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Visit Cooper Union

Please click here for a schedule of exhibits and events on campus that are open to the public.

Admissions Office Hours

The office, located on the third floor of 30 Cooper Square, is open Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm. Walk-ins are welcome. We are closed on weekends and major federal holidays.

Contact us by phone at 212.353.4120 or email at admissions@cooper.edu

Campus Tours

Cooper Union holds regular tours for prospective students. Each of the three schools- Architecture, Art, and Engineering- holds respective tours and has a separate tour schedule. Registration is required for all tours. Please see below for details regarding each school's tour.

Please note that due to security concerns, Cooper Union's buildings, including 41 Cooper Square and the Foundation Building, are note open to the public unless otherwise stipulated (i.e. an exhibition open to the public). Walk-in visitors to the academic buildings are not permitted. Please also note that all tours listed below are geared toward prospective applicants and, as such, the content covered during each tour will concern that respective academic program.

Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Tours and Open House

The School of Architecture hosts small group tours during the academic year on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Pre-registration is required for these tours. Please call 212.353.4220 or email architecture@cooper.edu to schedule a tour. Please note that the content covered during this tour concerns The School of Architecture academic program and is not an architectural tour of Cooper Union's campus.

Registration for the School of Architecture Open House on Sunday, October 30th is now available. Register here!

School of Art Tours and On-Campus Portfolio Reviews

The School of Art hosts small tours for prospective art students. Click here to begin your online registration for a tour of Cooper Union's School of Art. Registration is required. Tours will meet in the lobby of the Foundation Building located at 7 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003.

The School of Art holds a series of Art Portfolio Review Days in the fall. This event provides prospective art applicants the opportunity to bring portfolios for review as well as the opportunity to learn more about the School of Art from faculty, current students, and alumni. The Art Portfolio Review Day consists of an orientation, a guided tour of the facilities, and an individual portfolio review by faculty or alumni of the School of Art. The dates for the Art Portfolio Review Days are as follows:

Friday, November 4, 2016, 4:00pm-7:00pm
Saturday, November 12, 2016, 12:00pm-4:00pm
Friday, November 18, 2016, 4:00pm-7:00pm
Sunday, December 4, 2016, 12:00pm-4:00pm*
Friday, December 9, 2016, 4:00pm-7:00pm

*Students for whom religious observation conflicts with a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon review time should plan to attend the Sunday, December 4th, review.

Registration for on-campus portfolio review dates is available here. You may attend as many review dates as you would like. High school juniors planning to apply to Cooper at a later application date are encouraged to attend with portfolio materials as well. Tours of the campus are optional as part of these events. Please note that you should bring work in the original format (i.e. bring the original painting as opposed to a scan, picture, or digital image of the painting. If you are bringing digital work or video, please download the file beforehand as Internet access can be spotty.

Students unable to attend an on-campus portfolio review can click here to see which National Portfolio Review Day events the School of Art will be attending in other cities this fall and winter.

Albert Nerken School of Engineering Tours and Preview Day

The School of Engineering hosts small tours for prospective engineering students and their families. Registration is required. Tours will meet in the lobby of the New Academic Building located at 41 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003.

Fall tours will run from mid-September through early December. Regular tours run on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, with some additional availability during school holidays. Please click here to begin your registration!

Registration for Engineering Preview Day, Thursday, November 10th, at 4:30 pm, is now open! 

If you have any questions about the application process or registering for the tours, please email admissions@cooper.edu.

  • 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.