CUNY Bernard M Baruch College Rankings by Salary Score™

Great college for working professionals. Many people have told me it lacks a typical campus feel, but I think these are first impressions. I was part of many clubs and student organizations and met many people. The opportunities for networking were endless and it's in the city so it was easy to get to work. Professors could always be better, but I would say I got a healthy mix of the good and bad ones. I would add that it seems like it was catered mainly to business students. Many liberal arts students felt... Read More there were not enough resources for them, which I would agree with.

I double majored at CUNY Baruch College in Political Science and Business Communications, which were both in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences. The biggest weakness of the college in my opinion is that you are not allowed to major across schools. For example, I was prevented from double majoring in Political Science and Marketing because marketing is in the Zicklin School of Business, and politics is in Weissman. In my mind, this is probably due to the fact that Baruch wants to create exclusivity for... Read More their business school to make it more prestigious. However, this is to the detriment of students who want to develop themselves professionally and intellectually in a multifaceted wayI was interested in business but also passionate about liberal arts. If I were allowed to double major across the schools, I believe I would stand out post college as a professional candidate and would have a wider array of opportunities available to me. Instead, I chose the most business-like major in Weissman as my second major to diversify my experience. However, after going through that experience I can say that the classes offered for Business Communications are just glorified liberal arts classes; there is not much business-related information you can learn there. I certainly believe you can gain the same skills by taking English classes, for instance, as they also teach you how to be a good communicator, which you can then apply to a corporate environment. My major was just the business specialization of communications, but the communications major overall (including regular comm and graphic comm), in my opinion is a waste of the schools and your money and swindles students into believing they can learn business or professional skills in a classroom. This major teaches you soft skillsit will not make you stand out of the crowd when applying to jobs. You may learn how to write, speak, carry yourself properly if you have a good professor, but all those skills youre already learning as a by product from your other classes (I emphasize English here) as well as on your professional development and job search journey. I would advise to stay away from communications overall and major in something more nuanced that you can call a hard skill. If you look at the job possibilities the communications department offers on their website, theres a reason that it touches literally every industrybecause it will not give you a strong suit in any. In that way, this degree in Business Comm did not help me find an appropriate job after school all because the Zicklin school wants to shame its students for wanting to be multifaceted.

Another glaring weakness about the school is the ironic incompetence of the Zicklin School of Business departments. I had friends and acquaintances who were studying in Zicklin and some in Weissman. The difference in accommodation, readiness, friendliness, and proactivity in the two schools is astounding. The accounting and finance departments for example were constantly slow to fulfill students requests; the staff was less than happy to help and unfriendly; and most notably, the professors failed to provide individual help and students felt they were treated like numbers in a system rather than individuals with learning potential. If you are struggling to keep up in a competitive, difficult class, well, tough! I had a particularly horrible experience with an economics professor who was inattentive to his students and sent a substitute to his classroom several times due to certain ills old age brought him. When students got disgruntled and most failed the final, we wanted to address this with the department. However, the professor had tenure, and student complaints were powerless. Instead, the professor ended up curving grades. This was not all helpful to either learning the material or how to be an adult, but this was the case in many difficult classes in which professors would rather curve the grade than do their due diligence to provide extra attention to those who need it. This is absolutely shameful.

On the other hand, the Weissman departments I encountered were everything Zicklin wasnt: they usually fulfilled requests swiftly and with ease; they were always happy to help and welcoming; and the professors were well-learned, enthusiastic to share their knowledge, and always available to help! I have formed connections with a few professors which to this day I admit I still have. My department of political science also sent out emails almost daily with internship and job opportunities. They held networking events, invited current and former students to special talks and conferences, and occasionally held departmental social events or parties. This formed a sense of community among the students and between the students and staff and made me feel welcome. My friends experience with the English department at the time was similar; he worked on a thesis paper with an English professor who helped him network with others and to this day, still sends him job opportunities. Ironically, Baruchs status as a business school doesnt hide the fact that their liberal arts staff and departments are more competent and eager to teach and help students.

Finally, my experience has shown me that Baruch floods its curriculums with general education classes rather than specialized classes that would otherwise help students narrow down their interests and build their expertise. I suspect this is because finding and paying specialized teachers is not favorable or easy and gen-ed classes are very easy to teach as well as cheaper to provide. For example, I took a higher level politics class, and the professor openly admitted he was not teaching the kind of advanced material this class should offer if he were in another school solely because the students are not prepared. Therefore, we were not getting the kind of quality education we were owed with our money. Of course, I was not offended because I agreed. The politics students were not prepared to jump from introductory government to an advanced class (I wont reveal the name of the class to keep the professors identity anonymous). This deeply saddened me, and I realized this scenario was the status quo in many majors at the school. There were many gaps in curriculums the school just wasnt filling up. If it were up to me, I would have Baruch reallocate some funding to dedicate more resources to specialized courses to prepare students better for graduate school or the workplace.

Overall, my Baruch College experience was less than ideal. The irony of this business school is that the liberal arts departments, courses, and professors are more adept to help and teach students. Despite the school funneling funding into the Zicklin business school, some liberal arts departments have great potential but cannot reach it with their students because of the reputation Baruch has as strictly a business school. That is why, despite my wonderful experience as a politics major, I do not recommend majoring in liberal arts at Baruch. I have made friends and met inspiring, intelligent professors, but because Baruch is not a research institution, I do not believe this experience went far. On the other hand, if you go to Baruch for business, be warned that the culture and logistics of the Zicklin school is cut-throat and extremely individualistic. In accounting classes, for instance, only 20% of the class can get an A. If you are struggling, you may be on your own. Baruch College as a whole focuses more on formalities and grades, so if you are an inquisitive student wishing to get a traditional education experience in the end rather than simply a piece of paper that supposedly conveys your worth, maybe reconsider Baruch as your choice.