International Affairs Five-Year Program

The International Affairs Five-Year Program offers students the opportunity to earn both the B.A. and M.I.A. degrees in five years. The Center for Student Advising nominates candidates in the spring of their junior year. Information on application procedures is available in the advising center. Once admitted to the joint program, the student completes the senior year at Columbia College, but the bulk of the courses taken are graduate-level ones acceptable to the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). A formal application to SIPA is completed in the fall semester of the senior year. Admission to the joint program does not constitute admission to SIPA. To be eligible for the program, the student must have been enrolled in Columbia College for at least four semesters by the end of the junior year, completed a minimum of 93 credits, taken a basic course in economics, achieved competence in a modern foreign language, and completed all College Core requirements and major (or concentration) requirements with the exception of any 6 to 8 credits. These two courses may be taken during the senior year while completing the 24 points required by SIPA. Three points of the SIPA requirements may be taken in the junior year. Summer courses between the junior and senior year may be considered. The student must receive the B.A. with a satisfactory grade point average. Upon admission to SIPA, students must apply for housing and financial aid. For more information, students should contact their class advising center.