I plan to exchange at a US based partner university next fall. Could you guys please help me decide which colleges I should choose?
I have shortlisted the following places:
University of Pennsylvania
Cornell University
New York University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of California (I have no control over which of the campuses I go to)
University of Texas at Austin
Washington University at St Louis
Please choose 3 of them in descending order of awesomeness.
My current choices are: 1) UPenn 2)Cornell 3) NYU
I major in Economics and Finance at a top Asian University. I am someone who is sociable and popular but also manages to keep a good GPA. My future plans are to work in finance and then go on to get an MBA from H/W/S. The prestige and international recognition of the affiliate university would be my main criteria. I am kind of against the rural setting of Cornell.
There are pretty big differences between the individual UCs so if you have no control over which one you go to I would make them a pretty low priority compared to your other choices.
As an exchange student student who prefers urban environments, I’d lean towards NYU. In terms of economics, lots of published papers originate at NYU; their department is eighth in the U.S. by this measure according to one analysis I read.
They are all excellent schools. Of your top choices I’d give a slight “prestige” edge to UPenn but i really don’t think that it will matter much as they are all very high quality schools and it is just for an exchange program. I’d probably chose Penn or NYU for the urban east coast urban location – it would just depend on which city you prefer (I’d give NYC the edge myself but Phila is a nice,city as well and Phila only a couple of hours from NYC and probably 2 1/2 hours or so from DC) and if you want to have a more traditional campus (Penn) or not (NYU). . If you don’t like the rural setting of Cornell, then take it off your list.
If you feel that you must be in the middle of a big city, then leave Cornell off your list. However, Ithaca is a very lively small city, in a very scenic part of NY State. You needn’t fear becoming bored there.
Things that you may want to take into consideration include ease of transportation from your home to the exchange university, ease of transportation from that university to other places that you would like to visit in the US or Canada, weather, and local cost of living. Your living expenses are likely to be significantly higher at NYU than at Wash U, but transportation to other places that you might want to visit could be lower if you were based in NY City. If you don’t want to have to spend money on winter clothing, then UT Austin should go to the head of your list.
Look guys, I understand that you’re recommending NYU and UPenn.
As of right now the other suggestions I’ve got are:
Dont go to Cornell if you want to stay in a big city
CMU is in a big city
Wash U will have lower expenses than NYU
UT Austin wouldn’t need winter clothes
The thing is I have to give 3 choices (just in case I don’t get my first choice).
What should the third university be in your opinion with the information that I have provided?
If I were you, I’d pick the University of California and risk it as to what campus I would get placed into, because California is great. UCSB is my absolute favorite, and it felt a lot like the ‘California Dream’ I imagined while growing up, with long-haired surfer dudes and beautiful beaches.
WUSTL has an excellent business program. Idk what to say about Missouri though. In the end, getting into a top business school would require you to get great experience first, and you have to ask how much an exchange program could help you with that.
Spend some time with Google Maps and with your favorite travel planning website, and figure out just exactly how hard it could be to get from each of these locations to the other places you think you might like to visit. Yes this is an academic exchange, but you will also want to see some of the US while you are here.
Are you absolutely guaranteed a spot at one of the three on your list? If so, then pick the three that seem most interesting to you.
If you aren’t absolutely guaranteed a spot, then for the third option choose the University of California as the back-up. There are many campuses and any one of them would give you an interesting exchange semester