Help, Columbia Vs Hunter

[Kesler]

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

[olayak]

I don't know if you saw a previous post that was similar to this, comparing NYU and Hunter. Honestly, I have my MSW from NYU but I have THREE degrees from Hunter (BA, MSEd, MA), NYU is great but cost a fortune and I'm now in serious debt. Hunter has an amazing social work program. If I had to do it again I'd get my MSW from Hunter. And like Columbia, it has "tracks" so you can focus on your specific interests. 

I still love NYU and I'm going back for my DSW, but if I had to do it again I would get my MSW at Hunter because it is equally as good but costs a fraction of the price. 

Edited March 20, 2017 by olayak

[Kesler]

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. 

[namarie]

I'm not an international student for the US, but I did go overseas to study for a time. I had to take out loans for my studies, but if I had the chance to go back and start over, I wouldn't have taken out all those loans. The name of the school you attended may carry some weight, but I think an employer will look at your relevant experiences more than what institution you attended. I think it will ultimately come down to cost/benefit ratio. Is going to Columbia so important to you that it's worth going into loads of debt? Can you go to Hunter, save money, and still have great opportunities for your studies that will help you in your future career? 

It might help if you created a pro/con list of the benefits and drawbacks of each school. I was accepted to Columbia last year but I decided against attending because of 1) the astronomical cost of attendance per year and 2) the cost of living in NYC. It wasn't a smart idea for me to attend, especially since it was a master's program and I was still considering going for a doctorate later on. Personally, I wouldn't choose Columbia, especially since you'd have to take out loans to cover the full cost of education. If a scholarship was on the table, then I would spend more time considering Columbia. But when you take the cost of education, living expenses in NYC, and the average salary of a social worker into consideration, having that name on your CV might not seem like such a big deal anymore. 

It all comes down to which school you think will offer you the best training and practical experiences at the price you can afford. I wish you the very best of luck with this decision and with your future studies. 

 

[Bella429]

How flexible and understanding were the professors at NYU?  Were they strict in terms of deadlines or were they willing to accommodate you and give an extension if you had circumstances that arose? Were they helpful if you needed help with an assignment or were they difficult to access? 

[olayak]

9 hours ago, Bella429 said:

How flexible and understanding were the professors at NYU?  Were they strict in terms of deadlines or were they willing to accommodate you and give an extension if you had circumstances that arose? Were they helpful if you needed help with an assignment or were they difficult to access? 

They were really understanding and helpful. They were always accessible. I feel like most social workers are understanding of special circumstances. The deadlines are strict but they do understand special circumstances. 

Edited March 21, 2017 by olayak

[emilioestevezzz]

hi! reviving this old thread to ask @Kesler where you ended up choosing, because i'm in the exact same predicament with the exact same concerns. did you choose columbia or hunter, and why??

[Kesler]

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!

[emilioestevezzz]

thanks for replying @Kesler! i definitely have a few questions haha (i've got 2 days to decide ahaskjbajbf)....

1. what reasons, in the end, swayed you towards choosing hunter over columbia?
2. if you had all the money in the world and you didn't have to take finances into account, would you still have chosen hunter? or would you have chosen columbia?
3. like you, i'm not sure if i will stay in NYC forever (i'm actually pretty sure i won't), so my biggest concern with hunter is picking a school that might not "translate" in other states/countries opportunity-wise as much as columbia. any thoughts on this?
4. any info you might have on hunter's clinical track? i know it's more known for it's macro/social justice specialty, but i plan on doing clinical so (no worries if you're not clinical and don't have any insight on this though)
5. lastly, how is the silberman building as a campus? when i visited, i have to be honest, i wasn't wowed or attracted to the prospect of spending tons of time there, which i know is a superficial reason to pick a grad school, but i also wanna enjoy the place i'm gonna spend 2 years in! the area doesn't seem to have many places to, say, eat lunch or hang around or walk around. it also seemed like most students just to class and leave, like there's not much of a community or culture of making friends, which is important to me.

i appreciate your insight!

Edited April 28 by emilioestevezzz

[emilioestevezzz]

@Kesler just following up on this, if you happen to be able to answer!

[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. 

 

 

Edited May 3 by Kesler