Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College at a Glance
Reviewed by James A. Barham, PhD, Vice President and Academic Editor. Influence ranks come from our InfluenceRanking™ methodology; other figures come from federal data, with the year shown under each section. Report an error
Brooklyn College Featured Rankings
About Brooklyn College
Featured Alumni
Philip Zimbardo ranks among our Top Influential Psychologists Today.
Omar Lizardo ranks among our Top Influential Sociologists Today.
In brief
Brooklyn College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY), was founded in 1930 and had about 14,500 students in fall 2025. It established its Division of Graduate Studies in 1935. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #72 in the United States and #203 in the world. It admitted 58.4% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1145.
It offers more than 70 graduate programs and an eight-year MD program with SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
Where Brooklyn College’s influence is strongest
Brooklyn College’s influence is led by psychology, where it ranks in the US top 35. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:
- Psychology: #34 in the US (#55 in the world)
- Sociology: #55
- Economics: #61
- Philosophy: #63
- Anthropology and social work: #64 each
Its highest-ranked specialties in our data are:
- #1 in the US: humanistic psychology
- #7: transpersonal psychology
- #16: social psychology
How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.
Notable people
Brooklyn College-connected figures include the Nobel laureate biochemist Stanley N. Cohen, the Fields Medalist Paul Cohen, the psychologists Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo, the historians John Hope Franklin and Gertrude Himmelfarb, the novelist Frank McCourt, the filmmaker Mel Brooks, the lawyer Alan Dershowitz, and the producer David Geffen. Our full lists of Brooklyn College’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.
Frequently asked questions
Is Brooklyn College hard to get into? Moderately. It admitted 58.4% of applicants for fall 2024; the middle half of admitted students scored 460–660 on the SAT reading section and 490–680 on math.
What does Brooklyn College cost? Tuition is $7,450 for New York residents and $15,400 for out-of-state students in 2025–26. What families pay after grants depends on income; Brooklyn College’s net price calculator gives a personal estimate.
How do Brooklyn College graduates do? 53.1% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 80% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $66,519.
What is Brooklyn College best known for academically? By our influence data: psychology, sociology, and economics, plus humanistic psychology, where it ranks first in the country.
According to Wikipedia, Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls over 17,000 undergraduate and over 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus as of 2019.
Brooklyn College Admissions, Retention, and Graduation Information
| Annual Applications | Acceptance | Retention Rate | Graduation Rate | Median SAT Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27,112 | 58% | 80% | 53% | 1145 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and NCES); acceptance rate for fall 2024; test scores for fall 2024; applications and enrollment for fall 2023; retention for students who started in fall 2023; graduation rate within six years for students who started in 2019.
How Much Does Brooklyn College Cost To Attend?
| Tuition and fees (in-state) |
|---|
| $7,450 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and NCES); tuition and fees for 2025–26; net price for 2024–25, for first-time, full-time students receiving financial aid.
How Much Do Brooklyn College Graduates Make?
Ten years after starting college, former Brooklyn College students who received federal financial aid earn a median of $66,519 a year, and 89% of those not still in school are working.
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard; students who started college in 2011–12 or 2012–13, measured in 2022 and 2023, in 2024 dollars.
Brooklyn College's Demographics
Students enrolled at any time during the 2023–24 school year, including part-time and online students.
| Student Body | Under-Grads | Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| 17,247 | 14,043 | 3,204 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics; 12-month enrollment for 2023–24.
Where is Brooklyn College?
Brooklyn College is located at 2900 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11210.
How Safe is Brooklyn College?
No violent or property offenses were reported on Brooklyn College’s campus in 2024. Its figures can also be looked up in the U.S. Department of Education’s Campus Safety and Security database.
Relative to its enrollment, Brooklyn College has a violent crime rate of less than 0.01% and a property crime rate of less than 0.01%. Sources: campus: U.S. Department of Education Campus Safety and Security data, on-campus offenses in 2024 (violent: murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault; property: burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson, which excludes ordinary theft).
