<p>Hi!
I wanted any information, insights or advice that you can provide me with, to help me choose between Grinnell & NYU. </p>
<p>My main priority (<--is that redundant?): Academics. So, how do their academics' stack up?</p>
<p>Apart from that, differences between their student bodies ( in terms of academic motivation, substance use, etc.).</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Academics are top-notch at Grinnell. The professors are also your academic advisers and are highly accessible and primarily teach (most can only do research during summers and sabbaticals). Classes are small, with even the intro science classes at less than 30 students. I think Grinnell has better academics overall, but there are so many other differences between the two schools. It's more important to find the better fit than the better academics. Consider:</p>
<p>Location: Grinnell is in the middle of Iowa, NYU is in Greenwich village. If you can't stand being in the middle of the cornfields, don't go to Grinnell.
Size: Grinnell is small, NYU is huge. Smaller schools are better administered and require significant student participation.</p>
<p>There's substance abuse at both school, but you don't have to do any and can find plenty of people that don't.</p>
<p>I pay full fare at Grinnell for my son and think it is worth every penny. The academic environment is second to none.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies.
Grinnell's location is quite nice actually. I just wanted confirmation about the academic standards.</p>
<p>Another thing: I am very interested in languages, so what are your views on Grinnell's ALSO program as compared with language study options at other colleges?</p>
<p>I think I read that Grinnell produces more PhDs in language (relative to their size) than any other institution in the country. The programs must be pretty good. The only thing that may be a concern, depending on your interests, is that they don't offer a wide variety of languages compared to a major university. But if you know you're interested in the languages they offer, then that's not a problem.</p>