City University of New York (CUNY) Hunter College Degree Programs
CUNY Hunter College appears in our ranking of 100 Affordable Public Schools With High 40-Year ROIs.
CUNY Hunter College (Hunter College or Hunter) is one of the constituent colleges that make up the City University of New York. The school sits in Manhattan, New York, and its main campus is at East 68th street and Lexington—just two blocks from Central Park. The main campus is home to Hunter’s School of Arts and Sciences and its School of Education. Hunter also has two satellite campuses. The Silberman of Social Work building sits on 3rd Avenue between East 118th and East 119th Streets. The Silberman Campus holds the School of Social Work, the Brookdale Center on Aging, and the School of Urban Public Health. The Brookdale Campus sits on the corner of 1st Avenue and East 25th Street. The campus houses the Schools of the Health Professions, the Health Profession’s Library, and the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing along with a large dormitory, computer labs, and research centers.
To facilitate the division of location, the continuous and unique outreach to the surrounding community, as well as the incredibly diverse programs within the college itself, Hunter College is divided into ten schools:
- School of Arts and Sciences
- School of Health Professions
- College of Liberal Arts
- School of Urban Public Health
- Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
- School of Education
- Silberman School of Social Work
- Continuing Education Programs
- International English Language Institute
- Hunter College High School
- Hunter College Elementary School
The school offers degrees in the areas of business, Latino studies, history, foreign languages, archeology, art, biology, chemistry, physics, health, computer science, education, writing, dance, economics, English, psychology, nursing, history, leadership, literature, philosophy, political science, mathematics, and sociology with specialties that include two or more of those areas under the auspices of a single major. Hunter asks undergraduates to declare a minor to enhance their major field of study. Minor degrees at Hunter are generally an extra field of interest that a student wishes to pursue. The minor degree uses from 9 credit hours to 18 hours of electives, of which the Hunter degree has plenty.
CUNY Hunter offers 99 master’s programs. These degrees require 30 to 36 credit hours of study and innumerable hours in community service on projects that enhance the ability of the student to perform after graduation. These degrees follow along the same lines as the undergraduate degrees at Hunter and serve as a springboard toward advancement in the areas of employment that the student currently enjoys. Hunter also provides opportunities for post-graduate certifications in 54 areas of study that directly affect the graduate’s status in employment.
Hunter provides access to ten doctoral programs for students already working in their field. These programs involve 60 or more credit hours of study, followed by the production and defense of a dissertation. These programs lead to degrees in:
- Doctor of Education in Instructional Leadership
- Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry
- Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry
- Doctor of Philosophy in Physics
- Doctor of Nursing Practice in Adult/Gerontological
- Doctor of Nursing Practice in Family Nurse Practitioner
- Doctor of Nursing Practice in Psychiatric/Mental Health
- Doctor of Physical Therapy
- Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare
- Doctoral Studies in Psychology in Laboratories at Hunter College
Though Hunter has an online presence, it is not directed toward any of its undergraduate or graduate degrees. The online presentations at Hunter point toward certifications instead. The school prefers, due to its approach toward education as an augmentation to the community and family life, that students seeking degrees at the college do so in the classroom where the impact on the student’s involvement with the local community is maximized and monitored. Hunter offers a continuing education program that offers online courses for those interested in personal enrichment, professional development, or certification in a field that will move them ahead at work. Some certifications are appropriate for Hunter College students to add to their major degrees. But, all are available online, principally to the local residents as a community bolstering program in such areas of study as:
- Certificate in Digital Marketing
- Certificate in Digital Marketing & Adobe Tools
- Certificate in MyOffice 2013
- Certificate in Small Business and Entrepreneurship
- Certificate in Business English
- Certificate in Graphic Design and Adobe Essentials
- Certificate in Web Design
- Certificate in Web Programming
- Combined Certificate in Graphic Design, Web Design, and Web Programming
- Certificate in Medical Coding and Billing
- Certificate in Legal Studies
- Certification as Medical Interpreter
- Certification as a Fitness Instructor
- Certificate in Teaching ESL
- Certificate in Translation and Interpretation
Hunter students who proved themselves as extraordinary may apply for one of three different honors programs available at CUNY Hunter College:
- The Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College includes access to every department of every part of CUNY.
- The Thomas Hunter Honors Program is the school’s interdisciplinary approach to the connection between academics and life for students who have completed 24 to 60 credit hours with a 3.65 GPA or higher.
- The Departmental Honors Program at Hunter College is for students who excel in their major field of study with a GPA of 3.5 or better.
About CUNY Hunter College
CUNY Hunter College opened its doors as an all-women’s school in 1870, which remained its status until the 1950s. The school has always encouraged its students to have an intimate involvement with the surrounding community of Manhattan. Since 1877, the college has included an elementary and high school for talented and gifted children which is assisted by students from Hunter College who are pursuing degrees in education or in areas of study in which the younger students are interested.
Today, the school works through its students to affect the lives of those who are incapable of helping themselves. Projects such as nutritional meals for the homeless or the home-bound, healthcare for indigents, counseling for people living with PTSD, instructional help for dance studios or other forms of art, and in-class tutoring for students at the elementary through the high school levels, are the regular fare for students taking degrees at Hunter College. The school immerses its students into the problems and solutions of American society.
In recognition of New York City as a melting pot of cultures and languages, Hunter built its impressive International English Language Institute. Hunter College founded this institution as a means for immigrants to build academic skills, prepare for tests in school and in citizenship, and to advance skills in English to move international students into certification and professional preparation programs.
The Princeton Review rates Hunter College as the 2nd Best Value in Public Colleges. US News & World Report ranks Hunter as 5th in its list of Top Public Schools and 5th in Top Performers on Social Mobility. The publication goes on to rate Hunter as 10th Best in Undergraduate Teaching, 11th in Best Colleges for Veterans, 21st in Most Innovative Schools, 23rd in Regional Universities North, and 60th in Best Value Schools.
CUNY Hunter College Accreditation Details
CUNY Hunter College is regionally accredited through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The school is also approved as a degree-granting institution by the Trustees of the City University of New York and the Regents of New York State. Internal special program accreditations within Hunter include:
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND)
- Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
- Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)
- American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASA)
- Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)
- American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
- Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)
- Council on Social Work Education Office of Social work Accreditation (CSWEOSA)
CUNY Hunter College Application Requirements
The acceptance rate at Hunter for all applicants is 36 percent, which places the school as the most competitive to get into among all the schools in the Northeast section of the country. Applicants must submit high school transcripts that reflect a minimum of a 3.1 GPA. They must also submit SAT scores of 1150 or above or an ACT score of 28 or more. A supplemental essay about what the student brings to the Hunter experience is also required.
Tuition and Financial Aid
Tuition at Hunter is the lowest of any of the schools within the CUNY system. Residents of New York enjoy tuition and fees of $7,180 per year; non-residents pay $18,450. On-campus living adds another $11,382 in room and board. Graduate-level tuition and fees run at $14,630 per year for full-time residents or $640 per credit hour for part-time students.
Most students, 75-percent, graduate from Hunter College with no college debt. Hunter’s relationship with the community and its extra efforts to benefit those that surround it reaps rewards for its students. Many among New York City’s philanthropic communities donate generously to the school’s scholarship programs. Most of these programs are established for those students who demonstrate a need for financial help. The Financial Assistance Department at Hunter also has connections to many of the state, local, and national scholarship programs that other schools do not.
Hunter is the premier school in the northeast. The purpose of the school is to develop students that work diligently for others while advancing the precepts of a world that looks forward instead of backward. Graduates from CUNY Hunter College are known as dedicated individuals who approach life with a realistic vision of a better future.