Fostering a just and thriving world

Founded in 1859 in New York City by Peter Cooper, The Cooper Union is a top-ranked, all-honors college committed to making education fair and accessible to all by granting every admitted undergraduate student a half-tuition scholarship as well as need-based aid.  

Throughout its history, Cooper has been a place where thinkers, builders, artists, activists, and dreamers have thrived and contributed to New York City and the world in large and small ways—being of this world and for this world. 

Comprised of three schools specializing in architecture, art, and engineering, The Cooper Union offers small, intimate classes organized around a culture of collaboration. 

The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture offers a five-year Bachelor of Architecture and a post-professional Master of Science in Architecture. Students from all years of study work side-by-side in an open studio, exploring the essential skills of drawing, model making, and design development along with both analytical and critical uses of digital technologies. 

The School of Art offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in which students, instead of choosing a major, begin their studies taking a year of foundational courses followed by course selections in drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, film/video, graphic design, sculpture, performance, and sound. 

The Albert Nerken School of Engineering offers a Bachelor and Master of Engineering in Chemical, Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering as well as a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering. Small classes and project-based experiential learning provide opportunities for students to enhance their education through research and collaboration with peers and faculty. 

In addition, all Cooper Union students take a four-semester core curriculum of required courses through the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, in which they learn to think, write, and critically investigate their work and its impact on society.