HUNTER OR TEACHERS COLLEGE?

[Coffeecups]

I am in between two schools for masters in psychology, Hunter College and Teachers College Columbia. What is the overall reputation of these schools? Would Teachers College give me more of an advantage than Hunter? I have heard mixed reviews from current students from both schools which worries me. I feel outside NY, Hunter's name isn't as recognizable as Columbia. However, Hunter seems to offer more opportunities for research.  Any advice helps! Thank you! 

[Sherrinford]

One has a world renown reputation, the other is lesser known. Both have amazing research faculty doing great work. The one caveat about TC Is that you do pay for the name and you should do some Math to calculate how much the degree would cost.

If the financial aspect isn't an issue for you, I would decide which school to apply to based on which faculty members you'd like to do research with (although it is possible to do research at a different school from the one you are attending). 

I have several friends who've gone to both schools, who've gone on to enter funded clinical psych programs. 

[Guest joshw4288]

I attended the program at Hunter 2012-2014. I am happy to answer any questions you have about the program. It served me well and is very inexpensive. Anecdotally, I know that the Hunter program has placed students at good Ph.D. programs including Fordham University, St. John's University, Yale, and University of Western Ontario. If you are interested in the research that goes on through CHEST, a researcher at Hunter just received a large (15 million) grant. The program seems to be growing and it looks like they are in the process of hiring a number of new faculty. 

[neuronet]

I attended TC for a masters program (non-psychology) and Columbia name definitely helped me get research assistantship jobs during the program (at Columbia Medical) and also interviews after graduating. However, the administration is a bit of a mess and it's an expensive program, so you have to always take the initiative to put yourself out there. The psychology department is popular and bigger than the dept. I was in, so once again you have to put yourself out there and seek opportunities (which is not rare in the psych department). If you plan on continuing your education after this program ends, the TC/Columbia factor helps. I liked that as a TC student I also had access to Columbia main campus resources, lectures, shuttle, libraries etc. and viewed my time there as an investment.