Help decide between NYU, BU and GW

College Search & Selection
1

<p>All 3 of these schools are urban campuses with their plus and minuses. My daughter was accepted to CAS at NYU and BU and I expect/hope to GW. Clearly NYU is the most prestigeous but I wonder if that name is built on Stern and Tisch and CAS is not so great. My other concern with NYU is that it is a large school with no defined campus and I'm not sure how that works socially. BU clearly has Boston and all the other schools in the area that seem to socialize together while I don't get that feeling at NYU. GW has the excitement of DC, perhaps a bit conservative (the city not the school) but a manageable city with enough to explore not to get bored.</p>

<p>My daughter is undecided but her areas of interest are international relations, history and perhaps biology but who knows where college will lead. She has been at a very small private school and is used to getting much teacher attention/interaction but is ready for something larger that the fishbowl she is in now. Anyone who has attended any of these schools or knows someone who did any advice would be appreciated.</p>

2

<p>I live outside of D.C. and can tell you that GW has a very nice campus. It would be an excellent place to study International Relations, as far as I know.</p>

<p>But I think with her undecisiveness, she would be better off with either BU or NYU. NYU is a great school overall; thier CAS is still an excellent school, alongside Stern and Tisch. I'm not too familiar with BU, toher than to say it is a well-known school and has a reputation for definitely IR and history. I know that NYU has a good biology program; I'm not sure about GW or BU.</p>

3

<p>She should go to GW!! It's a great school with a comfortable size. It feels more like a community than the other two choices. GW is definetely the best choice hands down for International Relations. I don't even think NYU has IR(I think they have a VERY small program) because I considered it and decided not to apply. If she wants history or biology, NYU is best, although GW and BU would be fine also.</p>

4

<p>Hippodrome123 - Do you go to GW? NYU does have an IR major but I know that GW is renown for it's program. Coming in as undecided do you have any idea how easy it is (or not) to get into that program if she decides to go into IR?</p>

<p>Also I was suprised that with all the Federal influence that you don't think GW doesn't have as good a Biology or History program as NYU. Are you a student and if so which of the GW departments have good and bad reps?</p>

5

<p>My D's got the same schools in mind (though I wish she'd pick another). I'm trying to discourage her from NYU but not for any of the reasons you mentioned. As I said on the NYU board, anywhere within blocks (on all 4 sides) of NYU you will find NYU students and buildings. Of course there are also varied stores and restaurants and activities of every other kind, but NYU has far more of a campus feel to it than you may think. Most schools have one or two divisions that boost its overall reputation, but that still brings in profs, students, money and activity to the campus in general. NYU also has a phenomenal placement office (I read that 90% of grads have jobs w/i 3 months of graduation). It's got outstanding professors in many areas and with Stern and UN and Wall Street, you'll have at least as much exposure to real life international relations as in DC. Perhaps more, as Embassies in DC are pretty closed off and don't offer much in opportunites as I ever recall to American students.</p>

<p>Boston is a great college town, but BU is only one of many and as far as I can see, is far down in the pecking order of prestige.. even in Boston. Unless your D wants/needs some of the less urban feel available in Boston, then given the academic disparity....what does it have? Cost is at least the same.</p>

<p>I lived in DC for 4 years while working for the Govt and after the museums there's not all that much to do there. Yes there's Georgetown, but Boston and NYC have far more of anything that you'll find there. The pretty places are all a car ride away as is the shopping all out on the Beltway. Again, it's more suburban and parts are pretty in the NW but thats not where students will be most of the time. The weather is hot and muggy in early fall and late spring and the city shuts down with a half inch of snow (JFK's line : Northern charm and Southern efficiency). Again costs are the same.</p>

<p>While I'm trying to talk my D out of NYU, and no offense intended to those good schools (except by comparison) BU and GW are not even in the running.</p>

6

<p>My S looked at all three of these schools last summer and applied ED to BU. He is a strong humanities student and not sure of his major. It might be history, international relations, or art history, or even something else.</p>

<p>GW was his #2 choice for a couple of reasons. First, GW students take 5 classes a semester, and BU's normal load is 4 classes. Also, he was not ready to commit to a specific international affairs school like Elliott.
He did not apply to NYU because he didn't like the area around the school.</p>

<p>He also attends a relatively small, private school and is ready to spread his wings. (3000 miles away!) S is excited about the academic possibilities at BU. I suggest your D look at the BU09 livejournal group and ask questions.</p>

7

<p>NYU>BU>GW. </p>

<p>*If anything, NYU has much more of a campus than BU. NYU owns everything around Washington Square--its puts BU's quad to shame.</p>

