Columbia vs. NYU

bdl108
Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:57:09 +0000

They’re both obviously excellent schools. Here’s what I have to say about each. I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible.

Columbia: Obviously, the Ivy League name and tradition of academic excellence dating back almost a century before NYU existed. Great traditional undergraduate education. all around, the departments are very strong. Core-heavy. Highly selective. Intellectual and talented student body, but diversity leaves some to be desired. Smaller student population. Gives better FA. Nice campus in a so so neighborhood. Top graduate business and law programs.

NYU (which I attend and know more about): The largest private university in the nation. Ambitiously developing into one of the world’s premier research universities. Shooting up in the rankings. Cosmopolitan. In the heart of downtown Manhattan with immediate access to so many great opportunities. Receives the most applications of any private school. Stern and Tisch are among the best schools in their respective fields. Very good humanities/social science programs overall, several are excellent (econ, poli sci, art history, etc). Poor Financial Aid. Highly selective, but not as much as Columbia. Very diverse (both intellectually and ethnically) and LARGE student population. No campus. No one’s going to be holding your hand. Each dorm room has its own bathroom. Like Columbia, top business and law programs.

Call me biased but I’d say NYU is your best bet for a top notch business or economics education. Columbia’s really core heavy which might prevent you from taking business/economics classes until later on, but don’t quote me on this. Also, NYU is a 15 minute subway ride away from Wall Street, while Columbia’s probably an hour or so.

Hope this helped.