<p>Regarding the substantive part of this discussion, post #47 captures my feeling about it. I have been around both "campuses" (quotes for NYU's benefit) for extended periods of time. I have actually studied and worked at both these schools. Though not at the same stage of life, and not recently. Lived all over Cornell and Ithaca, and within a mile of NYU. As close as many of its "dorms"; closer than some of them.</p>
<p>Because people blend into the city and go away from each other so easily, it is much more difficult to achieve a sense of community at NYU. This diffusion can easily impair the depth of student interaction, friendships, and sense of connection to the school. When I was there I also felt it was a highly bureaucratic, "take a number" kind of place. I felt that Cornell was a higher quality operation, all the way around.</p>
<p>Ithaca is not NYC, but it is a cultural hub for surrounding finger lakes communities, and you are surrounded by 20,000, or whatever the number is, kids about your age that cannot so easily disappear from each other. The resulting activity level is really not bad at all. And I think because people stay together and interact more, there is a much higher level of connection between each other and with the school.</p>
<p>That said, I cannot convince my own daughter of this and she is probably applying to NYU (Tisch) and not to Cornell.</p>