Welcome to the Entering Class of 2016

With the start of the fall semester, the Columbia School of Social Work welcomed a new class of 527 MSW students. The students, most of whom will graduate in 2018, come from different walks of life and 24 different countries. To give you a sense of their diversity, we offer some quick statistics.

As usual, the majority of students (around 69 percent) have 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, Reduced Residency, and Transfer Program students, early 30s. The majority of students in the new class (87 percent) are female. Over one-third of the new class is African-American, Asian, Hispanic, or of multiple race/ethnicity.

Just over half of the new students are from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. After the tristate area, California and Massachusetts have significant representations, but across all programs, 36 states are represented.

We also have students from outside the United States. Around a tenth of the incoming class comprises students on international visas, with the largest contingent coming from China.

For the second year running, students who reside in the United States had the option of joining our online campus. Online students make up around a fifth of Fall 2016’s entering class一nearly double the number of last year. Online students tend to be slightly older than on-campus students but like them are a diverse mix of ages, ethnicities, and geographic regions.

We are excited for the incoming class to start their journey at CSSW. To help the class of 2016 get off on the right foot, our Communications Office has created two short films that offer advice about campus life—from students we spoke to just before they graduated.