Kesler

Hey, sorry, I didn’t know your timeline till now 1. when I went to Columbia open day it was less diverse than Hunter and I felt it was more NY to go to Hunter (at least for me). Just the vibe and the population. 2. probably Columbia for my family. Im an immigrant and my family knows Columbia uni and wanted me to go there so they can brag to their friends and such. But I would probably do it for them if the money wasn’t a factor. Moreover, at the time I was still considering moving back to my country or Europe and Columbia has a better international brand name 3. people in the social work field nationwide are aware of Hunter college as one of the best sw schools in the country. It is on multiple websites as a top school. 4. I was clinical track and I enjoyed it. That said, I wasn’t provided much actual tools or training for actual clinical practice, and there is a macro aspect to the school. But I like that in sw. If I wanted just to be a clinician I would have gone for an LMHC or Psyd/phd in psychology. 5. I totally with you on that. There wasn’t much extra social things. Many of the students are employed or have a family which did not allow much time to just chill on campus. Also the campus is just a building in east Harlem. That said, I love Harlem. Prefer it over the Columbia uni area and I found peers. We even did a peer supervision group for a little while.

Hey, I choose Hunter and I am very pleased with my choice. Within social work jobs Hunter is known as an excellent school which is somewhat harder to get in to than Columbia. If you have any other questions, Ill be happy to try to help. best!

Hi olayak, Yeah I saw the post you mentioned, but I wanted to see if there are any non Americans that went through a similar decision as I described in my post. Thank you for your reply and good luck with your DSW studies.

Hi all, I got into Columbia and Hunter MSW programs and I simply can not make up my mind. Does it really just come down to name value (Columbia) vs cost (Hunter)? I'm from Israel and been living in NYC for the last year and a half, studying in Columbia will be a great achievement but I can not afford it and will 100% have to take out loans. As you know, being a social worker won't make you a millionaire which makes gaining debt even scarier. That being said, I'm not sure will stay in the NY area forever and therefore the name value of Columbia holds great value for my career (I think). So, as you can tell I am very much undecided. If anyone here went through a similar decision or have any advice, it would be appreciated. Thanks