Welcome to the Entering Class of Fall 2014

This past week the Columbia School of Social Work (CSSW) welcomed a new class of 434 M.S. students from all over the world. The majority (79%) are enrolled in our two-year full-time program. The remainder is 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, mid-30s. The majority of students in the new class (89%) are female. Most are American citizens or permanent residents. International students make up around 13 percent of the incoming class, of which the largest contingent—29 students in total—hails from China. 

The new class shows greater diversity than in recent years: 45 percent are African-American, Asian, Hispanic, or of multiple race/ethnicity.

Roughly two-thirds of the new students are from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. After the tristate area, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Texas and Georgia have significant representations.

Members of the 2014 entering class earned their undergraduate degrees from a variety of educational institutions both within the United States and around the world—from New York University and Hunter College, to UCLA and the University of Chicago, to universities in China, Thailand, and Botswana.

In closing, we present a short film made by our Communications Office in which graduating students from this past spring (and one first-year) impart some of the wisdom they picked up during their tenure—advice they wish they had received when brand new to CSSW: