I was admitted into NYU Stern and Fordham Gabelli to study finance and I decided to pay enrollment deposit to NYU because they gave me a bigger scholarship and its clearly the better school. Afterward, Fordham gave me a call and asked me what they could do for me to attend. I asked them to match or surpass NYU’s offer and I am confident they will do so. At that point, I will have a dilemma, with money out of the picture I will have to decide what I value more, the better campus feels and how much more I just “fit” at Fordham or the bigger target school name and ease of access into a Wallstreet job that NYU provides. Honestly, I don’t see myself as an NYU student, but I do see myself taking advantage of its abundant resources. Any advice?
The son of friends of ours graduated from Gambelli a couple of years ago. He got a good internship (accounting) for the summer after junior year and stepped into a good paying job with that same company right out of graduation. So Fordham gets it done for its Gambelli graduates.
OTOH, If your heart is set on Wall Street, Stern is probably the better way to go.
One other thought about NYU. It might not have the traditional green campus that Fordham does, but at NYU you’re walking through history. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, which changed history took place in what is now an NYU classroom building. (See the play “Rags”, which was written about that time.) Radical intellectuals broke away from Columbia (when they were demanding a loyalty oath during WW I) and started the New School for Social Research a few blocks away from the current NYU campus. Bobby Fischer honed his game at the chess tables in Washington Square Park on his way to becoming world chess champion. Everything that happened in the ‘60’s started in that Village neighborhood surrounding Washington’s Square. (Google “Beatnik Riot” for a really funny story that kicked off the 1960s.) “The Fantastics” became the longest running play in history in little Sullivan Street Playhouse.
The Village is a really inspiring place if you learn about the people who walked those same streets that you walk as a student. But it’s more than that. It’s the heart of a neighborhood that’s teeming with college students. Not just from NYU, but also from the New School, from the world renowned Parsons School of Design, from Mannes College of Music, from the Cardozo Law School, home to the groundbreaking Innocence Project, and from historic Cooper Union, a few blocks away in the East Village. You’re within walking distance of Little Italy, Chinatown, Five Points, and SoHo with its famous film festival every spring.
NYU’s “campus” is missing some things, but it also has some things that no other campus has.
I’m a big fan of Jesuit education but for finance, Stern is the right call. (Unless Fordham comes up with close to a full ride.)
Stern without a doubt.
The size of the scholarship isn’t what matters. What matters is your cost after the scholarship. So do run those numbers very, very carefully, and think about what any difference could mean for you as a student and after graduation.
By match offer I meant match final COA with scholarship
Hi! Current NYU student here. I’d definitely recommend Stern based on the sheer amount of connections you’ll make and the resources you’d have. I’m not in Stern but it’s known around campus that Stern typically has a lot of funding and top-notch academics. They also host a ton of networking events with business executives