Hi! I need some advice. I was accepted into the university of washington and I got into NYU through the waitlist. It has always been a dream to attend NYU, but UW would cost at least $20,000 less each year than NYU because I would get in state tuition at UW. I am conflicted on whether to attend NYU or UW. I plan on doing pre-med. Any advice?
$20K less each year is $80k less over the four years. That $80k you would be saving could help towards your medical school degree. Add all that into the fact that you’re in-state for UW-Seattle, one of the finer public universities in the country. I also don’t at all consider NYU to be a better school, but that’s just me.
Save the money and go to UW-Seattle. You’ll get a very fine education there.
Can you parents afford NYU + med school with no hardship/loans? If so then go with your personal preference. If not then stick with UW which is an excellent school at a lower price.
Some people regard NYU as a “trap school”. It looks wonderful and elite and seductive, but a lot of prospective students don’t seem to realize that NYU actually lacks one important thing: money.
Columbia, for example, has a $9 billion endowment for 31,000 students. That’s about $300,000 per student. Average net price for Columbia, according to College Navigator: $17,678. They meet full need.
NYU has a $3.5 billion endowment for 50,000 students. That’s about $70,000 per student, which is a low number for a private university. Average net price for NYU: $35,106. According to their own financial aid page: “NYU is not able to meet the full need of every student.”
https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/financial-aid-and-scholarships.html
So NYU tends to be a very expensive option, even by the standards of other top private universities and LACs. Depending on your financial situation, it may not be worth it. Only 32% of accepted NYU applicants actually enroll (compared to, for example, 63% at Columbia), and part of the reason for that low yield is the “sticker shock” that accepted students experience when they see what the cost is actually going to be.
Thank you all for the advice! I am leaning towards UW because it would be much more affordable. However, would it be better when applying to medical school if I attend NYU rather than UW?
^Nope! In general, medical schools don’t really care much where you went to undergrad. What’s more important is what you do there. UW is an excellent school and the Seattle area has lots of places where you can shadow doctors and learn about the healthcare system, as well as participate in medical research if you like.
Most important factors for getting into med school are your GPA, MCAT, and then extracurriculars. It doesn’t matter where you went to undergrad. NYU is certainly not worth $80k more.
Continuing the thought in #5:
Including right on campus at the UW Medical Center and the UW School of Medicine:
http://www.uwmedicine.org/uw-medical-center/observership
http://www.uwmedicine.org/education/md-program/admissions/applicants/shadowing
https://globalhealth.washington.edu/connect/internships-and-volunteering
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/primary-care-rankings
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings
Additional info:
https://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/at-the-uw/pre-health-advising/fields/medicine/
Lots of undergraduate research, too:
The big attraction of NYU is proximity to Wall Street and living in NYC. The quality of education will not differ substantially from UW and you won’t get a traditional college experience at NYU.
Does anyone have a reason to go to NYU?
Also, staying in state makes travel to medical school interviews at in-state public medical schools (with less expensive tuition) more convenient.
As indicated in Post #8 above, the key attraction of NYU for most people is its location in the heart of Manhattan. Would NYU still be your “dream school” if the whole NYU campus and community was suddenly relocated to Buffalo?
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to combine your college experience with an NYC experience. But it may not be worth $80,000+ to combine college+NYC, instead of college+Seattle.
I’ll also point out that Seattle is a pretty cool city, definitely a cool city to be in your 20s in, and is far cheaper than NYC. Of course there’s not as MUCH to do, but there are plenty of cultural and social opportunities here and they’re generally cheaper than New York.
If New York is the draw, trust me when I say that you have your whole life to live there and NYC is a lot more fun when you’ve got a little money in your pocket to enjoy life there.
@mas321 NYU has better food, city activities and nightlife by far [I watched les mes and phantom of the opera for free!]
I’ve heard that its a bit hard to connect with other students at NYU since the campus is integrated into the city so you need to go out of your way to meet other students
UW has a nice campus, its a bit boring except for summer where you can go to alki beach and do other water related activities. Food is whatever, you’ll definitely want to have a car if you’re planning on doing something off campus (not walkable)
Source: Am a Seattleite
NYU greek life is also non-existent if that is something you care about
Food costs and nightlife in Seattle are FAR more student friendly than NYC. SEattle has a massive live music club scene–something still rare in NYC. And it is easy to get from the Udub to downtown Seattle–maybe 10 minutes by bus not to mention Uber is everywhere.
I’ve lived 20 mins away from Seattle pretty much my whole life so I was just hoping to go somewhere new for college. At this point I think I will be going to UW but hopefully in the future I’ll get to go somewhere else. Thank you all so much for your advice!
you said NYU was your dream school - go back to what made you decide that and see if those still hold. NYU has a better national and international reputation overall but for pre-med UW is very strong as well in bio-related fields including biomed engineering. NYU is more diverse as well. And I can see you wanting to leave Seattle for something new. But the costs are tough to rationalize away especially since you’re planning for med school. If you were going to major in math, economics, international relations, journalism I’d say NYU - the intern possibilities in NYC are strong for disciplines like that.
UW.
@mas321 Good reasons to go to NYU undergraduate are to study acting or film, or if you get into Stern (the undergraduate business/finance school). Other than that, I can’t think of any reason to pay tens of thousands per year to go there over UWashington.