hunter college social work phd

About the MSW Program

The nationally-ranked Master of Social Work (MSW) Program at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College is a 60-credit, competency-based graduate program leading to the MSW degree. The MSW curriculum reflects and facilitates a commitment to social justice; diversity; and ethical, knowledgeable practice in metropolitan, cross-cultural, and global environments. It has been shaped around a set of core competencies that are essential for all social workers, as identified by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), which accredits American schools of social work. Each course and field education experience within Silberman’s MSW Program is intentionally designed to help students progress toward advanced-level competency attainment by the time they graduate.

Admission to the MSW Program

General criteria.

Successful performance in graduate social work education requires emotional maturity and stability, interest in working with people and readiness to assume professional responsibilities. The applicant’s knowledge of professional social work and/or experience in social work settings is an important consideration for admission. The general criteria for MSW admission are as follows:  

• Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Undergraduate preparation should demonstrate a liberal arts background and intellectual capacity for graduate study.
• Records of international students require special evaluation and should be submitted as early as possible. All applicants whose prior language of instruction was not English are required to take the TOEFL and achieve a minimum score of 213; 80 IBT (internet-based test).
• Good undergraduate preparation along with tested understanding of the profession gained through voluntary, internship and/or paid experience are the keys to a successful application for admission. 
• All applicants must submit an application, transcripts from all previous academic study, three professional letters of reference, and application fees. Completed applications for admission should be submitted by the deadline date established by the School each year. All admissions are subject to limitations of available seats in the school and placement in a field practicum. Applications for admission into the MSW program must be submitted online.
• Applicants may be required to participate in a group discussion as part of the admissions process.  
• Selecting a Practice Method    
• Selecting an MSW Degree Pathway    
• MSW Program Curriculum    

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How hard is it to get into the social work school?

Hi everyone,

My first choice for an MSW is the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, and I'm feeling discouraged because based on everything I've read online, when it comes to social work schools in NYC, Hunter is one of the hardest to get in to (maybe even more than Columbia and NYU, because of how cheap it is). I don't have a BSW; I went to Columbia, where I majored in Computer Science. My GPA was 3.43. I didn't take any social work/psychology classes in college. The only things I did which I think would be semi-applicable include being on the e-board of a cultural club at school and taking some ethnic studies classes. I am a first-generation, low-income college student.

My current job is software engineering (not related to social work at all). And since graduating, I've started volunteering at two nonprofit organizations in NYC. By the time I apply to the MSW, I will have more than a year of experience as a volunteer for an organization helping low-income Asian/immigrant youth in NYC, and another organization helping survivors of gender-based violence in NYC.

Do you all have any advice for how to make myself more competitive on my MSW application, other than the volunteering that I'm already doing? And do you think I have a good chance of getting in, with my stats and all (I know that's a very hard question for someone to answer, but if you yourself have gotten into an MSW program, I want to know what your impression of my chances is)?

Thanks everyone <3

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Social Work at Hunter College

Social work degrees available at hunter, hunter social work rankings.

Popularity of Social Work at Hunter

Salary of social work graduates with a master's degree.

Graduates of the master's social work program at Hunter make a median salary of $53,970. This is a better than average outcome since the median salary for all social work graduates with a master's is $44,064.

How Much Student Debt Do Social Work Graduates from Hunter Have?

Student debt of social work graduates with a bachelor's degree.

While getting their bachelor's degree at Hunter, social work students borrow a median amount of $9,608 in student loans. This is not too bad considering that the median debt load of all social work bachelor's degree recipients across the country is $27,000.

Social Work Student Diversity at Hunter

Hunter social work bachelor’s program.

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 39 students graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work from Hunter. About 10% were men and 90% were women.

The following table and chart show the ethnic background for students who recently graduated from Hunter College with a bachelor's in social work.

Hunter Social Work Master’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 16% of social work master's degrees went to men and 84% went to women.

The following table and chart show the ethnic background for students who recently graduated from Hunter College with a master's in social work.

Popular Reports

Compare your school options.

Graduate Study at Hunter

Hunter College, the second oldest college in The City University of New York, offers master’s degrees in more than 50 fields of study and doctoral programs – some at Hunter exclusively and some in cooperation with the CUNY Graduate Center. We have graduate programs in the arts, sciences, languages and literature – as well as in the professional fields of accounting, education, health, nursing, nutrition, social work and urban planning – and all are considered exceptional. Currently about 6,000 students enroll in these programs.

One of our most important areas – now, as throughout our more than 140-year history – is teacher education. The School of Education today offers a broad range of graduate programs designed to prepare teachers, counselors and administrators for practice, leadership and innovation in education. A doctorate in Education (EdD) prepares students for careers in instructional leadership.

