So let's go
Hunter College
695 Park Ave
(between 68th St & 69th St)
New York, NY 10021
Neighborhood: Upper East Side
(212) 772-4000
(between 68th St & 69th St)
New York, NY 10021
Neighborhood: Upper East Side
(212) 772-4000
- Nearest Transit Station:
-
68 St - Hunter College (4, 6, 6X)Lexington Av/63 St (F)Lexington Av/59 St (N, Q, R)
4.0 Miles
from Hunter College
Daniel J. said: "As a current student of the fashion department, I must say that these teachers are as good as it gets. I've attended a few different schools and have been around…" read more »
47 reviews for Hunter College
47 reviews in English
-
Review from Silvia R.
ASTORIA, NYI completed my undergrad at Hunter. I only attended for 2 years since I transferred in, but in all honesty it was the best decision I have ever made.
Now that I am paying sky-high tuition at a private institution for my Master's degree, I sorely miss attending Hunter for the budget-friendly tuition and gorgeous location. Hunter has actually been my "dream school" since junior year in high school, but I was initially denied admission. Being the never-take-no-for-an-answer type of gal that I am, I applied again and got in. Great move.
I truly have no complaints about this school. College is what you make it - you can either be as involved as you desire or like me, you can just go to class, do your work and leave. The professors are of a varying assortment. Some deserve to win the scholar of the year award whereas others should be sitting in the desks with the rest of the students. As with any school, you have to accept the good with the bad when it comes to the educators. The majority of my professors at Hunter have been very good: easy to work with, fair when assigning work and deadlines, understanding and easy to contact (which is IMPERATIVE). Besides the professors, the location is simply divine. You are in such a wonderful area of Manhattan that not too many people get to experience everyday besides the wealthy inhabitants that can afford to spend their time right next to Central Park and amongst world class shopping. Whenever I had a gap in my schedule or after a hectic day of studying, I would mosy on over to the Park (3 avenues away) and just breathe. It puts things into perspective and makes you truly realize how lucky you are to be there and drives you to work even harder in class. The school is so so culturally and economically diverse which really makes for an inspiring environment. I highly, highly recommend this school to ANYONE. Although it's very affordable, it's still an EXCELLENT school for a public institution. Hunter has been called the "Ivy League of CUNY".
P.s. Horrendous and overpriced cafeteria food. You're better off at the cute Dominican coffee shop which has literally the best Chai Lattes on the planet (on Lex between 68th & 69th), Chipotle (Third Avenue), Lenny's (First Avenue), or basically anything else that isn't Hunter! Please don't remain glued to the Hunter campus, the whole city awaits you :) Go eat elsewhere, study elsewhere, take a breather elsewhere, that's the beauty of going to school in Manhattan.
FYI: I majored in Sociology, minored in Spanish Language & Literature. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me, *seriously*. I wish I had someone I could ask random yet mind boggling questions to when I was applying!
CHEERS all. -
Review from J L.
FLUSHING, NYI almost had sex here. In the actual building. But keyword almost. So I can only give it 3 stars.
Jokes aside, I know plenty of people who went to this school. My mother's daughter (see how I don't call her a sister...) graduated from this school's nursing program but still winded up robbing my mother's money from bank account even after graduation. my ex-girlfriend went here like a little dipshit, and i have a friend who will attend this school in the fall and he's a fking hipster like majority of the student body at Hunter College (albeit he's a cool hipster, which is a rarity).
Building looks a bit worn down but it is located around Lexington which is nice. decent programs. Their graduate programs are sh*t though. You don't even need an undergraduates 3.0 (and 3.0 gpa is pretty low...) to be accepted to their graduate program. This college use to be prestigious as an all-women's school but they decided to hurt their prestige by letting hipster dudes entry. And hipster chicks. -
Review from M C.
New York, NYI'm surprised about all the bad reviews about the admin and bathrooms. I never had a problem with admin here or the bathrooms (except that one stall in that one bathroom on the 6th floor west building or something that didn't lock the whole 4+ years I went there, but you had to use it anyway since there were always people on line for that bathroom.) Anyways, so what the escalators were often broken and there's graffiti in the bathroom stalls (should there be a separate review page for Hunter College bathrooms?), and elevators took forever to come, it's a school. Thousands of people pass through everyday, things will get broken. Afterall, the most important factor about a school should be about their classes, right? And I've taken some really great classes here. Prof. Atencio is the best for learning Spanish, Prof. Caciolo and Prof. Ferraiolo were awesome in the Media department. You just gotta use Rate My Professors and find the good ones. There is always some place comfortable to sit in-between classes (but I really miss those broken-in purple couches they had everywhere even though they probably were full of nasty), and if you had a big gap, the location is awesome for in-between-class shopping. Food around the area is great, and sushi and salads from the school itself was not bad at all. And the school has it's own subway stop, I mean, I don't see a Baruch College train stop anywhere, do you? (Not knocking on Baruch, btw). But yeah, I wouldn't say my experience there was bad at all, and I plan to do my graduate program here, too. -
Review from Melanie S.
Brooklyn, NYI'm almost done with my first semester here. Let's keep in mind there's a 6 year difference between transferring from Kingsborough to Hunter and in between I was working in retail and opening my own handmade shop online. So I've had a nice hearty helping of college and the real world prior to coming here and I don't hesitate to call people out on their crap. With that said, here's a run down of what I think so far:
Classmates in Particular: Depends..two of my classes have nice people but no one I see outside of the class. Doing anything in a group is a nightmare in my third class because their mouths are broken and they're lost in their electronic devices. I gave up trying to converse to two walls. Hell they don't even acknowledge the professor when she directly asks our group questions. Did the zombie apocalypse happen and no one told me?
Students in general: Good freakin luck. When going to orientation, the girl next to me goes "You gonna be here?" Um yea hi to you too. I asked her why, holding back from asking her if she was writing my biography. She wanted me to watch her stuff and didn't say a word to me otherwise before or after she got back. Really?
Most of the kids seem to have their own groups of friends or keep to themselves. In general my own wish is that they'd learn to walk so piles of us don't end up squashed at the bottom of the escalator because there's too many people in the damn school going to class all at once.
The school is however supposedly gay friendly which someone should tell that guy in the cafeteria I overheard going "Im no homo" over and over to his friends. Although when I went to the club fair outside they had, the tables for the gay clubs didn't seem quite as friendly.
In the foreign language labs, they give you a number for the exact place to sit. I don't know which was worse. The girl too shy and quiet to open her mouth and get her rightful seat or the self entitled bitch who felt she can sit anywhere she wanted, including Shy Girl's seat.
Registering: I initially didnt have a problem as a transfer but it took me 3 hours to register for spring because things were either gone or the schedules offered were horrible. It's ok now because I need alot of different classes but I could see myself being screwed as the semesters go by.
Faculty: Seems to be hit or miss although it goes without saying if you're nice to them, they're nice to you. Fair enough. It also helps to have somewhat of a head on your shoulders if you want some kind of respect and want to get anywhere. Consider it practice for after graduation if you don't already do this. The only thing I didn't like with one of my professors is that I pointed out information that seemed to be incorrect in the textbook and they just brushed it off saying that's whats in the book so that's what we're learning. WHAT?
Cafeteria: Overpriced and the food kinda sucks. Better off just going to the little coffee shop restaurant a couple blocks down from the school or Yelp something on your phone.
Bathrooms: The automatic toilets are overeager to flush before you can even piss and people write some amusing stuff on the stalls but I've seen far worse in a public bathroom. -
Review from Hillary M.
New York, NYGood professors, horrible admin. The bathrooms are horrifying, I remember deciding to Hold It In until my Italian class ended and using a bathroom at a local eatery (so I had to buy something there too. Grumble.). I'd give them three stars but they do not offer enough times and days for continuing education classes. Seriously, Hunter? Four Spanish 1 classes at the same time and on the same day? Are you aware that the majority of people who are continuing education have jobs and other commitments and/or children?
I had to register at Baruch to get exactly what I need. -
Review from Nicole S.
Brooklyn, NYProfessors are awesome, classes are great, even the caramel iced coffee is pretty great.
However, Financial Aid - I'd so appreciate it if you could be just a little bit more rude. You aren't quite getting the point across that you abhor your job/life/me/etc. -
Review from Bonnie T.
Better than most cunys! -
Review from Monica T.
My review is strictly for the Manhattan Film Festival screening I attended yesterday. The theater for the festival wasn't bad. The A/C was blasting, there was a decent amount of seating and the screen was good in size, focus, etc. When the doors going in & out were closed, it was nice and dark in there.
However, some things to be addressed:
1. No direct elevator access to the 4th floor from the first floor. Yes, I understand the whole conservation aspect but don't force people into it. How do you know someone's not injured or unable to take the stairs for even a floor or two? There were people chatting at the desk but no one noticed me or asked me what I was doing there so I went on my way. Otherwise, I would have asked about getting to the floor I needed without having to walk up a flight of stairs from the 3rd floor & trying to find those stairs to start with.
2. The student ladies room on the 4th floor was pretty bad (though not the worst I've been in). For one thing, they had only ONE toilet of two operational. What in God's name is THAT?!?!?!? Women have enough problems having to stand in line when there are 2 or 3 toilets working or even hallways full of them. This festival had been happening for days during the week before I showed up. To make things better, it seems one of their sinks wasn't working & there was no sign to tell us about it. I had to discover this myself and told another woman who was trying to wash her hands as I was drying mine.
Apparently, the ladies staff bathroom was also locked (I overheard this from a woman standing in the restroom line) so this made it even worse for the women attending this event as no other bathroom appeared to be present on this floor & no direction was given about going to a bathroom elsewhere.
Is this a metaphor for how they treat their students? Your bathroom says a lot about your facility as well as the regard you have for students & especially guests. What would a prospective student or parent think of this?!?!? I know I'd be livid.
3. When those theater doors were open, light was pouring in to a distracting degree. Someone should have been managing this better or there should have been a means to not have this disturbance if individuals were allowed into the theater while films were being shown.
There's absolutely no excuse for there to be ONE functioning toilet for female visitors attending this event. That issue should have been addressed promptly & an alternate restroom should have been accessible as well as mentioned to the guests. Administrators, if you are hosting events by outsiders you should be thinking very carefully about the impression you're giving off to visitors; an anemic ladies room makes you look like sexists & sure doesn't appeal to men who have to wait for their wives, girlfriends and female friends/escorts who need to use the bathroom. -
Review from Dan N.
It's cheap.. and you get what you pay for. Went to graduate school here after NYU. I was very grateful for the scholarships and grants that Hunter gave to me; it basically paid for school so the loan I had to take out was small. In comparison to my undergrad experience it was very limited in what it had to offer as far as externships, counseling, and overall direction. Way more adjunct professors who had not yet earned their phDs. Staff was cruel in my department, although I have heard that there have been changes since I graduated in 2007. 1/4 participants in my grad program dropped out.. so I guess that can tell you something. I wasn't expecting a world class program. I learned a lot.. academically and also about standing up for myself. So I guess that was the upside to being treated like crap for 2 years.
After I graduated and moved to California I had a lot of trouble getting Hunter to send my transcripts over to my new job. Then I had a 2 week delay in starting the aforementioned job because Hunter put that I had not completed my degree on my official transcript. They told me to come in and fix the problem. You can probably imagine how angry I was after many hours spent on the phone explaining why I would not be flying back to NY and going over every single course that I had completed/every requirement that I had fulfilled. They attempted to charge me 30 dollars to send new transcripts confirming I had my masters degree.. after a lot of arguing I did win that battle. Jesus, I walked at graduation. Do you think I'd do that if I wasn't finished and hadn't been exited out of my coursework by my professors?
That's the problem with Hunter. Everything is a hassle, from getting your classes to dealing with unprofessional staff to getting your degree after you've worked your ass off for years. -
Review from Lorraine R.
Brooklyn, NYI'm a current student here, and let me tell you, unless you come here with friends, it'll be hard for you to make any. In most classes, everyone's delved in their work. By the time you actually get to know someone, it'll be the end of the semester, and you'll probably never see them again.
Registration is supremely dreadful. PLan ASAP. You'll have to know which classes you need in order to search for them in terms of time/schedule. Even when you thought you chose the best schedule for yourself, by the time the registration has begun, some of the classes you thought'd be perfect for you will have been filled out of available seats. That means you'll have to search for a class in a different time, or maybe a different class altogether.
In order to fulfill the GER, I actually wound up missing out on taking the 'good' classes, the ones that interested me and had to settle for tedious, or difficult ones. Or I just had to suffer with a shitty schedule. Once again, plan rigorously prior to registering because when the time comes, you may have to resort to other options. Some kids registered almost a week before the official registration which is ridiculously unjust. Like, I said, registering for classes weighs a heavy burden. Remember, it determines the rest of the following semester.
The school official aren't helpful in choosing or even declaring majors. The bureacracy here is quite effed up.
One thing I really wish this scool had, was an online-archive of it's students, so if you're separated from someone, you can connect with them. Better than relying on facebook, which not everyone has.
The professors are alright. Some are brilliant, some not exactly. I've had a guy who substituted for my math professor the entire semsester due to her accident. He barely spoke English. It mad etaking his tests hard to decipher in terms of questions. -
Review from Kathleen B.
Philadelphia, PAI LOVED Hunter College. I went there for my last 2.5 years of undergrad and a year of grad school.
Hunter is absolutely cognizant of the realities of living in New York City on very little money. Most students work, often full-time at some point (I took a year off to do this), and there are plenty of evening courses scheduled for all semesters, including the summer. I noticed a previous reviewer said they didn't, but actually, compared to just about any other college on the planet, they do. There are, however, more classes during the day for undergraduates, so you won't have as much flexibility in terms of course selection if you can't come during the day. The upside is that the night classes tend to be better than the day sections - the students enrolled tend to be a little older and very serious about getting a good education, and the profs tend to be better. Most if not all graduate school classes take place at night so students can work 'real' jobs.
I had a financial problem of some sort one semester (can't recall exactly what it was at this point), and I saw a HC guidance counselor who referred me to an emergency loan program. I got money from Hunter to pay my rent check, then paid it back two weeks later. I can't think of any other school that would float a student money so she wouldn't end up on the street. I got to keep a roof over my head and stay in school without anyone treating me like crap for being poor.
However, you do have be VERY, VERY proactive about finding resources at Hunter. The bureaucracy is typical of a Cold War-era Eastern bloc country; don't even bother trying to call anyone on the phone. If you physically show up at whatever office you need to go to, you will be far more likely to get what you need, albeit after waiting on a really long line. Get used to dealing with department secretaries if you want to see a professor outside office hours - they can usually help you if you're polite and leave written notes for the prof. Again, avoid using the phone.
I think a lot of the shock about the Byzantine nature of the administration stems from most people being unaware of the size of the student body - there are 20,000 undergrads, which is hard to discern from the relatively small physical size of the main campus. Think of it as the population of a huge state school crammed into four urban buildings. Not that that excuses the headaches of dealing with all the forms and waiting, of course, but bear in mind what you are actually dealing with.
My graduate program was administered by a full professor at Columbia Teachers' College and - get this - she taught EXACTLY the same class at Columbia. Same books, same syllabus, same lecture/discussion sections. All of my other profs in the program also taught at Columbia or NYU. Hunter is a fraction of the cost of those universities, and by 'fraction,' I mean 1/8 the price. Plenty of undergrad professors also teach at other supposedly 'better' schools in the region.
Upper-level classes are great at Hunter. Students who make it to their junior or senior year at this school are rather serious about their studies, and just about everyone shows up having done the reading for every class - this was absolutely not the case at the elite liberal arts college I left for financial reasons before I transferred to Hunter. I found the students more intellectual at Hunter, also. At the fancy school, kids sat around the dorms talking about pop culture bullshit and really didn't talk about their classes or what they were learning at all, but at Hunter, my classmates and I would get together and talk about intellectual matters for hours outside of class. People here are usually from poor or working class backgrounds and know not to take the opportunity to study and talk about their classes for granted.
Lower-level classes tend to be lower in quality, not because of the profs, but because of the students, especially for 100-level day classes. Such classes have a higher percentage of kids straight out of New York City public high schools who aren't paying their own way, which means they are often less serious about their educations. I felt like I was in a high school during a few of my lower-levels. The profs tried their best to organize discussions and kept the class orderly, though.
I found most of the professors graded very fairly. I got As when I turned in exceptional work, but they weren't handed out like candy for everything I did. Another reviewer complained about profs giving Cs, but why would you want your education to be anything less than challenging?
And yes, this is just about the most diverse place on earth. No one ethnic or cultural group comprises anything close to a majority, and if you sit on one of the pedestrian walkways connecting the buildings while classes change, you will see people of all ages and walks of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered