Application Requirements
Apply here.
Fee payment must accompany the online application.
You are required to disclose and provide official academic transcripts for all post-secondary academic study completed and in progress. This includes individual courses for academic credit, certifications, certificates, transfer coursework, study abroad, second bachelor’s degrees, and advanced degrees. All institutions attended must be listed in the Enrollment History section of the online application.
Instructions for Submission of Transcripts When Applying
Applicants should upload a transcript (unofficial transcripts are permissible) of any academic work from each university-level institution you have attended for use in review of your 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 Standards of Campus Discipline.
If your post-secondary credentials are from an institution outside the United States, the Office of Admissions also requires you to submit all post-secondary credentials (undergraduate and graduate) to World Education Services, Inc. (WES), a third-party verification agency for a course-by-course evaluation for admission consideration.
Instructions for using WES
WES must complete a course-by-course evaluation of all post-secondary 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 School of Professional Studies. The school can be found by searching Columbia University and then selecting School of Professional Studies. The evaluation provided to the School of Professional Studies becomes an official academic record and sole property of the School of Professional Studies upon its receipt.
WES evaluations will be reviewed by the School of Professional Studies administrators and the determination of degree equivalency to U.S. degrees is at the discretion of the School of Professional Studies.
Instructions for Submission of Transcripts When Accepting an Offer of Admission
All students who have attended a college or university in the United States must submit electronic transcripts directly from their school or via the vendor that provides that service for their institution to apply [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu.
If a school does not offer electronic delivery, you must write to apply [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu to provide us with the link to your institution's webpage concerning transcript orders. After verification, we will respond with further instructions.
If your post-secondary credentials are from an institution outside the United States, and you have completed additional coursework since the initial WES evaluation was provided, you must request an updated report and have WES send your course-by-course evaluation to Columbia University School of Professional Studies.
Your résumé would include additional information and elaborate on your skills that would be relevant to the program.
Letters of recommendation should be written by current or former supervisors or by faculty members with whom you have studied, who can assess your academic work, intellectual ability, academic potential for graduate work, address your suitability for the program and your ability to commit to the rigorous curriculum.
All applicants are required to submit at least one academic reference, unless you have received a bachelor’s degree more than 5 years prior to the date of the application. Applicants who received a bachelor’s degree more than 5 years prior to the date of the application are strongly encouraged, but not required, to submit an academic reference.
Applicants must list recommenders and their contact information within the online application. Please provide your recommender’s professional email address and note that your recommender will receive an email requesting the recommendation upon your completion of the recommendation section of the application. Your recommender will be asked to log into the online application system, answer a few questions, and upload a letter of recommendation typed on professional letterhead. Recommendations must be submitted within the online application system. We strongly suggest notifying your recommender of these requirements prior to entering their information into the application system. You have the ability within the application system to re-notify your recommender of the request, and change your recommender if necessary. Apart from the initial notification sent through the application system, applicants are responsible for notifying and reminding the recommender about the request.
Your statement of academic purpose should address the following:
- Please identify and discuss some problems in the workplace that you believe a degree in Information and Knowledge Strategy will help you solve.
- Please identify and discuss the specific knowledge and skills you will contribute to the program and your fellow students.
- Please describe a significant collaboration challenge you have faced in your work.
- Analyze that challenge using the 5 Whys.
- Propose a course of action to address that challenge.
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.
An admissions interview is required.
This information is not required. However, if you've taken one of these tests and feel your results support your candidacy as a student in this program, you may submit your scores.
- For complete information regarding the GRE go to www.gre.org. School report code: 3602.
- For complete information about the GMAT go to www.mba.com. GMAT school report code: 3831.
- GRE and GMAT scores are considered valid for five years after your test date.
- Applicants who do not submit GRE or GMAT scores may be required to take a Graduate Writing Test at Columbia. Those applicants who are admitted may, as a result of that test, be required to take a writing course for M.S. students during their first semester.
English Language Proficiency
Applicants whose native language is not English will be required to demonstrate proficiency in the English language by submitting official scores from either the TOEFL or IELTS.
Applicant total scores must meet the Columbia SPS minimum requirement of 100 (TOEFL iBT), 600 (TOEFL pBT), or 7.0 (IELTS). 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 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. (Use school code 2594 to report TOEFL scores.)