Hi, I am a freshman student at NYU College of Arts and Sciences. I applied for transfer and have been accepted into Stern business school at NYU as well as at CMU Tepper school of business. I am interested in pursuing a consulting career in Data Analytics. Both NYU Stern and CMU Tepper offer Data Analytics as a concentration. I am having a hard time deciding between the two schools.
NYU Stern business school is ranked slightly higher (#5 according to US News and #3 by poetsandquants) and might be better known than CMU Tepper (#7 by US News and #8 by poetsandquants), but CMU Tepper has a stronger computing and data analytics reputation (#2 ranked according to US News) than NYU Stern (#6). Both schools seem to have strong placement results with similar starting salaries.
I have done well in my first year at college of Arts & Sciences at NYU and am involved in a few clubs, so it will be easy transition to the Stern business school here but I am also wondering if given my interesting in Data Analytics, CMU Tepper might be a better option.
Any advice or input that would help me decide would be greatly appreciated. Does any one have personal experience that they can share? Any particular factors that I should think of while making the choice?
Thanks much in advance for any thoughts you might have.
If you don’t have an issue with NYU/NYC, I don’t know why you would even consider moving.
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Assuming an indifference between NYC/Pitt and keeping friends at NYU or not:
Look at the classes and go with what you want to study.
The biggest determinant in your life is you, not which of these 2 fine programs you choose.
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The differences in those rankings are negligible – both are top-10 in both polls in both areas. That’s close enough, I think, to not impact your decision at all – at least according to the metrics used in those rankings, Stern and Tepper are of fairly equal quality.
To me, it all comes down to this: are you happy at NYU? If so, stay. If not, continue thinking about it.
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Oh right, and yes, get those rankings numbers out of your head. It makes zero sense for them to be any factor at all in your decision-making between those 2 schools. That’s high school thinking.
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Look at outcomes not rankings.
I prefer NYU but since the schools are both fantastic, and you know NYU better than most of us - you tell us!
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That’s only helpful if the breakdown of majors chosen is similar between two schools, and it helps further if the schools are in the same region. Why?
- Regional differences in cost of living lead to differences in salary for the same job
- Different majors lead to different jobs, with different salaries. If one school has 60% humanities majors and the other school is 60% CS and Engineering, which one is likely to post higher average salaries? Students by and large choose their starting salary range based on the major they choose.
So if we are going to compare schools based on outcomes, to be valid we would need to compare them by major, taking into account differences in cost of living.
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Since Data Analytics is only offered as a concentration, and not as a major, at both CMU & NYU (according to OP’s first post in this thread), I wonder if OP has other options ?
https://www,usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/computer-science/data-analytics-science
Based on the limited information shared in this thread, CMU might be the better choice. (My understanding is that “data analytics” & “data science” combines the study of computer science with statistics.)
Many masters programs are available both in-person & online.
FWIW: Within the past 2 years, the University of Virginia has made substantial investments in facilitating the study of data science/data analytics.