<p>Hi, I was just wondering if anyone had any advice! I've been accepted to both NYU & Columbia & am trying to pick! At NYU I got accepted into the MLK scholars program, which means a stipend for an unpaid internship, awesome community service trips domestic/abroad, a great scholarship, etc. I plan to go into the Global Liberal Studies Program as well. At Columbia, I would major in Human Rights. So my only things are: is NYU really that more awesome as far as location? And will you ever have time to have fun at Columbia, or just study the whole time? I want to actually have a college EXPERIENCE not just be stuck in the library. I would pick Columbia for the prestige and possible connections, but I think I would have a better time at NYU. Comments/?</p>
<p>I’m class of 2012 and got into Stern and Columbia, and picking Columbia was the obvious choice, even though I’m interested in Finance and Stern is a business school. Columbia was still clearly the better choice.</p>
<p>My main point is that Columbia is better than NYU, because Columbia can offer you the same opportunities as NYU, and much more. At Columbia, you will be at a liberal arts institution of only 5,000 top-notch undergraduates at a centrally located campus, and at NYU, you’ll be 1 of 40,000 students scattered across lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, which builds literally no sense of community. Columbia has a much greater sense of community than NYU and still offers the amenities of NYC. It has the best of both worlds. Any opportunity NYU offers, Columbia can also offer to its smart student (b/c employers know Columbia is better than NYU). In direct consideration of your points, here are my thoughts. Other adults may concur. </p>
<p>At NYU I got accepted into the MLK scholars program, which means a stipend for an unpaid internship
- you have your entire life to work. Getting an additional 2-3k/year for an unpaid internship is not worth giving up Columbia.
- The internship is unpaid. You should really reconsider that. It is unrealistic, and many employers are willing to pay Columbia students.</p>
<p>awesome community service trips domestic/abroad, a great scholarship, etc.
-> I wouldn’t pick one school over another because of community service trips. Every school has them for any break time you could imagine, or even during the school year. The world literally comes to your feet at Columbia. There are so many fellowships advertised here that I don’t even read them anymore. People at state schools would die for any of them.</p>
<p>So my only things are: is NYU really that more awesome as far as location?
- Sure thing. NYU is in lower Manhattan, but that means living there and not with your peers. I would forego living around Union Square if I had the opportunity to meet people who have hiked every major mountain, billionaires, international students, people taking time off to work on vineyards in Italy, models, etc. I say ‘live’ with, because at Columbia, each class is built strongly by the shared experience of living on Campus. NYU, on the other hand, has no ‘campus.’</p>
<p>And will you ever have time to have fun at Columbia, or just study the whole time?
- You’ll certainly have fun. Some people go downtown every weekend, and some people never leave campus. Everyone runs the gamete. We work hard and play hard, and honestly, I’d much rather prefer that. I want to be around more stimulating and interesting people, and like any institution, you’re bound to find people like you amongst 5,000 individuals. Also think-- Columbia turns down more than 9 people for every 1 person they choose. There’s a reason for that. You’re lucky to have been chosen, and if you don’t realize it, then you’re not fit to come here.</p>
<p>I want to actually have a college EXPERIENCE not just be stuck in the library.
- You won’t be stuck in the library all the time, unless you choose to be. People certainly have lives here, and you don’t seem to have the slightest clue about Columbia and NYU, because NYU does not provide a ‘typical’ college experience whatsoever. If you want a more ‘typical’ college experience, definitely pick Columbia. Go visit the two schools. You’ll realize that NYU is in lower Manhattan and consists of random buildings you find on one corner or a few streets away. You’ll see that visiting Columbia means entering gates, a community and a quad which holds the undergraduate and graduate life that is Columbia University.</p>
<p>I would pick Columbia for the prestige and possible connections, but I think I would have a better time at NYU.
- If you’re actually serious, then you’ll realize that ‘prestige and possible connections’ = a better time than at NYU. The people you meet here will be so unlike you, and you’ll begin to appreciate everything that you aren’t (which in reality, is so much more than what you are, and provides limitless learning opportunities and connections). You’ll also meet people like you, who will inevitably become your friends, and together, you’ll explore the diversity that is Columbia and the entertainment that is NYC. NYU cannot promise you both.</p>
<p>Pick Columbia, it’s a no-brainer (and to be completely honest, if you don’t, that’s fine. We’ll get a smarter individual to fill your spot).</p>
<p>Big decision to make. Both are great schools. SONDREW said 1 out 9 are accepted to Columbia. I went to the Dean presentation at NYU and 1 out of 17 were accepted to NYU Liberal Arts and Science. And the world is out only the best apply to NYU. So you and my child are one of the best among the bests. Congratulations.<br>
Ok NYU is not an Ivy league but do you know what it means to be an Ivy league. It means the collegue is an old school with an Ivy towel and with a football team so it can compete in sport. NYU does not have a football team but it prepares leaders for the future specially today that the world is connected. Its campus is the whole NYC (research at the ZOO, museams, art, theaters, different languages and different people). You will not be locked in a Ivy towel with same type people. You will be experiencing the real world. comfronting different people problems and solving them. College life happens only once and you better enjoy it. It will make you a better professional and a better human being. The happier you are the more happiness you can give. NYC is a university by itself and combine with NYU is the maximum education you can have. Go to Columbia as a graduate student after you enjoy NYU. Don’t lack yourself in an Ivy tower just to watch a football game. Watch the football game with your NYU community at a NYC sport cafe. If you really need to have come closed campus experience spend a semester at Spain, Argentina, Abu da Bi or Brooklyn. Then you will have both.
Good luck with your decision but remember NYU might be the only chance you have to live in the most important and excited City of the World New York City and I mean NYC Downtown.</p>
<p>collegedeposit, I’m a bit confused as to where you got that 1 out of 17 figure. That’s a 5.88% accept rate, which (if it were true), make NYU harder to get into than Harvard, which is clearly not the case, as NYU’s own website puts their overall acceptance rate at 38.1% (<a href=“Research with Human Subjects”>Research with Human Subjects) of which the Liberal Arts school is hardly the most competitive to enter.</p>
<p>As for your assumption that the environment at Columbia represents an Ivy tower lacking diversity, NYU is hardly a candidate for diversity. While the two have a similar total cost, NYU is not need blind and does not meet the full need of applicants. Generally, for students with families making <$100k/yr, NYU is simply not affordable. </p>
<p>If you look at the racial breakdown of the respective student bodies, you’ll find that Columbia is much more diverse. In a nutshell, you’re not going to be locked in an Ivy ‘towel’ at Columbia; in fact, Columbia makes NYU look like a school for rich (fin aid lowers your chances of getting in) and largely either White or Asian (65%) kids.</p>
<p>collegedeposit can’t even type fluent English and doesn’t know what he/she is talking about at all.</p>
<p>Come on. Are you serious?
Really?
Columbia, 4th on US News and Report ranking, an Ivy league school, versus NYU?</p>
<p>Ami - go to Columbia. Lot of do gooders like you (no offense) including Mr. Obama came from there. I was speaking to a Columbia parent couple of months ago who was so proud of her son. Her son is studying human rights and something else, got well paid internships last couple of years at non-profits, and another one lined up in D.C. this year. Columbia opens more doors than you can imagine and ultimately helps you a lot more with fundraising etc in your chosen field if you stay with it or expect to become a human rights lawyer (ACLU?). I have no idea what NYU’s core is but Columbia’s core is unbelievable for someone in liberal arts.</p>