8

<p>Our s chose BU over NYU. They are both excellent schools and I'm not sure where the person gets the "low on the pecking order of Boston schools" idea since its stats are the highest in Boston and second only to Boston AREA schools like MIT and Harvard. (and what school isn't lower than them in stats?) Both have interesting urban campuses. NYU has NYC which is an experience any young person can't help but enjoy. I hear people from NYU describe the feel of a campus even though its not a traditionally defined one. Many professors live in the area so theres an extended family feel. I personally saw BU as having more of a campus with the Charles River at their rear and the courtyard and brownstones on Bay St and South campus. With the new Student Village and brand new rec. ctr with a lazy river and new arena you have an area that has more trees and inner courtyards that feel more enclosed. I also worried that at NYU, after Freshaman year, you could end up 20 minutes from the classrooms and some of the dorms are really spread out. On the other hand these same dorms used to be apartments so they have private baths and are quite nice.Suggest you attend both for accepted student days and see if that helps tip the scales. You can't go wrong with either ---so relax.</p>

9

<p>All 3 are excellent, though for a student who is even partially undecided, I would go with either NYU or BU. GW is a great school, but not all the departments are strong, and at NYU or BU everything is pretty solid. Though based on her interests, GW would cater to her. BU and NYU are both excellent choices, but with a more untraditional campus, both in large cities. You really can't go wrong either way.</p>

10

<p>Your D really can't go wrong with any of these 3 schools. NYU has more prestige, but I have to say I'm not sure it would have the same prestige without Stern and Tisch.</p>

<p>For Bio, I think NYU and GW are both strong, with excellent hospitals attached. (Be wary of pre-med bio classes - they are used as "wash out" courses!)</p>

<p>For IR, I do think GWU is strongest. Its IR school is excellent, and is supported by unparalleled internship opportunities. The possibilities are not the embassies, as another poster suggested, but rather the plethora of US gov't agencies in the area, not to mention all the congressional offices that need to be staffed, usually by interns. NYU is second, with BU third. But again, all are good.</p>

<p>Does your D have a favorite part of the world? I would suggest that you explore which school is the strongest in that area. Look at the course selection, and the number and quality of professors who specialize in that area.</p>

<p>All three are strong in history.</p>

<p>Has your D visited these schools? Each of the campuses has its proponents and detractors. Only she can walk the campus and get a good sense of whether she's comfortable or not. </p>

<p>I wouldn't worry too much about class size. She will get large intro lecture courses at each of these schools. But after that, each of them offer medium to small classes in the higher level courses.</p>

<p>What about side interests in non-majors? Journalism? GW. Economics? Definitely NYU. Art? BU absolutely (with GW not even on the screen. Note I said BU for art, not NYU, since Tisch is unparalleled, but Tisch is not very accommodating to cross registration.) Film? If not Tisch, BU is developing a fantastic film program. </p>

<p>Good luck to you and your D.</p>

11

<p>IMO, for your daughter, GW would be the best choice. George Washington has an incredible International Affairs School(The Elliot School): <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eelliott/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.gwu.edu/~elliott/&lt;/a> </p>

<p>I don't think NYU or BU can really compete with GW for International Affairs. If this is what she wants to do, I think GW is the best out of the three for IR because of its location and great instruction. </p>

<p>Outside of IR, it's a tough decision. Your daughter should consider different pros and cons of each. NYU has the biggest city of all. All have interesting and pretty campuses, with GW being the most defined of the three. I think GW is the most aethetically pleasing, but that's just my opinion. NYU and BU seem to be spread out more than GW.</p>

<p>I laughed out loud when you said that DC is pretty conservative. Just because there's a Republican president doesn't mean that DC is conservative. The District is by far the most liberal cities out of the three you've listed. It voted 90% Democratic in the last election, more than any other electoral college. Also, remember that NYC's mayors' have been Republican lately. </p>

<p>For Biology, GW has great facilities. It has a University Hospital, medical center, and school of public health(which can tie into governmental work). It's history departments are strong. If your daughter is interested in American history in particular, she should look into American Studies. It's one of GW's strongest programs. What better city is better for this major, with the access to museums and governmental agencies? A girl I know majored in this and she said that her professors would take students to museums to study art, film, etc.
<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eamst/index.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.gwu.edu/~amst/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>GW just seems more ^collegey^. There's students everywhere on campus and off. There's so many young people in DC. While NYC and Boston are young and hip, DC seems to be catered towards college students. It doesn't stretch out too far, so transportation is easy, and there's tons to do and lots of fun neighborhoods like Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, Downtown, Arlington, Embassy Row, China Town, etc. </p>

<p>Good Luck to your daughter!</p>

12

<p>Thats nice to hear about D.C. I would not have thought they would cater to college students since I always got the feel that the government dominates everything. So its good to get a different perspective. Boston is always at the top of the list for "great college towns". From Sept. to May-- 1 in 4 Bostonians is a college student. Many restaurants and other events provide student discounts. This is maybe the case in NYC and DC too. Our s loves BU but he also had a hard time choosing it over NYU and Tufts and I had some misgivings about city life too. But a professor said, at an orientation, that by Halloween of Freshman year all kids feel the school they are attending is their first choice. So again, relax. She can't go wrong choosing any of these fine schools. I do agree the DC has advantages for IR but keep in mind that the majority of kids change their major so I wouldn't overemphasize that over other things.</p>