<p>NYU’s lack of a “college experience” doesn’t make it inferior as some seem to suggest on these boards. It’s just different. The “typical” college experience of quads, the same frat parties, and going to “the game” every weekend does not appeal to those who want to attend or do attend NYU. Personally, I would get quite bored of doing the same routine over and over again, which I why I chose NYU. Yes, NYU is pricey (all private schools are), and living in NYC isn’t cheap, but there are so many opportunities available to us that aren’t available to people at other schools. Critics argue that NYU’s rise in popularity is only due to its location, but they ignore the fact that pretty much all of our programs (not just Stern and Tisch) range from very good to excellent.</p>
<p>I think the previous poster who compared NYU to the top publics (like UNC, UVA, Michigan, etc) is spot on. It’s ironic, though, that NYU can’t meet financial need. When the administration gets a clue and does this, I think it will truly be among the top schools. For now, though, it’s in a limbo of sorts.</p>
<p>I don’t think NYU is comparable to the top publics. Top public typically have very strong and cohesive campus cultures. Academically, NYU is as good, but in all other ways, there are major differences.</p>
<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>
<p>Different strokes for different folks. It is GREAT that there is such a variety of college experiences out there. Key questions: is it a FIT for you? Know what a school is like and what works for you.
NYU’s super-urban qualities, IMO, do not make a a big difference in the rankings. The academics and the delivery of such are what is important in those.</p>
<p>There are other quite urban “campus-less” schools out there in the top 50.</p>
<p>A person looking for an NYU type Manhattan experience might hate WashU, or Dartmouth, and love NYU. A person looking for an LAC experience might hate Berkeley.</p>
<p>A person looking for big-time college sports at, for example UNC, wouldn’t fit at NYU … or at Chicago, or Swarthmore, etc.</p>
<p>Every school I listed is top 35 (or LAC equivalent), yet none is much like the other.</p>