This past week the Columbia School of Social Work (CSSW) welcomed a new class of 452 M.S. students from all over the world.

The majority of students (around 80 percent) are enrolled in our two-year full-time program. Other students are spread across our Advanced Standing, Extended, Reduced Residency and Transfer programs.

The average age of Two-Year and Advanced Standing Program students is mid-20s; of Extended and Reduced Residency Program students, early 30s. The majority of students in the new class (around 90 percent) are female. Most are American citizens or permanent residents. International students make up around 12 percent of the incoming class, of which the largest contingent—24 students in total—hails from China.

In terms of racial and ethnic diversity, about 40 percent of the new class is African-American, Asian, Hispanic, or of multiple race/ethnicity.

Close to two-thirds of the new students are from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. After the tristate area, California, Maryland, Florida, and Texas have significant representations.

For the first time, our entering class includes a significant portion (about 13 percent) who are enrolled in the School’s new online campus. The profile of the online students closely resembles that of our residential students, with the exception that nearly 40 percent of the online contingent will start out as part-time students initially, as either residential or extended students, and the average age skews slightly older.

In closing, we present a short film made by our Communications Office in which graduating students, mostly from this past spring, impart a few pearls of wisdom they picked up during their tenure—advice they wish they had received when brand new to CSSW: