CUNY Bernard M Baruch College

Public · Selective · NY

Photo: Eden, Janine and Jim from New York City (CC BY 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationNY · Northeast

SettingUrban

Undergrads16,154

Student:faculty19:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate54.9%

6-yr grad rate72.1%

Drop-out rate11.4%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$7k

Out-of-state tuition$15k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity82.4%

Gender diversity49.9%

International6.3%

Identity—

Overview

Baruch College is CUNY's business-focused campus in Manhattan's Flatiron district, built around the Zicklin School of Business, one of the largest AACSB-accredited business schools in the country. It serves a large, economically and ethnically diverse New York City student population, most of whom commute from across the five boroughs rather than live on campus.

Academics

Zicklin dominates Baruch's academic identity, with especially strong programs in accounting, finance, and actuarial science that feed directly into New York's corporate and financial sectors, alongside a respected Weissman School of Arts and Sciences and a public affairs program through the Marxe School. The Baruch College Honors Program offers a smaller, more selective track within the larger college. Class sizes can be large in introductory business courses, and the academic culture overall is career-focused and pre-professional rather than exploratory.

Campus & student life

Baruch's vertical campus — classrooms and offices stacked in a single Manhattan tower rather than spread across a traditional quad — reflects its urban, commuter identity; most students live off campus and many work part- or full-time while studying. The Flatiron location puts students within walking distance of major corporate offices, making informal networking and internship-hunting a routine part of daily life rather than a special trip downtown.

Getting in

Admission weighs strong high school academic records against CUNY's broader public-access mission, and Baruch is among the more selective campuses in the CUNY system given Zicklin's reputation. Essays and holistic factors matter less than at private peer schools of similar selectivity, with academic record and coursework rigor carrying more direct weight.

After graduation

Baruch is frequently cited as one of the country's strongest engines of upward economic mobility, and graduates move heavily into New York's finance, accounting, and corporate sectors directly out of the Zicklin pipeline, including strong placement into Big Four accounting firms and Wall Street analyst programs.

Worth knowing

The commuter, working-student culture is central to the Baruch experience — this is not a residential college, and its core value proposition is affordable access to a genuinely strong business degree in the middle of Manhattan. The Honors Program is worth knowing about for students who want a smaller cohort within a large college.

baruch.cuny.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate47.5%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1100–1400

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Regular decisionFeb 1

Applying (2026-27 cycle)

Apply through Own application.

Priority / scholarshipFeb 1

Baruch itself has no binding early decision or early action and reviews general admission on a rolling basis after the February 1 priority deadline ("Baruch College operates on a rolling admission basis," per its own page), though a binding October 26, 2026 (6pm) early decision deadline applies to the separate Macaulay Honors College application, which spans multiple CUNY campuses.

Verified from the school’s admissions pages ↗