Interning and volunteering offer opportunities to gain experience, build your skills, and strengthen your resume. For unpaid work on or off campus such as volunteering or an unpaid internship, you may start right away and do not need OPT. You must be sure the position is unpaid for anyone (i.e. not just you because you want to take the job as a volunteer). Start by using these tools:

We recommend you secure reservations off-campus. For a list of hotels that give a Columbia rate, please visit and book your reservation through the Columbia University Visitors Travel Portal.  There are other options in Manhattan and other nearby areas as well. Hotel options near the 1 subway line may be the most convenient for you to travel to the Morningside campus. 

While most U.S. banks require that your son or daughter open an account once in the United States, some international banks may allow an application to be started beforehand. Check with your local bank to see if this is possible or for recommended services. Once here, students may open a bank account. The International Student and Scholars Office (ISSO) has compiled a list of banks in the Columbia neighborhood.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), when a student enters university in the United States at any age, all rights and responsibilities to privacy of educational records are transferred to the student. Educational records can include grades, financial aid records, disciplinary records, student account information, Dean’s Office files and residential program files. Learn more about FERPA here.