I was recently accepted as Undecided in both NYU Stern and Ohio State Honors Exploration program. I realize that NYU and Stern in particular is much more prestigious but my problem is that I am undecided and have no clue what I want to do and am thinking about anything from Business to Engineering. If I go to NYU and realize I don’t want to pursue a business career (I dont even know what path in business) then I will have wasted quite a bit of money and although they have a great engineering school I dont think it is worth the higher tuition. And the problem with going to OSU is that even if I figure out what I want to do after freshman year wouldn’t it be near impossible to transfer to a school such as Stanford or Stern.
All opinions and perspectives are welcome.
Can you defer the Stern admission (for a gap year to discover your path)?
Not sure that a gap year would help the OP - I mean, it might, but it would have to be a pretty directed gap year. A year in college to take classes and actually see what s/he likes might be more useful to that end.
Do you have a lot of financial aid from Ohio State that might not be awarded again? Because I think it would be much easier to transfer from Stern to OSU than it would be to go in the other direction. Are your only options business or engineering?
I’m in state for OSU with no aid for either as of now so OSU is way cheaper and my options would be anything I’m interested in but at NYU I got into Stern I don’t really understand if that means I can take any class or major I want or if I have to focus on business
That would be the first thing you should find out, then. I am fairly certain that NYU Stern students may take classes at any school across NYU (as their schedule and major allows) BUT that they must major in business. That’s the whole point of going to Stern. However, NYU Stern students may double major in business + any field outside of business. There are also many cross-school minors you may participate in, but you can also choose a minor at Tisch, Wagner, Steinhardt or CAS.
So yes, you have to major in business, but you have a lot of flexibility to define your program after that. If you can afford it, it would not be the worst thing in the world to attend Stern, realize one year in that you really want to major in computer science, and then just add it as a second major. However, the caveat is that I am pretty sure you can’t double major at Tandon (so in engineering).
But if you aren’t admitted to the engineering school at OSU, and you wanted to do engineering, you would have to apply as an internal transfer student there too. (You can, however, study computer science from the college of arts and sciences at OSU.)
There’s also the issue of cost. You said that you have no aid for either. Are you simply waiting on financial aid information, or do you already have an aid package and you know that your family will receive none? NYU is VERY expensive, with the estimated cost of attendance being slightly over $70,000 per year. Can your family afford to pay that? Because you cannot borrow that much money without a co-signer, and you SHOULD NOT borrow that much money with or without a co-signer.
Total cost of attendance at Ohio State, on the other hand, is the much more affordable $25,000 a year for resident students. And it’s an excellent university with a great national reputation.
My opinion: If money were truly no object (I mean that your family is wealthy enough to pay $70K every year out of pocket easily, with few effects on daily life), I might say go to Stern. I get the sense that it is easier to transfer from Stern to CAS if you really decide that you want to major in something else, and with the flexibility to double major you get the best of both worlds: access to Wall Street and other top business firms through Stern and the ability to study other fields in the liberal arts and sciences at NYU.
But if money is a factor (as it is in probably 90%+ of families), then OSU is an excellent school that will offer you lots of post-graduation options. And there are a lot of different ways to enter business - so even if you decide to pursue business, you could - for example - major in computer science at the CAS and then get an MBA at NYU or another top school later.
@julliet
Thank you for that the was really helpful and I am lucky enough that might my parents are fine paying 70000$ I just feel bad making them do so.