Hunter College
Hunter 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
Hunter College Featured Rankings
- #1 Nursing Liberal Arts Colleges
- #2 Social Work Liberal Arts Colleges
- #4 Best Liberal Arts Colleges in New York
- #6 Most Affordable Colleges in New York 2026
- #6 Best Public Colleges in New York 2026
- #11 Best Liberal Arts Colleges 2026
- #13 Best Grad Schools in New York 2026
- #15 Best Colleges in New York 2026
About Hunter College
Hunter College, one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York (CUNY), was founded in 1870 as a women’s “normal school” (teacher-training college). The college began admitting males in 1946.
Hunter College’s main campus is located in Manhattan at East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue, on the Upper East Side. In addition, there are two satellite locations: The Silberman School of Social Work Building, located at Third Avenue and East 118th Street in East Harlem; and the Brookdale Campus, located at East 25th Street and First Avenue in Lower Manhattan.
Hunter College offers 70 programs leading to the bachelor’s degree, 10 bachelor’s-master’s joint degree programs, and 75 graduate programs. Hunter College’s most popular programs are those in psychology and other social sciences.
Hunter College’s Center for Online Learning enrolls more than 1,000 full-time and part-time students.
Hunter College is associated with two Nobel laureates, both for physiology or medicine: Rosalyn Sussman Yallow and Gertrude B. Elion.
Other distinguished Hunter College connected individuals include the following:
- Mathematician, Mina Rees
- Computer scientist, Ruth Teitelbaum
- Philosophers—Harry Binswanger, Leonard Peikoff, Alice von Hildebrand, and Linda M. Alcoff
- Poets—James Wright, Audre Lorde, and Sonia Sanchez
- Novelists—Peter Carey, John Kennedy Toole, Paule Marshall, and Gary Shteyngart
- Short-story author, Grace Paley
- Playwright, Tina Lowe
- Translator, Burton Pike
- Literary critics, Lionel Trilling and John Hollander
- Actors—Ellen Barkin, Esther Rolle, Rhea Perlman, and Ed Burns
- Film scholar, Ephraim Katz
- Soprano, Regina Resnik
- Classical composers, Paul Moravec and David Sampson
- Popular singer, Bobby Darin
- Popular musician, Harry Connick, Jr.
- Painters, Helen Frankenthaler and Robert Motherwell
- Art critic, Holland Cotter
- Architecture critic, Ada Louise Huxtable
- Physicist, Arlie Petters
- Biochemist, Mildred Cohn
- Quantum chemist, George E. Kimball
- Nanotechnologist, Mildred Dresselhaus
- Geneticist, Ruth Sager
- Microbiologist, Esther Lederberg
- Embryologist, Beatrice Mintz
- Laser cataract surgery pioneer, Patricia Bath
- Environmental scientist, Marjorie Clarke
- Psychologist, Seymour Itzkoff
- Political scientist, Norman Finkelstein
- Economics journalist and author, Sylvia Field Porter
- Former US Representative and US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala
- Former US Representative, Bella Abzug
- Current US Representative, Nydia Velázquez
Hunter College is regionally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).
According to Wikipedia, Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also administers Hunter College High School and Hunter College Elementary School.
Hunter College Admissions, Retention, and Graduation Information
| Annual Applications | Acceptance | Retention Rate | Graduation Rate | Median SAT Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31,614 | 54% | 78% | 59% | 1260 |
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 Hunter College Cost To Attend?
| Tuition and fees (in-state) |
|---|
| $7,382 |
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 Hunter College Graduates Make?
Ten years after starting college, former Hunter College students who received federal financial aid earn a median of $70,502 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.
Hunter 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 26,815 | 20,080 | 6,735 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics; 12-month enrollment for 2023–24.
Where is Hunter College?
Hunter College is located at 695 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065.
How Safe is Hunter College?
Relative to its enrollment, Hunter College has a violent crime rate of less than 0.01% and a property crime rate of less than 0.01%. New York has a violent crime rate of 0.69% and a property crime rate of 2.42%. 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); city: FBI Crime Data Explorer, offenses reported to the city police in 2024.
What Is Hunter College Known For?
