Dartmouth v. NYU v. State U

<p>Deciding between 3 schools</p>

<p>Dartmouth:
PROS-Lovely nature and outdoor stuff, Really well known, great professors, great education, impressive on a resume...
CONS- Smallish, no internships nearby. Competitive students—which I don’t mind, but it’s something to consider if jobs look at my class rank.
MONEY-50 grand a year. = debt after college.</p>

<p>NYU:
PROS: Internships, accepted into honors program, lots to do in the city, good campus culture.
CONS: I'll miss trees and flowers and grass! A lot. I like nature. Also, doesn’t have quite the name recognition of Dartmouth.
MONEY: 25 grand a year (merit scholarship). I'll probably still be in debt afterwards, but not insanely so.</p>

<p>State U:
PROS: It’s a really good school, as far as state schools go. Not a UC/Virginia/Michigan, but not far under. Large, so good class selection and stuff going on at the campus. Also, wouldn't be hard to get good grades/ high class rank for jobs. Plus, I got into the honors program.
CONS: Not all that well-known outside of the state. Which could hurt job prospects.
MONEY: 17 grand per year, meaning I won’t be in debt after.</p>

<p>You would have to be more specific about debt. Since Dartmouth is extremely generous with aid and has a no student loan policy, I’m assuming you mean you need to borrow your family contribution? Will your family help?</p>

<p>IMO, a Dartmouth education and college experience is worth quit a lot. As long as the cost to you is reasonable. Over NYU and a SUNY (my guess) this would be a no brainer if affordable.</p>

<p>The Honors Program and the 25k grant would make NYU far more appealing than Dartmouth in my eyes, but only in your particular case.</p>

<p>NYU has better name recognition than Dartmouth: it’s not as prestigious, but it’s far, far more familiar.</p>

<p>The Honors Program should more or less reduce academic quality disparities between Dartmouth and NYU. However, n.b. that Dartmouth’s unique “D-plan” makes valuable internship opportunities far more accessible.</p>

<p>I can tell you where NOT to go. </p>

<p>Don’t go to your state school. As you didn’t name it, you don’t really want to be there.</p>

<p>How much debt? (assuming costs rise 5% a year)</p>

<p>What state U is it? That makes a HUGE difference. If its a Big Ten U then go to the state U. I really depends on what state U you are talking about. Also is Dartmouth and NYu that different if you factor in housing?</p>

<p>I agree, what state university?</p>

<p>“Not a UC/Virginia/Michigan, but not far under.”</p>

<p>Hmm Wisconsin, Illinois, Washington, Maryland, Ohio State, Minnesota, Rutgers, UCSD, UC Davis, UCI, Penn State, Texas? If it is one of these they go to the State U.</p>

<p>NYU. for sure.</p>

<p>State U= University of Illinois Urbana</p>

<p>My family will contribute about $25,000 per year (some form savings, some from loans they are willing to take out). If I go to a more expensive school, I pay the difference.</p>

<p>You said NYU was 25k too? no brainer, especially if you got in honors.</p>

<p>You don’t want to be $100K plus in debt, go to NYU.</p>

<p>KWU, how are you thinking name recognition helps? Employers and grad schools are very familiar with quality of school and recruit accordingly. Do you just want thumbs up from the neighbors?</p>

<p>I’d go for NYU, sounds like Dartmouth wouldn’t be worth the money for you.</p>

<p>KWU I would think while NYU is a great institution that Dartmouth would have more recognition. Maybe not to the McDonalds employers (no offense)… The places that Dartmouth grads would end up going would know Dartmouth. Plus a lot of people equate ivies with prestige/name.</p>

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<p>I was responding to this. It appears to be a concern for the OP, and I was addressing it:</p>

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<p>If you carefully read my remark, I conceded that Dartmouth was the more prestigious school. For example, Penn State has far superior name recognition relative to UPenn. However, the latter is far more prestigious than the former. The difference in name recognition between Dartmouth and NYU is significant, yet I contend that the difference between the two schools in terms of prestige is less than the disparity between, say, Penn State and UPenn. Please, let’s not get elitist or pretentious here.</p>

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<p>I’m drawing a distinction between recognition and prestige. NYU has better recognition because every McDonalds employee will have heard of it, since it was, after all the #1 “dream school” of thousands of young people and their parents from 2004 to 2008. However, Dartmouth is more prestigious, because where Dartmouth graduates “end up,” they would garner more respect, as you have argued.</p>

<p>Please make the effort to re-read and understand my statement:</p>

<p>“NYU has better name recognition than Dartmouth: it’s not as prestigious, but it’s far, far more familiar.”</p>

<p>I am sure you are aware that living and playing in NYC is very expensive. Look at what you would actually spend.</p>

<p>Agree, that if it is a Big ten school, go there.</p>

<p>Hmmm this would be tough, but I would probably pick NYU.</p>

<p>I saw that you said there was not enough nature in manhattan, and let me tell you something, there is A LOT, A LOT of nature in manhattan. Central and Prospect park is HUGE, and even Brooklyn has beaches!!! Does Dartmouth have a beach nearby?? Nature should be the least of your concerns. Go google botanical gardens, you will love it seriously! Don’t get into debt in this uncertain economy is my advice. And depending on your major, NYC can cater to all of your wishes if you have connections, or if you go look out for jobs and internships and such. My cousin is my biggest connection, and since he works at Citigroup he got in a junior(me) for an internship, so you never know what you might get… </p>

<p>Also, you might not ever get the chance to live in new york city ever again, so take that into consideration.</p>

<p>I still don’t know, assuming 5% increases in each of the four years for each school, how much debt you’ll be in from NYU and from Dartmouth. If NYU is going to put you in debt for $36k+ over four years (and costs of living in NY are pretty astronmical), it’s at the very far edge of what you can likely afford, over and above the state college honors program.</p>

<p>I can’t really comment on the other schools, but Dartmouth is not a competitive environment - students work together a lot, we are often encouraged to do so by our professors. If that is a concern of yours, I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>

<p>As for NYU vs. Dartmouth, they are extremely different schools. I would worry less about prestige and worry more about school environment. Dartmouth is smaller and very much about the school community. Since there’s not too much around the campus, your social life will take place ON campus. People are incredibly loyal to the school, and are usually willing to help each other out. NYU seems to be more targeted to very independent people - it doesn’t really have a distinct campus, social life probably spreads throughout the city, and, my impression at least is that there’s not the same sort of attachment to the school as you find up here (though, as I said, I’ve never gone to NYU, so maybe my impression is wrong).</p>

<p>As for NP1’s comment </p>

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<p>I would point out the opposite: there are lots of jobs to be done in NYC, many college graduates move to large cities. When else would you get to live surrounded by pristine nature, in the mountains, with a skating pond and river for swimming essentially on campus, with 4,000 people who are as in love with your school as you are (which will be a lot). Probably not when you need to find a practical job to support yourself.</p>

<p>ETA: I realize this might come off as me pushing Dartmouth, and that’s probably because Dartmouth is perfect FOR ME, so it’s hard for me to be entirely subjective. My sister went to a school much like NYU and that was perfect for her - she is incredibly independent, and would probably have found Dartmouth’s “personality” to be cloying. Select what fits you best, because the two schools ARE extremely different. The same people probably wouldn’t be happy at both.</p>