The last thread discussing this on CC dates from a decade ago, so I thought I’d ask again.
As someone interested in pursuing business and economics, though not necessarily dying to go to an undergraduate business school, which is preferred? Both are in NYC, but that doesn’t mean their surrounding environments are identical; what’s unique about each?
Columbia has financial engineering / econ, but it defined by its Core Curriculum. It’s located in the Upper West Side of NYC and the average student at Columbia will be academically stronger than the average student at NYU. The stereotypical Columbia student is a depressed quirky intellectual.
NYU Stern has finance, business, and econ. It’s located in Greenwich Village which is closer to Wall Street than Columbia. That being said, a lot of finance firms are located in Midtown (which is still a little bit closer to NYU). The stereotypical Sternie is a preprofessional cutthroat student willing to stab you in the back for finance internship interviews. This because many classes at NYU Stern are graded on a curve and because you will be competing with your classmates for the same internship / job openings.
From personal anecdotes, I would say NYU in general is more fun than Columbia. Columbia is located relatively farther away from many bars/clubs that a lot of college students go to. NYU is surrounded by other colleges and is in a good location for clubbing, concerts, shows, bars, etc. Academically, I would rather be at Columbia than NYU although NYU Stern offers finance/business. Realistically speaking, there’s no reason to go to NYU unless you’re going to Tisch or Stern.
Columbia does have many drawbacks. The Core Curriculum is stifling to some students who want more control over their coursework, and many students are pretty depressed / very stressed by the workload and atmosphere. Although Columbia is located in NYC, students stay on campus for the vast majority of the school year due to the amount of work and thus cannot use NYC to their full advantage.
If you are trying to go into finance / business, the Columbia degree will carry more clout compared to the Stern degree. Being in the ivy league is also beneficial for opening doors during recruiting.
True, thanks for the info! What about undergraduate internships? Do the local corporations give preference to one college’s students over the other’s?
This is really going to be a matter of preference.
NYU is very much an urban university - no solidly-defined campus, a very large student body, and students (including undergrads) are divided into schools. These are not necessarily negatives, mind you - lots of students love the really urban feel that NYU has and prefer to be more integrated with the city. Business at NYU will be in Stern, widely recognized as an excellent business school. Economics at NYU will be at CAS. Your experience will likely be defined at least in part on the basis of which major and school you decide on (and are admitted to).
Columbia has the financial engineering major and the economics major, as well as a business concentration you can do in the GSB (you have to apply for it). Although technically Columbia undergrads are split into SEAS and CC, in practice the students don’t really feel the division that much socially. Much ballyhoo has been made about the Core, but in practice the restrictions on coursework are not so much different from general education requirements at other universities. It’s just that instead of leaving you free to take any class within a specific division, Columbia requires you to take a specific course (e.g., instead of requiring you to take one humanities course but allowing you to choose which one, Columbia requires Literature Humanities specifically.)
I also would not rely on stereotypes of college students. I worked with and taught undergraduates at Columbia. The stress of the workload is a real thing, as are mental health problems in the student body (as is the case at many top universities). But I wouldn’t say the average Columbia student is a “depressed quirky intellectual.” They are intellectuals for sure, but not all are quirky, and the vast majority are not depressed.
It is somewhat true that Columbia students are a bit less involved in the NYC scene than NYU students, although that varies by student and their general willingness to venture out on their own. Lots of Columbia students intern all over the city and go around to have fun. I also knew lots of Columbia undergrads who volunteered around the city and had social events in different neighborhoods. Morningside Heights has more of a ‘college town in a big city’ feel - the neighborhood is pretty well-integrated with Columbia. I actually preferred Morningside Heights to the Village partially because of that reason (and partially because as expensive as MH is, the Village is even worse).
I do think that overall Columbia has the advantage when it comes to on-campus recruiting, even if you aren’t a business/economics/financial engineering major or minor. Columbia’s career services office is truly excellent. But it’s not a huge one.
Wow, @julliet that’s a lot of information, thanks so much! I’ve heard great stories about Contemporary Civilizations, and I think I’ll be ok with the core curriculum course demands. How plausible is a double major when there’s so many mandatory courses, though?
@DeeperBlue25 Many internships in NYC based companies offer internship opportunities for undergraduate students. Depending on what field you are interested in going into some corporations will favor a certain school over another. If you have good grades and are motivated there is a plethora of Internship opportunities in NYC. You can use a wide variety of sites like Indeed, Linkedin, Angel.co Hire.com and couple others. I just got an internship and had trouble finding NYC student housing. I was apartment hunting on a budget and did not want to use a broker to find an apartment as I have heard awful things. I ended up using this platform called Oliver which allows you to scheudle apartment showings on demand with the tap of a button. I have used other sites like Streeteasy and Zillow but found Oliver to to be extremely helpful. It being a mobile friendly app allowed me to easily scheudle apartment showings on the Lower East Side. I found an apartment right near my internship and I am happy as can be 
NYU has strong programs in art history, philosophy, applied math, and psychology (in addition to strong business and theater programs). FWIW, ARWU ranks NYU’s social science programs 8th in the world (http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldSOC2014.html).
I knew a lot of students who double majored. You have to be planful about your time and realistic about the two majors - two very demanding majors together (like…engineering and biology) may not be doable. But I knew a lot of people who doubled with economics and something else.
Also, Columbia has some joint majors already designed - so you can major in economics-mathematics, economic-political science, economics-philosophy and economics-statistics.
That makes sense. Thanks so much!
Since you really don’t seem to want to study undergraduate business, than it seems Columbia would be a better choice than Stern. Stern would be a better choice to columbia, only if you are dying to focus on specific business material and enjoy the area that NYU is in compared to Columbia’s.
In terms of recruiting and placement, Stern and Columbia Econ majors are very similar. However, as someone posted above, you may have to work harder at Stern as it is definitely more cutthroat.