hey kate. new york is a great place to do an msw, incredible placement opportunities, 4 different programs in town to draw radical peers from, lots of resources blah blah.. i dont know much about columbia's program other than its reputation in town as a "generalist" program and that in my working life i haven't come across any columbia grads, im in homelessness and mental health. now that im writing this i imagine theyre good for school social work with teachers college right there. to give you heads up on other programs here in gotham, fordham's catholic :(, hunter/cuny is a good program with clinical, organizing and admin tracks, tough unless youve been living in nyc for a while though, and then my almer mata or whatever, nyu, the top clinical program in town, i got great freud etc and the name works well for me on my resume, but as far as uni culture nyu was a big disappointment, like going to u disney. happy applications, maybe take a look at smiths program, pretty innovative intern opps.