<p>Okay guys I need some advice. I was admitted to pretty much all the schools (minus Cornell) that I applied to. My decision boils down to NYU or Columbia GS. </p>
<p>At NYU I would have to study in Media, Culture, and Communications and I could graduate in two years. They are offering me a pretty generous scholarship and I would graduate with roughly 40k in debt. (My CC debt was 14k, which is included in that figure) All Gov't loans (I am independent student). </p>
<p>At GS, I could graduate in three years, study in anything I want (which would be joint Eco- Poli Sci), and be in roughly 56k debt. However, I did not factor in the potential of my scholarship increasing. This is why I need help from current GSers. Does the scholarship go up? How well must a student do? And about how much, on average, will it go up? I will take 18 credits my first 2 years (9 a semester), 24 my last year, and a 6 credit summer course in between. By doing this, I minimize my debt, but sacrifce the progress toward completion.</p>
<p>After Undergrad, I plan to go to Law School. However, I will only risk taking out heavy loans for law school if my hard work pays off and I am admitted into a top 20 or 30 law program. However, I feel like with a communications degree from NYU that I would have no choice but to get another degree to go the places I want to go. I'm very interested in history and politics and I do like economics as well. I really want to go to law school, but due to the economy I'm unsure if it is a wise choice. (I want to preferabbly go into international law/business).</p>
<p>So, my question is, what would you guys recommend I do? I need to let NYU know by next week, and I am completely stressed. I swear, this is more grueling than the application process and wait combined. Columbia is where I want to go, but will the extra year and 20k be detrimental? Would Columbia increase my chances of getting into a higher law school if I earned the same GPA as I would at NYU? What's the job field like for Economics majors after graduating? HELP lol.</p>
<p>The GS scholarship does typically go up. I would estimate the maximum it would increase by is 50%, so if you start with $8k (if you’re going less than full time it would probably be less), you could add another $4k the next year.</p>
<p>I’ll be honest, if you want Law School I don’t see NYU Communications as your best path. It’s a lot of debt for a not particularly valuable degree (if you wanted to do PR or Media, that would be a different story). </p>
<p>If your choice was a nearly free, decent school (eg Rutgers) vs Columbia, I’d say probably take the free school. Columbia vs NYU, for those majors and with a long term goal of Law School or similar, unquestionably Columbia in my mind. Columbia Econ is a tough major, so if you come out of it with a high GPA it will unquestionably look better to any law school than NYU Communications.</p>
<p>Econ-Poli Sci places you pretty well for government and non-profit work, as well as a huge range of consulting and business opportunities. It’s a versatile major that teaches you how to deal with numbers, how to read, and how to write. </p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>EDIT: Let me just say, that is a lot of debt. However if you don’t feel like NYU will get you where you need to go, that’s even more debt for something that isn’t going to help.</p>
<p>Thank you so much campaigner!! I decided Columbia is the best route. I’m just waiting on my transfer eval and I will be on a 3 year plan in that major. I don’t have extensive math experience (barely went to high school), so I’m nervous. However, I feel that economics is essential and I loved the intro class I took in CC. Plus, poli sci is a passion of mine. I’m preparing this summer for the rigors of Columbia! </p>
<p>Thanks again campaigner, I hope to meet everybody and enjoy the next three years at CU!</p>
<p>Oh… And with my acceptance letter I got a letter stating I should attend University Studies every Wed… What is that? Is it a class or just like a support group thing? Does every GSer go to this their first semester?</p>
<p>University Studies is a class, sort of. It’s no credit (and no cost), but you have to attend. It’s sort of a just suck it up and bare it thing.</p>
<p>It’s not required of everyone, but there’s no criteria as to who gets selected. In general I think they require it of people who they feel can do well at Columbia, but may not be comfortable in the rigorous classrooms here. The official description is below:
<p>I am pretty much in the same situation as you. My choice was Berkeley (2 years Poli Sci) or Columbia GS (3 years Poli Sci-Econ). Columbia 50k debt, Berkeley 20k. I want to go to law school as well (top 20). Coming from a CC. So when I read your post I realized how similar the cases are. Well, long story short, I chose Columbia for the following reasons.</p>
<p>First, if you want to go to top 20 law schools you will need an exceptional LSAT score. Unless you are a genius or willing to take a year off after NYU and sturdy for the test, it’s going to be really hard to get an LSAT score in mid 170s at NYU. Simply, you probably wont fit all those hours of test preparation into your schedule at NYU. Plus you will need internships on your resume to boost up your chances of getting into good law schools. So, I would say that you will probably end up taking a year off anyways if you go to NYU. In other words, you wont lose time if you go to Columbia over NYU. Moreover, since you will be there for three years instead of two, you will make better connections with faculty, i.e. better recommendations for law schools. In addition, I have done some research and found out that Columbia graduates on average have higher LSAT scores than Berkeley or NYU (I dont have the numbers off hand, but there was a topic on this forum with all the statistics). The difference was about 5 points which is huge (something like 163 vs 158). </p>
<p>Second, even though technically your major doesnt matter for law school, the competition at top law schools is so fierce that you better be prepared to offer something over someone who is a Poli Sci (most applicants are), Econ, or English major.
And lastly, even though there is no official statistics on this, but if you do some research, you will see that Columbia sends approximately twice as many students to top law schools. You can find the data at Columbia website (they sent 48 students from graduating class of 2008 to Harvard, 50 to Columbia Law, and like 12 to Yale). I dont know the numbers for NYU, but for Berkeley it was barely 50% of Columbias.</p>
<p>Despite all this, you have to keep in mind that this is a huge commitment. We are talking 24 hours of intense work. So if you are absolutely certain you want to go to Harvard or Columbia or NYU law, and willing to kill your social life for the next 3 years, go to Columbia. Otherwise, go to NYU. </p>