The School of Nursing, the School of Health Professions, and the School of Urban Public Health are nationally recognized for new approaches to teaching, research and service in health care. The School of Nursing provides a wide array of accredited programs designed to prepare students for leadership positions in health care (including the new Doctor of Nursing Practice, DNP); the School of Health Professions offers an outstanding master’s program in speech-language pathology and a doctorate in physical therapy. The School of Urban Public Health offers BS/MS and MS degrees in nutrition. Through the City University Graduate Center, doctoral degrees in audiology, nursing science social work and public health are available.

The Silberman School of Social Work, located in its new home in East Harlem, offers several flexible program options leading to the master of social work degree. It is one of the top graduate social work schools in the country. Its faculty is renowned both for training leaders and innovative thinkers in social work and for providing expert service to New York’s multicultural community. Through leading-edge course work, opportunities for challenging field experience, method-based training and a practice-centered education, the Silberman School provides unequaled opportunities to learn and excel in our dynamic urban environment. (the School slso offers a BSW, its first undergraduate degree).

The School of Arts and Sciences has an outstanding roster of graduate programs in the fine and performing arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences and mathematics. In addition to many master’s programs, we offer doctoral degrees in the sciences in cooperation with the CUNY Graduate School. Our faculty members push the frontiers of knowledge in their disciplines and are at the forefront of creative innovation. Graduates have gone on to elite doctoral programs, achieved distinction in various creative fields, and enjoyed successful careers built on their Hunter training. Graduate study at Hunter is enhanced by our excellent performance facilities, research laboratories, and art studio space. Our MFA programs in Playwriting, Music, Dance, Integrated Media Arts and Creative writing are taught by renowned, award-winning artists.  With Hunter’s central location on Manhattan’s East Side, the city’s major museums, concert halls, and galleries are within easy walking distance, as are famed biomedical research facilities that offer extraordinary opportunities for collaborative study and research.

Hunter’s faculty includes many distinguished scholars, educators, and creative artists, all of whom play major roles in New York’s academic, cultural, civic and educational life. With over $50 million annually in research grants and awards, Hunter’s faculty is internationally respected for its creativity, energy and scholarship.

Hunter College of The City University of New York

695 Park Avenue New York, NY 10065

(212) 772-4000 http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/

Requirements

Successful performance in graduate social work education requires emotional maturity and stability, interest in working with people, and readiness to assume professional responsibilities. Good undergraduate preparation (3.0 GPA), an earned bachelor’s degree from a college or university accredited by a recognized regional accrediting association,  and experience in the profession through volunteer, internship, or paid experience are important elements for a successful application for admission.

If we are considering your application for admission to the MSW program, you are required to participate in a group interview and provide a writing sample. We will give you a short article, and you will write a short reflective response with a pen and paper. An email invitation to interview will be sent to the email address that you registered with in your online application, so please check your spam folders as well.

An applicant who has fulfilled all the requirements for admission is admitted to the graduate program as a matriculated student in social work without regard to citizenship or place of residence. However, tuition and field placement may be affected by your status. Unfortunately, no academic credit can be given for life experience or previous work experience.

I. General Requirements

• Applicants must complete an application online.
• Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Undergraduate preparation should demonstrate an intellectual capacity for graduate study.
• Applicants must provide official transcripts from all previously attended colleges.
• Applicants must submit a Statement of Purpose that articulates knowledge of professional social work, discusses the applicant’s experience in a social work setting, and answers the questions on the application.
• Applicants must provide two professional letters of reference. Applicants applying to the OYR and Advanced Standing Programs are required to supply additional letters of reference.
• Applicants must pay a non-refundable $75 application fee. If you are currently a non-matriculated student and plan to apply to the program the following semester, your application fee may be waived.
• GRE test scores are not required for admission into our program.

II. One-Year Residency Applicants OYR applicants must have a minimum two years full-time successful employment in a social service agency. Admission is available to either a standard OYR Program with admission in the fall (two and one half years in duration) or a 24-month Accelerated Program with admission in the spring.

In addition to the information above (under “General Requirements for Admission”), OYR applicants must also provide the following:

• Completed Agency Executive Agreement (AEA) Form: The agency executive at your social service agency must complete the AEA Form, approving your time away from work to pursue your education.
• Recommendation letter from agency executive (the same person who signed the AEA Form): the agency executive must also attach a letter of recommendation to the AEA Form. In cases where your agency executive cannot evaluate your skills in the field, we will accept a recommendation from the assistant agency executive or current supervisor from the agency.

  Note: Once the AEA Form is completed, only one other recommendation letter is required.

III. Advanced Standing Students In addition to the information above (under “General Requirements for Admission”), Advanced Standing applicants must also provide the following:

• Advanced Standing applicants must have an overall GPA of 3.0 and a GPA of 3.2 in the social work major and must have received the BSW degree from a CSWE-accredited program within the last five years.
• Core Competencies Form completed by faculty advisor.
• Core Competencies Form completed by field instructor.
• Practice example.

