Situated in an urban campus in Chicago, Columbia College Chicago offers a wide spectrum of arts related courses, including majors in fashion design and fashion business. The student body lacks international and gender diversity with only 2 percent of students coming from overseas. Seventy-five percent of applicants are admitted to the BA programme. The school’s library and resources, which include 6,000 historical garments, achieved high scores in our survey. Students rated the school’s course offerings in technical skills, marketing and business slightly above average compared to other schools, but expressed dissatisfaction with work placements. Other noted areas for improvement included accessibility to alumni and the quality of recruiters attracted by the institution.
49th
Undergraduate, Fashion Ranking 2016
Full-time fashion students
657
International students
2%
Student : Teacher ratio
14:1
Average ratio at the classroom level
Tuition: Domestic/intl
$24k/$24k
Acceptance rate
75%
Graduation Rate
47%
Courses Offered
Undergraduate:
Fashion Business BA, Fashion Design BA, Fashion Design BFA, Fashion Business Minor, Fashion Photography BA
Student & Alumni Comments
"The student body at Columbia was great. I felt like some of the teachers didn't have a whole lot of experience in fashion which made it difficult at times."
"I think that Columbia is very up and coming. Comparing it to other schools in the city, we don't have as many course offerings. Columbia students and grads are very technically talented, but we don't always get all of the creative aspects to push us to be better designers."
"A diverse group of people with diverse talents. This allows for multiple perspectives, which ultimately makes each individual better."
"Just as good as I imagined. The classes are challenging but it's not hard to succeed if you do your work. I found amazing people that I will hopefully know and work with for a long time to come. "
Full Undergraduate, Fashion Ranking
The Business of Fashion's global fashion school rankings aim to provide an objective assessment of the top undergraduate and graduate fashion programmes around the world.