Chicago vs. Cornell vs. NYU

anorexic_abe
Thu, 27 May 2010 22:38:20 +0000

roneald, I have not posted in quite some time, but your post brought me to do it. This is going to be dismissed entirely, most likely, due to the fact that I attend Stern and people are going to count this as being biased, but let me address a few issues brought up.

I would go…
Stern and Cornell are probably neck and neck. Stern has a higher placement rate and post grad income, but Cornell vs NYU is no contest. Cornell is superior in the sense that if you do decide to do something outside of the business world, and AEM/ Stern no longer have any relevance, then the Cornell name looks more impressive than the NYU name.

then UChicago and Michigan are neck in neck, with Northwestern slightly falling behind. CMU tails.

I will agree with you that Stern employment upon graduation might have gone down somewhat, that is because many, many of the students go for top jobs at top banks only. They are in constant competition with students from MIT, Wharton, Princeton, and Harvard for the same positions (some positions that people from Cornell/Northwestern/other top 20’s wouldn’t dare interview for ). I have had interviews for internships, both in NYC and in Los Angeles, with students predominantly from top 10 universities. With this jobless recovery, the options have become much more scarce, and some Sternies (foolishly, IMO) refuse to compromise. When the jobs start coming back, we will once again be dominating the job markets, even at the hyperelite level.

On to another point, in relation to class size. I have had the stereotypical 100-200 person lecture (the all stern class, Business and It’s Publics, brings in prominent speakers and ALL STERN FRESHMAN [500+] has the class at the same time, for logistical purposes, naturally. Only meets once a week though). I have also, within Stern and NYU in general, had amazing classes with a class size of 10 [and sometimes 2 or even 3 instructors for these tiny classes]. Yes, we are a large university, but we also have an extremely large faculty at our disposal.

In regards to difficulty, in my mind, UChicago is probably much more difficult than Stern. I won’t even attempt to argue that one. But so say that Stern is a breeze is foolish, arrogant, and one of THE most misinformed, idiotic statements on this thread. Stern allows you to make it as hard as you want to make it, in the sense that you can take the classes that barely meet the requirements, but most of us do not. The classes are work heavy, challenging in a mechanic and analytical sense, and in the end rewarding. My Calculus II class was ridiculous, and the transfers that took the class all attested to it being much more difficult than at their previous university [even those who took BC in high school struggled with this course]. The Stern specific courses are also extremely challenging, as courses such as our introductory Microeconomics covers things that are usually reserved for courses at the intermediate level and beyond [ie know your multivariable calculus!], keeping in mind that there is a curve in Stern classes so there is massive grade deflation. We are expected to think at an extremely deep, metaphysical and analytic level for mandatory writing and philosophy courses (which NYU is infamous for), and that is juxtaposed with being expected to to magic with spreadsheets and statistical software. This is all being balanced with looking for internships, work study, social life, school involvement, learning to be independent, and exploring New York City in general. We have no safety net, we are in a big. dangerous city, it is EXTREMELY easy to slip up and get into bad habits, here especially. In the end, though, you grow up, become independent, and earn a fine degree. Employers know that we are juggling more than just going to school, and they certainly take that into consideration when they see NYU Stern on your resume.