Please add the names of the faculty advisor and the field instructor in the recommendations section of the online application. You will need to list all two recommendations on your online application in order for your application to be submitted.

IV. International Applicants Records of international applicants require special evaluation and should be submitted as early as possible. In most cases, applicants are required to provide transcript evaluation of foreign transcripts and the taking of the TOEFL exam.  The exam must be retaken for previous scores over two years old.

• If you have received your Undergraduate education outside of the United States, you will need to have your transcript evaluated for U.S. equivalency.  You can use World Education Services for this service by visiting this link:  http://www.wes.org/fees/evaltypes.asp  (select course by course evaluation)
• U.S. Permanent Resident–Copies of your Green Card (front & back) must be submitted.
• Applicants whose native language is not English and whose post-secondary education (baccalaureate degree) was in a country where English was not the native language are required to take the TOEFL exam.  http://www.ets.org/toefl . Our institutional code is 2308 . Minimum scores are as follows: Paper-Based Test: 550 Computer-Administered Test: 213 Internet-Based Test: 80
• Applications for students who are required to submit TOEFL will not be considered without the test scores. WES Transcript Evaluations and TOEFL scores should be mailed to us directly from the institution or by the student (as long as the original envelope was not opened).

Our mailing address is: Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College 2180 Third Avenue, 7th Floor New York NY 10035 Attn: Office of Admissions.

Also, you may want to visit our International Students Office.  This office provides academic support services to international students and help with immigration regulatory matters.  You can visit our link here: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentservices/is

Successful performance in graduate social work education requires emotional maturity and stability, interest in working with people, and readiness to assume professional responsibilities. Good undergraduate preparation along with experience in the profession through volunteer, internship, or paid experience are important elements for a successful application for admission. You may be required to participate in group interview as part of the admissions process. Unfortunately, no academic credit can be given for life experience or previous work experience.

General Questions? Call our Welcome Center at (212) 396-7886 or email: [email protected]

V. Transfer Applicants Transfer applicants must have completed a minimum of 33 social work credits at another CSWE-accredited MSW program to be considered for admission.  Prior to submitting your application, please submit completed transfer of credit forms,   course descriptions, and syllabi for all courses.  You will also need to provide a letter from your program director or academic advisor regarding your current status in that program.

VI. Transfer of Credits A maximum of 12 credits of prior graduate course work from an accredited graduate program may be considered for transfer credit, of which only six credits may be from a non-social-work graduate program. Transfer of credits can only be considered for courses in which students received a grade of B or better and which have been taken in the last five years.

Students must complete a Transfer of Credit Form and supply a course description and syllabus for each course for which they are requesting transfer credit. Once all the documentation has been collected, the packet should be sent to the Admissions Office (for new students) or to the Student Affairs Office (for continuing students).  The maximum number of transfer credits is waived in the cases of applicants who apply and enter the program as transfer students. Once you are accepted into the program, your transfer credits will be added to your Hunter College transcript for our immediate review.

VII. TOEFL Applicants whose native language is not English and whose post-secondary education (baccalaureate degree) was in a country where English was not the native language are required to take the TOEFL exam. The minimum acceptable score for TOEFL is 80 on the internet-based TOEFL (IBT), 213 on the computer-based test (CBT), or 550 on the paper-based test. Direct the Educational Testing Service to send your TOEFL score to Hunter College School of Social Work, institution code: 2308. To link to TOEFL, click here.

VIII. Application Fees When you have completed your application and are ready to submit it, you can pay your application fee of $75 online by credit card, or you can mail a check or money order to the School’s Admissions Office. We encourage you to submit your application fee online; this will move your application forward in the review process more quickly. The application fee is non-refundable, and no application will be processed until the application fee is paid and all supporting documentation is submitted.  If you are currently a non-matriculated student and plan to apply to the program the following semester, your application fee will be waived.

Reminder:  The application process is self-managed; you should review your online application often for accuracy.  Applicants are periodically sent email regarding their applications status, so please check your spam mail often as well.

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How do humans learn? What motivates us to acquire knowledge? And how do we become more successful learners? Hunter’s Educational Psychology and Learning and Assessment programs offer students a comprehensive and research-driven exploration of learning, assessment, and human development. Through our master’s degree and advanced certificate programs, students develop skills in synthesizing qualitative and quantitative data, honing academic writing, and working with diverse populations.

Our master’s degree in Educational Psychology is ideal for anyone interested in studying how people learn, especially in educational settings. Our advanced certificate in Assessment and Learning is ideal for certified teachers looking for professional development to improve their understanding of learning theories and assessment.

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