NYU v. The New School - looking for thoughtful input

My daughter got into NYU Gallatin and The New School: Eugene Lang. We are having an ongoing discussion of which she should pick (she is a transfer sophomore). Some considerations:

she is coming from a school with about 7k students and is comfortable with that size. TNS is similar in size, NYU is much bigger but Gallatin is much smaller program within NYU. She sometimes gets overwhelmed with too much input and information and needs adequate time to process. She is a city girl though and is so excited to live in NY in both cases.

She really likes small discussion based (under 20 people) classes. All her classes at TNS would be that way. All Gallatin classes would be as well but she would be taking half of her classes at other NYU schools and they are likely to be much larger.

Both programs have few requirements and will allow her to take classes in her areas of interest and ultimately create her own major (current interests are gender studies, fashion, photography, politics, social justice)

TNS gave her $19k a year in merit. NYU - nothing. Cost isnt ultimately a deciding factor for us but it is still a significant difference .

She is a smart kid but describes herself as sometime unmotivated and is worried that everyone at NYU will be uber competitive versus collaborative and feels like she might vibe more with TNS students.

NYU is a big name school reputation wise. TNS reputation seems limited to the NE and the creative community elsewhere.

NYU’s graduation rate is much higher than that of TNS.

She got into TNS a couple of months ago and only recently heard from NYU (which based on numbers of applicants was a long shot). She had already accepted at TNS and had started thinking about her life there etc. When she got into NYU she was excited but it is requiring her to rethink what she thought she was doing in the fall.

Would appreciate input! Thanks

My son just graduated from the New School with a masters degree. He will be starting a second masters at NYU in June. I’ll let you know what his thoughts are.

Congratulations @Clementine7624! I know it’s hard to have to decide but your D sounds like she will be happy at either school. NYC is such an exciting place to live, especially as a student. My D applied to both schools for Drama so we looked at the both but honestly we didn’t look as closely at TNS. I think one thing I have been told is that a lot of undergraduates who leave TNS transfer to NYU so that’s something that might be a positive on either side. I mean, she could try TNS and if it didn’t work out have a second chance at NYU.

My D’s experience at NYU has been mostly small discussion style classes and she’s not at Gallatin so I wouldn’t be that concerned out the classroom environment. But the fact that you say your D might get overwhelmed easily would be a red flag against going as a freshman to NYU. It’s a school that really expects students to be able to operate independently and handle a myriad of choices without a whole lot of assistance.

Thank you @CaMom13. She will be a sophomore and has a year under her belt navigating in San Francisco and USF but NYU is more than 2x the size … I guess I worry that it is hard to transfer from TNS to NYU given the large number of kids who apply to NYU every year (so more of a lottery on getting in) - seems like it would be easier to transfer the other way?

Yes, it’d be easier to transfer the other way.
If you can afford NYU without debt, that’s what I’d go with: the university is better known, she can shape her major and restrict her course choices to those with fewer students if that’s what she needs (foreign language and English, in particular, will be small, as will the gender studies seminars. She’ll have to pick carefully for political science, but if push comes to shove, one large class per semester should be ok).
I would advocate for TNS if she is a great fit for it and doesn’t think she’d benefit more from the more academically rigorous classes at NYU.

Well it’s not navigating the city I would be concerned about so much as self-advocating and self-direction in a very big, enormously varied school “world”. I think you need some mental toughness to do that and for some kids going right out of high school would be hard. If she’s already had some time at USF she should have a good perspective.

I am really not trying to talk you or her out of NYU - my D is happy, her roommates are happy, it’s a great place to land if it’s a fit. It’s just the comment you made about getting overwhelmed with too much input that is my " red flag".

Yes, it’s easier to transfer the other way but you’d lose the financial advantage - she won’t get the same scholarship at TNS as a transfer as she will as a freshman. NYU gave you nothing so there’s nothing (financial) to lose by choosing TNS but you have the future risk of not being able to get into NYU if she’s not happy at TNS.

@CaMom13 - just to clarify - she is a transfer now - TNS does give merit for transfers - she got $19k a year in merit which I was told by the admissions office is the highest they give for transfers for Lang. (They give up to $26k for freshmen).

@MYOS1634 thanks for the input. we can afford NYU without debt. At this point I think she needs to find as many students as she can to talk to. If your daughter happens to know any LGBTQ kids at Gallatin who might be willing to talk - let me know :). That tends to be her crowd

I would go with NYU. I know on CC we like to say ranking isn’t everything, but when it is top 30 vs 147 it is a big gap.

I’ve known some successful transfers at both schools.
The main difference is that even with the flexibility of Gallatin, NYU provides a more traditional education.

The New School is essentially the undergrad division of TNS, which was created as a grad school for those who needed to work during the day. TNS has considerably more non-traditional age students as well.
This can be either a drawback or an advantage, depending on what your daughter is looking for.

Socially, the student I know who’ve attended TNS say that because of the class structure, socializing after class is not as easy. The more mature students can typically have places to be.
Because there’s not the same dorm situation as NYU (assuming you daughter gets into a transfer dorm), much of her TNS experience may depend on where she’s living.

Again, both schools sound as if they would meet your daughters needs.

If it were my kid and there were no cost restrictions, NYU all the way.