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Cooper Union

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.

Please note, beginning the week of June 4th, and running through Labor Day Weekend, Cooper Union will operate on a summer schedule. Offices will be open Monday-Thursday, 9 am-5:15 pm. Offices will be closed Friday and weekends. 

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 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.

School of Architecture tours

School of Art tours

School of Engineering tours

Please note that due to security concerns, Cooper Union's buildings, including 41 Cooper Square and the Foundation Building, are not 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 Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union hosts small group tours throughout the Academic Year. Tour guides are current Architecture students who have first-hand knowledge of the application process and life in The School of Architecture. They can speak informatively about the curriculum, faculty, facilities and The School of Architecture experience.

Tours will take place in The Foundation Building which is home to The School of Architecture, its studios, shops, labs, and other facilities.

A tour of The School of Architecture is a visit to The School of Architecture's facilities as well as a glimpse into the application process, curriculum, degree requirements, etc.  It is not an architectural tour of The Cooper Union campus.

Registration is required and available online.

In addition to regular tours, the School of Architecture holds an Open House for interested applicants every fall. We will post details closer to the event. Hope to see you there!

School of Art Tours, Open Houses, and Portfolio Reviews

The School of Art hosts small tours for prospective art students. Registration is required. Tours will meet in the lobby of the Foundation Building located at 7 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003. Please note: tours do not include a portfolio review. The tour schedule and online registration for tours are now available online.

The School of Art holds a series of Art Open Houses 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 Open Houses consists of an orientation, a guided tour of the facilities, and an individual portfolio review by faculty or alumni of the School of Art.

If you cannot attend an Art Open House, please note that the School of Art participates in select National Portfolio Review Day events nationwide. See the full list of events the School of Art will be attending here. 

Albert Nerken School of Engineering Tours and Events

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.

Summer 2018 tours in June are online now; more dates coming soon. Register here. 

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.