My daughter is looking at colleges in New York City for 2022 with a major in Political Science and/or human rights (we are from southern NJ). Currently on her list is:
Marymount Manhattan
Hunter
Baruch
Pace
City College
Eugene Lang at The New School
She currently has an unweighted of 3.43 and weighted of 4.7 but hasn’t take the SAT yet (she struggles with standardized tests so she is still doing some studying). She is in competitive cheer so her schedule is very tight but she has done some volunteering and has been in 2-3 clubs per year and holds a part time job. Does anyone have anything to say about the choices above given her background? Pros and Cons?
Thanks for any help or advice!
Consider Manhattan College and Fordham if you can afford them.
Most of the colleges you listed have limited (and expensive) housing.
Manhattan and Fordham are both just outside of the city, but both have housing and each has a campus. Manhattan campus is small but quaint. Fordham campus is gorgeous.
Good luck!
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Manhattan and Fordham are both in New York City - they are not “outside the city” but they are in the Bronx, not Manhattan. If Manhattan is what the OP desires (he/she did not specify), Fordham does have a campus in Manhattan at Lincoln Center. Political Science as a major is offered at the Lincoln Center campus.
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We are looking to stay in Manhattan if possible. We felt fordham would be out of reach for her given her GPA and the Lincoln campus was a lot more expensive (if I did the calculations right). I looked at Manhattan College and while I liked it, it is still a 45 min train ride to the city. Thanks for the input.
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I think Baruch and Hunter are your best (and cost effective) options
Thank you. We both love Hunter and Baruch, just not sure she will get in. When I see the admission rate, I don’t know that she would get in but fingers crossed.
In my opinion, one of my children attended several years back, Baruch would be a poor choice for political science. Baruch is known as the CUNY business school with lots of accounting and finance majors. A lot of students switch to political science when they find their original majors to hard. It is basically three buildings on a city street and almost all the students are commuters.
Dorms are about 30 minutes away by subway and the dorms are for anyone attending a CUNY school, not just Baruch. They offer no dining plan.
I think you can find a better, more economical option for political science. Out of state tuition is around $15,000. The dorms, without any dining plan, are another 15,000. Food is very expensive and your daughter will have to buy food and cook every night in a communal kitchen which means you will have to buy kitchen supplies. On top of that she will need a metro card to commute which is even more money.
A school not known for political science, that will cost around $35,000 does not make sense just to be in Manhattan. I do not know much about hunter but it might be a much better choice than Baruch.
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But in all in all, Rutgers is a much better school than those.
NYC is great for Columbia, NYU, Cooper Union …
CUNY is a solid school, but I’d have picked Rutgers.
What about Pace?
Pace is on our list. Do you know much about it or have any insights? She likes their Peace and Justice major there.
I don’t know much about Pace…just yesterday they had a counselor virtual day, with admissions session, student panel and tour of many of the buildings, including dorms. Their facilities seem nice, nicer than I was expecting. All in all it was impressive. Students were articulate and seemed happy.
I don’t know anything about the Peace and Justice major but would encourage you to look at their course offerings in that department, and reach out to the department head.
Is your D considering any of the DC area schools?
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Thanks so much for the insight. I am trying to get her to look at DC as well. We have been to NYC a lot and she just loves it there. But for politics, I feel like it would be a waste not to consider there.
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Fordham is a great suggestion. It actually is in the city - it’s just in the Bronx (which is still part of New York City) instead of Manhattan. (This is also true of Manhattan College, which is also located in the Bronx despite the name). The subway will easily get her to all of the amenities of Manhattan and the other boroughs. She might also consider St. John’s University, which is in Queens.
I looked at Manhattan College and while I liked it, it is still a 45 min train ride to the city.
Since you live in southern NJ, I assume you realize that this is pretty par for the course in New York? I went to Columbia and it was frequently a 45-minute train ride into Lower Manhattan, much less the boroughs, but it’s just part of life in New York and that’s not actually a huge barrier like a 45-minute drive would be. Since her horizon is already pretty narrow looking just at New York City, I’d recommend that she don’t exclude colleges that she likes that are a little further afield.
Pace has a meh reputation. It’s not a bad place, it’s not a great place. You can get a good solid education there, but I do remember it being exorbitantly expensive precisely for the privilege of living in New York.
That said, I agree with the statement that Rutgers is better than many of these schools (and there are other great choices in NJ), and a student living in central or northern NJ can hang out in NYC every weekend if she wants to. I feel like a lot of students want to live in NYC because of the young-20s mythology around it, but she can always move there after college - which may be more fun if she has money and a job. I definitely feel like she shouldn’t narrow her application field to only NYC, especially if she’s looking for good solid midtier colleges.
DC is a great suggestion. She might be interested in American University.
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As a resident of NYC, I completely agree.
- NYC is a great place … WHEN/IF YOU HAVE MONEY (a bit tougher on students)
- Pace has a “meh” reputation (especially for the money)
- Manhattan College is in a BEAUTIFUL spot
- Rutgers compared to other choices, is a steal for both quality and $$$
I’d suggest Montclair State too. They have a solid coop program. There’s also a train stop on campus and much of the weekend social life revolves around going into NYC. Nice new dorms. My D didn’t apply because she hates NYC and didn’t like that that was the main social scene there. It would be a fraction of the cost but easy to get to/from for coops and social life.