<p>Excellent post, BalletGirl.</p>
<p>Overrated: Harvard, WashU, Princeton
Underrated: Rice, Olin, William and Mary</p>
<p>why is NYU overrated? everyone seems to think so.</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess Rice is really a fantastic school for UG education and it's very underrated amongst the underrated schools. I also think many top public schools such as Berkeley, UVa, Michigan and W&M are underrated. </p>
<p>I think schools like Duke, Washington U and Notre Dame are overrated.</p>
<p>Bubububump,</p>
<p>Not everyone, only those who have no idea what they are talking about, but that does not prevent them from having, and expressing, strong opinions. Or they know, but are biased for some reason.</p>
<p>Judge for yourself. Tisch (arts) and Stern (business) are among the very best in their respective areas. Art history is No. #1 nationally, and Philosophy ranks as the best in the US as well. Math is among top 3-10 (depending on specialty). Economics is in the top ten; Politics, English, French, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Middle East and Hebrew & Judaic studies, to name few, are also exceptionally strong nationally. In fact, as a result of a large financial investments and aggressive hiring of top faculty across the board over the past 15-20 years, it would be hard to find a weak department at NYU at this point.</p>
<p>If anything, NYU is seriously underestimated in the largely subjective rankings such as those in the USNWR. It does much better in rankings based on quantitative criteria which emphasize the research reputation and quality, e.g., the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2007, <a href="http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2007/ARWU2007_Top100.htm%5B/url%5D">http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2007/ARWU2007_Top100.htm</a> , where NYU is placed as the 30th in the world and 22nd in the US. </p>
<p>Many universities ranked higher than NYU by the USNWR, are objectively significantly weaker in terms of academic and research excellence and reputation of their faculty.</p>
<p>The reason NYU tends to be seen as overrated lies in its location. The fact is that it gets a tremendous number of applicants based solely on the fact that it is in the heart NYC. This increases its ranking (more applicants=lower acceptance rate) and thus can be confounded with academic allure, which it certainly has, but the pure location of the school seems to be a significant factor in its ranking. Obviously, if a school is ranked high in a large part because of its location, the quality of some of its departments is eclipsed and it is seen as somewhat overrated.</p>
<p>thank you, atnyu and vertigofrog. that was great help. please check my other thread, to see if i actually have a shot.</p>
<p>thanks again!!</p>
<p>VertigoFrog,</p>
<p>How did you establish that NYU "gets a tremendous number of applicants based SOLELY on the fact that it is in the heart NYC"? (the emphasis is mine) Isn't it (much) more likely that so many outstanding high school students apply to NYU because they are attracted BOTH to its location AND its academic excellence in many areas? If they get in, they have the best of both worlds (for those who love big cities): superb academics and the unique experience of living in NYC.</p>
<p>If all people wanted was to be in NYC, they could apply to CUNY, Fordham, Pace, etc., not NYU.</p>
<p>And by the way, I am sure NYU is not the only university for which the location is a significant, but far from only, part of its allure. Location always factors when people make decisions about which college to choose (or avoid). NYU is neither unique, nor an exception, in this respect.</p>
<p>^^ I agree with VertigoFrog -- it's widely known (at least here on CC) that many students apply because it's New York. I've seen this countless times. On top of that, I have friends who are applying to NYU simply because it's in a big city (they've told me so) -- and I live in southern California.</p>
<p>Kyledavid80,</p>
<p>Well, if all your friends want is to be in a big city, why don't they apply to CUNY, which is much cheaper than NYU and a lot easier to get in, or to Fordham or Pace, which are much less selective as well, but also much weaker academically, than NYU? Why are they applying to NYU and not to these other schools?</p>
<p>Finally, I don't see how this has anything to do with whether NYU is over/under-rated. In a message posted earlier today I presented some facts about the academic/research strengths of NYU. Argue with that, if you want.</p>
<p>Dude...it's NYU, not Columbia.</p>
<p>Expensive and overrated (the worst kind):</p>
<p>New York University
Darthmouth
Brown
Cornell
WashU
JHU
George Washington University
Boston University
Boston College
Notre Dame
Tulane</p>
<p>Inexpensive (for in-state students) and underrated:</p>
<p>William & Mary
University of North Carolina
University of Virginia
University of california, Los Angeles
University of California, San Diego
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas Business Honors
University of Texas Plan II Honors
Penn State (Honors)
New College (Florida)
CUNY (Honors)
Colorado State University</p>
<p>Underrated</p>
<p>University of Southern California
Tufts
Rochester
Rice
Cooper Union
Northwestern
University of Chicago</p>
<p>Overrated: Notre Dame, Vanderbuilt, NYU</p>
<p>Underrated: Rice and Emory</p>
<p>Overrated: Vanderbilt, NYU, HYP
Underrated: Brandeis (one of the best in Boston)</p>
<p>atnyu: NYU was rated one of the most desirable colleges -- #1, I think, by Princeton Review. But in looking at NYU, I don't see what's so desirable. For one, financial aid is crappy; NYU covers on average 65% or so of a student's need, and consequently, NYU students on average graduate with some of the highest debt -- about $34,000 (way above the national average). It's a huge school -- over 40,000 students, and only about a $2 billion endowment; it clearly can't support all its students (which probably explains its financial aid stats). Its graduation rate is below many of the top publics. Only 3/4 of its faculty are full time, so the faculty numbers reported (while seemingly large) don't have as much of an impact. As a result, its classes are large.</p>
<p>NYU has some great programs, and no doubt it's one of the best schools in the nation. But I would expect more from such a highly "desired" private school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
why don't they apply to CUNY, which is much cheaper than NYU and a lot easier to get in, or to Fordham or Pace, which are much less selective as well, but also much weaker academically, than NYU? Why are they applying to NYU and not to these other schools?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Obviously because their reputation isn't as strong. But NYU's reputation is undeserved, in my opinion. That's the whole point.</p>
<p>^^kyledavid80,</p>
<p>Do you have a similar perspective on USC?</p>
<p>kyledavid80,</p>
<p>It is hard to follow your logic sometimes. First, you say: "NYU has some great programs, and no doubt it's one of the best schools in the nation." </p>
<p>Then, just a few lines below you write: "But NYU's reputation is undeserved, in my opinion."</p>
<p>So, you do think NYU is one of the best schools in the nation, but you also think its reputation is undeserved. Isn't this contradictory? Am I missing something?</p>
<p>Finally, you do not back up your opinion about the undeserved reputation of NYU with any arguments - must be just a gut feeling. In contrast, in my earlier post #725 I do provide some facts about the academic/research reputation of NYU.</p>
<p>You're overlooking something very simple atnyu. You make the argument that NYU's draw is not mostly its location, otherwise students would be applying to Pace and CUNY schools. Obviously, NYU is a much better school than pace and CUNY. Therefore, it has a certain level of academic prestige which attracts people, something that Pace and CUNY lack. So yes, NYU has good academics and location. It's all relative: NYU is only overrated in the sense that its desirability doesn't correlate with its academic quality. If you were to compare, say, the University of Chicago to NYU, where the former is indisputably stronger academically, you would see that NYU still gets a larger number of applications. Why? Location.</p>
<p>Underrated: Northwestern and Brown</p>
<p>Overrated: Duke</p>
<p>Overrated: ivy leagues </p>
<p>Underrated: UC Berkeley</p>