Hunter College is known for its academic work in the following disciplines:
- Social Work
- Literature
- Sociology
- Nursing
- Education
- Communications
- Political Science
- Anthropology
- Biology
- Economics
- Philosophy
- History
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Medical
- Psychology
- Business
- Computer Science
- Earth Sciences
- Religious Studies
Hunter College's Top Areas of Influence With Degrees Offered
Each rank compares how much Hunter 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
Hunter College ranks #34 in the U.S. and #52 worldwide for influence in Social Work.
social-work DegreesHunter College ranks #63 in the U.S. and #162 worldwide for influence in Literature.
literature DegreesHunter College ranks #78 in the U.S. and #230 worldwide for influence in Sociology.
sociology DegreesHunter College ranks #91 in the U.S. and #200 worldwide for influence in Nursing.
nursing DegreesHunter College ranks #104 in the U.S. and #341 worldwide for influence in Education.
education DegreesHunter College ranks #107 in the U.S. and #342 worldwide for influence in Communications.
communications DegreesHunter College ranks #107 in the U.S. and #379 worldwide for influence in Political Science.
political-science DegreesHunter College ranks #107 in the U.S. and #291 worldwide for influence in Anthropology.
anthropology DegreesHunter College ranks #109 in the U.S. and #362 worldwide for influence in Biology.
biology DegreesHunter College ranks #109 in the U.S. and #442 worldwide for influence in Economics.
economics DegreesHunter College ranks #112 in the U.S. and #354 worldwide for influence in Philosophy.
philosophy DegreesHunter College ranks #112 in the U.S. and #298 worldwide for influence in History.
history DegreesHunter College ranks #127 in the U.S. and #474 worldwide for influence in Mathematics.
math DegreesHunter College ranks #132 in the U.S. and #531 worldwide for influence in Physics.
physics DegreesHunter College ranks #135 in the U.S. and #633 worldwide for influence in Chemistry.
chemistry DegreesHunter College ranks #136 in the U.S. and #408 worldwide for influence in Medical.
medicine DegreesHunter College ranks #138 in the U.S. and #317 worldwide for influence in Psychology.
psychology DegreesHunter College ranks #195 in the U.S. and #612 worldwide for influence in Business.
business DegreesHunter College ranks #204 in the U.S. and #769 worldwide for influence in Computer Science.
computer-science DegreesHunter College ranks #211 in the U.S. and #887 worldwide for influence in Earth Sciences.
earth-science DegreesHunter College ranks #361 in the U.S. and #1564 worldwide for influence in Religious Studies.
religious-studies-hub DegreesWho Are Hunter College's Most Influential Alumni?
Hunter College's most influential alumni include professors and professionals in the fields of Social Work, Literature, and Nursing. Here are some of Hunter College's most famous alumni:
- Audre Lorde
- An Escritora e ativista feminista americana .
- John Taylor Gatto
- An American teacher and author.
- Rosalyn Sussman Yalow
- An American medical physicist .
- Ada Louise Huxtable
- An American architecture writer.
- Robert Morris
- An American artist .
- Gertrude B. Elion
- An American biochemist and pharmacologist.
- Esther Lederberg
- An American microbiologist and pioneer of bacterial genetics .
- Hugh Downs
- An American broadcaster .
- Sonia Sanchez
- An American poet, playwright and activist.
- Robert C. Weaver
- A Member of the United States Cabinet .
- Mildred Dresselhaus
- An American physicist .
- Lawrence Weiner
- An American artist .
Who Are Hunter College's Most Influential Faculty?
Hunter College's most influential faculty include professors in the fields of Social Work, Literature, and Nursing. Here are some of Hunter College's most famous faculty:
- John Avlon
- An American journalist.
- Gary Shteyngart
- An American journalist and writer.
- Annie Baker
- An American author and playwright.
- Nathan Englander
- An American short story writer and novelist.
- Sandro Galea
- An American physician.
- Sagiri Kitao
- A Japanese economist.
- Tricia Striano
- An American psychologist.
- Jason Schneiderman
- An American poet.
- Ericka Hart
- An American sex educator, model, and professor.
- Tracy Dennis-Tiwary
- An American Female Clinical Psychologist.
- Sean Singer
- An American poet.
- Mary Valverde
- A .
