learn and how did that influence your decision to apply?
In no more than 250 words, please discuss a current trend or area of interest to you in the field of Human Capital Management and why you think this is important for organizations and/or workers.
They are not required upon application submission; however, standard exams are a useful indicator of academic ability and applicants are strongly encouraged to consider submitting scores to further support their candidacy and strengthen their application.
All official standardized test scores must be received in the SPS Office of Admissions within two weeks of the application deadline for the program to which you have applied. Your application cannot be reviewed until official test scores are received.
GRE test scores can be ordered at www.gre.org. Our school report code is 3602.
For complete information regarding the GMAT, go to www.mba.com/exams/gmat. To send your scores, please choose "Columbia University - School of Professional Studies."
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.
This may be required.
If your first or native language is not English, you must provide official scores on the TOEFL or IELTS Academic unless both of the following are true:
- the language of instruction of your undergraduate degree conferring institution is English, and
- and you completed your entire undergraduate degree in English.
Applicant total scores must meet the Columbia SPS minimum requirement of 100 (TOEFL iBT) or 7.0 (IELTS Academic) to be admissible. You will be required to enter your test scores or your anticipated testing date within the online application, and official test score reports will be required for your application to be considered complete and ready for admission review. TOEFL and IELTS Academic scores are valid for two years after your test date. Applicants receiving scores below the posted minimums may be advised to apply directly to the American Language Program.
- To submit TOEFL iBT scores: Visit www.ets.org and send your official score to our school code 2594. Please note: we do not accept TOEFL best scores.
- To submit IELTS scores: Please include your TRF number on the English Language Requirements section of the application. Alternatively, you can also send us your official score through your testing center.
Applicants whose primary language is not English may be required to complete an intensive course with the American Language Program (ALP) prior to beginning their studies in the degree program as a condition for admission.
Applicants may also be asked to complete an interview using a video conferencing tool.
Visa Requirements
International students are responsible for ensuring they have read and understand the University’s student visa application eligibility and requirements. Please note that it is not permissible to enroll while in B-1/B-2 status. Since the Construction Administration program offers a full-time study option, international students enrolled in a full-time course load—registered for at least 12 points of credit-bearing courses a term—are eligible for a student visa.
Eligible international students who wish to apply for a student visa should do so immediately after they have received their letter of admission to Columbia University. This should be done by completing the Application for Visa Certificate (AVC). Applicants should be aware that after admission into a program it may take up to four weeks to receive the documents needed from Columbia to obtain a student visa, so please plan accordingly.
International students who require a student visa to study at Columbia are required to pay an International Services fee. See Tuition and Fees for more information.
You can find the online application for visa certificate by clicking here: http://isso.columbia.edu/. While you are not permitted to submit the application until you have gained admission, we strongly encourage you to read the instructional information provided.
For questions about individual cases, please contact:
International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO)
212-854-3587
isso [[at]] columbia [[dot]] edu (isso[at]columbia[dot]edu)
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/isso
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