Cooper Union

First Year Profile

Fall 2020 Data

The Cooper Union first-year students self-identify as follows:

33% Asian
12% Latino
5% Black
30% Caucasian, Non-Hispanic
3% Multi-Ethnic
7% did not self-report a race or ethnicity
10% nonresident aliens
43% women
57% male

The Cooper Union undergraduate admission process has instated a test optional pilot program for the Fall 2021 and 2022 entering classes. If submitted, test scores will be considered.

18% acceptance rate

Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.
“My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”
From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.
Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.