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<p>I have to disagree. Certainly it’s true that each of the top publics has a strong, cohesive, campus-centered culture. NYU doesn’t. In fact, NYU doesn’t exactly have a campus in the classic sense, but even if it did, its students are drawn outward into the city more than inward into campus. </p>
<p>But apart from that, NYU is statistically almost indistinguishable from the top 5 public flagships: same size student body overall and at the undergraduate level, very similar SAT scores, similar percentage of large classes, and similar graduation rate. There are minor differences: NYU’s PA score (3.8) is a bit lower than the others in this group which range from UNC’s 4.1 to UC Berkeley’s 4.7. At 11:1, NYU’s s/f ratio is on the low side for this group (the others range from 14:1 for UNC to 17:1 for UCLA), although there’s not much payoff in smaller classes. A smaller percentage of NYU’s entering class ranked in the top 10% of their HS class (64%; the others range from 80% at UNC up to 98% at UC Berkeley). And NYU fills a smaller percentage of financial need (71%) than the leading publics, with UCLA at 81% and the rest of the top group in the 90%-100% range. </p>
<p>As a private institution in a high-cost market, NYU is also pricier, with a total COA of $59,365, or about $11K more per year than Michigan OOS, and $20K more per year than UNC Chapel Hill OOS.</p>
<p>So I would say that apart from campus cultures, NYU is very similar to the leading publics, though its faculties are not quite as strong overall, its costs higher, its financial aid weaker, and its students with similar SAT scores but not as accomplished in HS class rank. In short, the US News ranking probably fairly captures NYU’s position—similar to but slightly behind the leading publics.</p>