CUNY Graduate School and University Center

Public · Moderately Selective · NY

Photo: David Shankbone (CC BY-SA 3.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationNY · Northeast

SettingUrban

Undergrads3,254

Student:faculty13:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate—

6-yr grad rate—

Drop-out rate—

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$7k

Out-of-state tuition$15k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity81.7%

Gender diversity72.5%

International1.7%

Identity—

Overview

The CUNY Graduate Center, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, is the City University of New York's central hub for doctoral education. Unlike a traditional campus, it has no undergraduate population of its own; instead it draws faculty from across CUNY's four-year colleges to teach and advise PhD and master's students in one shared location. It functions more like a research institute embedded in a global city than a conventional college.

Academics

Doctoral programs here are built around CUNY-wide faculty rosters, so a given PhD cohort can draw scholars from Hunter, Brooklyn College, City College, and beyond into one program. The Graduate Center has particular strength in the humanities and social sciences — history, psychology, sociology, English — as well as a well-regarded computer science and data science presence, and its Manhattan location gives students unusual access to archives, cultural institutions, and New York's academic ecosystem.

After graduation

Graduates go on to faculty positions, research roles, and public-sector work, with the CUNY system itself absorbing a meaningful share of its own PhDs into teaching positions across its many campuses.

Worth knowing

This is a graduate-only institution — a high school student researching it should understand that undergraduate involvement runs through CUNY's separate honors and affiliated programs, not through an admission to the Graduate Center itself.

gc.cuny.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate68.5%

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot used

Rec letters—

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Applying