What Is Brooklyn College Known For?
Brooklyn College is known for its academic work in the following disciplines:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Economics
- Philosophy
- Anthropology
- Social Work
- Literature
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Chemistry
- History
- Political Science
- Communications
- Education
- Computer Science
- Biology
- Earth Sciences
- Business
- Medical
- Religious Studies
Brooklyn College's Top Areas of Influence With Degrees Offered
Each rank compares how much Brooklyn College's faculty and alumni have shaped a field with other schools, using Wikipedia, Wikidata and scholarly citation databases such as Crossref and Semantic Scholar. World and U.S. ranks reflect modern influence; the historical rank counts influence across all time. How we rank influence
Brooklyn College ranks #34 in the U.S. and #55 worldwide for influence in Psychology.
psychology DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #55 in the U.S. and #149 worldwide for influence in Sociology.
sociology DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #61 in the U.S. and #229 worldwide for influence in Economics.
economics DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #63 in the U.S. and #210 worldwide for influence in Philosophy.
philosophy DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #64 in the U.S. and #163 worldwide for influence in Anthropology.
anthropology DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #64 in the U.S. and #112 worldwide for influence in Social Work.
social-work DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #67 in the U.S. and #176 worldwide for influence in Literature.
literature DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #80 in the U.S. and #304 worldwide for influence in Mathematics.
math DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #80 in the U.S. and #326 worldwide for influence in Physics.
physics DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #91 in the U.S. and #415 worldwide for influence in Chemistry.
chemistry DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #92 in the U.S. and #233 worldwide for influence in History.
history DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #97 in the U.S. and #328 worldwide for influence in Political Science.
political-science DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #99 in the U.S. and #303 worldwide for influence in Communications.
communications DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #106 in the U.S. and #348 worldwide for influence in Education.
education DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #107 in the U.S. and #394 worldwide for influence in Computer Science.
computer-science DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #125 in the U.S. and #419 worldwide for influence in Biology.
biology DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #148 in the U.S. and #604 worldwide for influence in Earth Sciences.
earth-science DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #161 in the U.S. and #491 worldwide for influence in Business.
business DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #170 in the U.S. and #549 worldwide for influence in Medical.
medicine DegreesBrooklyn College ranks #206 in the U.S. and #900 worldwide for influence in Religious Studies.
religious-studies-hub DegreesWho Are Brooklyn College's Most Influential Alumni?
Brooklyn College's most influential alumni include professors and professionals in the fields of Psychology, Criminal Justice, and Social Work. Here are some of Brooklyn College's most famous alumni:
- Alan Dershowitz
- An American lawyer, author, (1938 - ), New York, New York, USA.
- Bhikkhu Bodhi
- An American Theravada Buddhist monk and scholar .
- Philip Zimbardo
- An American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment.
- Richard E. Bellman
- An American mathematician.
- Stanley Milgram
- An American social psychologist.
- Israel Kirzner
- An American economist.
- Stanley Schachter
- An American psychologist.
- Bernie Sanders
- An American politician and activist .
- Frank Harary
- An American mathematician.
- Julian Rotter
- An American psychologist.
- Paul Cohen
- An American mathematician.
- Seymour Benzer
- An American geneticist.
Who Are Brooklyn College's Most Influential Faculty?
Brooklyn College's most influential faculty include professors in the fields of Psychology, Criminal Justice, and Social Work. Here are some of Brooklyn College's most famous faculty:
- Ben Lerner
- An American writer and poet.
- Madeleine Thien
- A Canadian writer.
- Thomas Bradshaw
- An American playwright.
- Julie Orringer
- A Novelist, short story writer.
- Fiona Maazel
- An American writer.
- Shintaro Higashi
- A Judo competitor.
- Dalit Warshaw
- An American composer.
- Achilles Liarmakopoulos
- A Greek trombonist.
- Helen Phillips
- An American novelist.
- Marie Rutkoski
- An American writer.
- Sivan Magen
- A .
- Jason Eckardt
- An American composer.
