The Department keeps an informal housing book with listings of local landlords, and will be happy to assist incoming students to find a place to live near Lamont. The greater New York City area is a fairly expensive place to live. But it is entirely manageable on the stipend we pay, especially if one is willing to share living quarters. Overall, there is no appreciable difference in the cost of living in the Columbia area vs. the Lamont area. Although we require both general and subject GREs, we will consider an application without a subject GRE if the applicant has an external master's degree, or occasionally at the discretion of the Admissions Committee.
Any prospective student is welcome to visit at any time.
Just call ahead so we can be sure the most relevant faculty and research staff are available to see you. We will be happy to help you locate accommodations should you need them, and to make your visit as fruitful as possible. About half entered our program with external master's degrees in hand. Most had some post-college work experience before beginning to study here. We enroll 15-20 new students each year.