Frequently Asked Questions for New Students
Orientation
GSAS Orientation will take place on Wednesday, August 21 (PhD orientation at 8:30 am, MA orientation at 12:30 pm). Carlos J. Alonso, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, will offer remarks to signal the start of the new academic year.
The GSAS Resource Fair will take place in the Low Library Rotunda on Thursday, August 22 in the morning (hours TBD). No registration is required. All new GSAS students are welcome to attend and meet representatives from a variety of campus offices and resources.
As a reminder, all new students are required to complete the university-wide pre-orientation tutorials before GSAS orientation on August 21. More information on tutorials to come.
Registration
Fall registration for incoming students opens in late August. To determine the specific dates and times when you can register, log in to SSOL and click on “Registration Appointments” in the menu. Registration appointments are published in SSOL in mid-August.
Registration primarily takes place online, through SSOL. For a complete overview of the registration process, please refer to the Registration section of the GSAS website.
Courses generally will have open seats when registration begins. If you find that no seats remain in the course(s) you wish to take, you may join the waitlist.
If a course is full when you register for it through SSOL, you will be placed automatically on that course’s waitlist. Most waitlists are managed automatically on a first-come, first-served basis, and you will be enrolled in the class should a seat become available. Please do not submit a Registration Adjustment Form to the GSAS Office of Student Affairs if you are on an SSOL-managed waitlist. Other waitlists are managed manually by the course instructor. If this is the case, please contact the instructor to request a spot on the course’s waitlist. For more information about course waitlists, please visit the Registrar’s website.
Students may take some courses in other graduate schools at Columbia through cross-registration. Use the Directory of Classes to confirm that courses are open to GSAS students before beginning the cross-registration process. Please also consult your program administrator before submitting a Registration Adjustment Form to the GSAS Office of Student Affairs to enroll in courses offered by other schools.
Housing
Once you have signed your rental agreement with Columbia Residential, you will be allowed to move into your housing. You will need to schedule an appointment to sign your agreement; this may be done through your Housing Portal account. Please visit the Columbia Residential website for details and contact Sophia Cheng, GSAS liaison to Columbia Residential, with any questions at [email protected].
Columbia’s Off-Campus Housing Assistance (OCHA) is an excellent resource for students who will be living off campus. OCHA provides information about renting apartments in New York, operates a database for University-managed sublets, and offers a “roommate board” where students may search for roommates and open rooms.
Billing and Financing
Columbia no longer sends paper tuition statements or accepts cash or check payments. All billing is done electronically through SSOL. There you may view your bill by semester or month and pay your balance.
Please visit the Financing Your Education section of the GSAS website to learn about financing options for MA students. You may also consult your program about discipline-specific opportunities. External resources, such as Candid, may also be helpful.