<p>I was admitted to both Columbia and NYU, and I am looking for some way to tell the two schools apart. Their official stats are essentially the same, so I was wondering if anyone else here knew of more specific differences. I have heard that, generally speaking, NYU students are more liberal and interested in public service than Columbia students, but any other information (including whether or not that generalization is correct) about the students or the faculty would be really appreciated.</p>
<p>Two impressions from my NYU tour last year.</p>
<p>1.) Other Prospective Student: “So, what don’t you like about NYU?”
Student #1: “Hm, that’s hard to say. It really is a great place. Hey, what don’t you like about NYU?”</p>
<h1>2: (thinks for a moment) “I really can’t think of anything!”</h1>
<h1>3: (passes by, calls out) “Everybody’s liberal!”</h1>
<h1>1: “That’s true, if you’re not liberal --” and here she laughs a little, as if to say, how is that possible? – “then you won’t like it here.”</h1>
<p>2.) One of NYU’s big selling points is that they’re still a relatively young (in terms of energy) school, moving aggressively to improve. Their favorite example of this is that they recently convinced four Columbia professors to come to NYU as faculty, “something that would never have happened even just a few years ago.” There are two ways to read this. One way – NYU’s preferred reading – is that they’re trying hard, and they’re succeeding at aggressively moving to improve their school, actually at Columbia’s expense. The second way, however, is that NYU still thinks of Columbia as the gold standard. *These faculty must be excellent, *NYU seemed to be saying. After all, they came from Columbia! It was rather an odd way to talk of improvement.</p>
<p>Both schools are predominantly liberal and both send the vast majority of their grads to biglaw firms, though NYU does send more to public interest jobs. What NYU uses as a big selling point is also a drawback; their reputation has risen relatively recently, so older lawyers and lawyers in different parts of the country don’t always see them as being on the same level as Columbia. One NYU student I knew said that the lawyers he talked to in Houston thought of NYU as a “top 10” school, not a “top 5” school.</p>
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<p>As if the opinions of lawyers in Houston really mattered. <em>thrusts nose in air, raises monocle</em></p>
<p>Neither school would be in my top 10, but my opinion does not carry as much weight as those of mysterious “lawyers” from Houston. Houston.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bcgsearch.com/pdf/BCG_Law_School_Guide_2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bcgsearch.com/pdf/BCG_Law_School_Guide_2009.pdf</a></p>
<p>79 percent of Columbia graduates go into private practice, 9 judicial clerkship.
69 percent of NYU graduates go into private practice, 13 public interest, 12 judicial clerkship.</p>
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<p>[Top</a> 15 Law Schools From Which Elite U.S. Law Firms Hire New Lawyers](<a href=“http://www.leiterrankings.com/jobs/2008job_biglaw.shtml]Top”>Top 15 Law Schools From Which Elite U.S. Law Firms Hire New Lawyers)</p>
<p>Columbia if housing means anything to you! I just found a large, single room summer sublet for $800/month in a 4 bedroom apartment! Only one other student is currently living there. Columbia housing is amazing!</p>
<p>Most young people tend to prefer NYU’s neighborhood (Greenwich Village) to Columbia’s (Morningside Heights). NYU students generally argue that “If you’re going to live in New York, you ought to live in New York, y’know?”</p>
<p>Of course, I’m not a huge fan of NYC in general, so perhaps Columbia’s Upper West Side locale would have been a nice compromise for me.</p>
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Really? I’m rather surprised to hear this. Out of curiosity, kwu, what would be in your top ten?</p>
<p>Oh, I apologize. I meant “top five.”</p>
<p>Hm. I’m still curious. =) I can imagine four schools for which one could present an argument. (Chicago.) I’m curious to see what your fifth is.</p>
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<p>Which is always an amusing argument when it comes from one of the many NYU students who live in Brooklyn or cheaper parts of Manhattan.</p>
<p>My fourth is UChicago, yes. My fifth is Georgetown. =)</p>
<p>Huh. Well, I suppose that answers my question.</p>
<p>You need to be more specific. What subject are you majoring in??</p>
<p>Well if you are considering college rankings, Columbia is around 6th and an IVY and NYU is around 35th. Columbia seems like a no brainer. Plus you can still hang out in Greenwich Village (NYU), but the academics will be stronger at Columbia.</p>
<p>He’s talking about the law schools.</p>
<p>“Clearly?” You give your reader the impression that if she were to disagree with you, she’d be ignorant or misinformed. And, since you’re offering an opinion, and you yourself are an alumnus or alumna, your style makes your bias that much more apparent.</p>
<p>With regards to graduate and professional studies, the “Ivy League” is a pretentious and superficial label that should not be given too great a shred of consideration.</p>
<p>You can’t say Harvard and Yale are “clearly” better than Stanford when common opinion dictates that instruction quality and student quality of life are superior at the latter.</p>
<p>“Taste” is relative," and not every person desires or needs luxury.</p>
<p>ColumbiaPostBac, perhaps you need to bone up on your research skills. As this is the “Law School” forum, let us confine the discussion to the law schools please.</p>
<p>“Law Specialties (USNWR, 2009)”</p>
<p>Clinical Training: NYU #3
Environmental Law: NYU #9
Intellectual Property Law: Columbia #4
Tax Law: NYU #1
International Law: Columbia #1, NYU #2
Trial Advocacy NYU #2</p>
<p>@ColumbiaPostBac</p>
<p>No, a JD from Columbia Law wouldn’t look significantly better than one from NYU Law. Just look at the USNWR rankings. Columbia’s #4, with NYU trailing Columbia by 1 point. And the methodology (25% peer assessment, 25% selectivity, 20% placement success, 15% assessment by judges/lawyers) concerns “the credentials” the most.</p>