I’m a high school senior looking for schools with decent programs and majors with international affairs and business.
I have the grades and test scores for both of the schools, but I’m just hoping to get some advice and feedback on these two schools NYU GWU in terms of their atmosphere and alumni connections.
I’m looking for big cities and a lot of internship opportunities near my school, any suggestions?
Thank you
I don’t know if you know this or not, but International Affairs is an honors major at NYU. You’re required to apply for the major in your 2nd year, and the average accepted GPA is quite high (> 3.0).
If you’re looking to double major in both International Affairs and Business, be sure that you’ll be allowed to do so. For example, students in GWU’s Elliot School are not allowed to declare a second major in the School of Business. Even if the college says that it is possible to double major, you should double-check with students/alumni to see whether it is feasible or not.
As for the internships, I’d say it depends on what job fields you’re hoping to go into after college. GWU will present more opportunities for political internships, which is definitely a huge advantage as you can intern during the spring/fall (so less competition for internships). I think NYU has more Wall-Street type internships as a result of proximity.
If you’re not so keen on the “campus is the city” vibe that both NYU and GWU have (like I was), GWU does have the Mount Vernon campus ~12 miles (??) out from the heart of DC that functions as a more traditional college campus, and has shuttles between there and Foggy Bottom.
Finally, if you’re planning on completing a lot of internships throughout college, you might want to research each of your college’s Job/Internship center to see what resources and support they offer. A good Job/Internship center can be a larger factor in landing internships than the location of your college.
Sorry for the long post, hope this helped a bit!
Wow, thank you so much for this info!!! Really helpful I’ll look into more of this when I visit both schools
Thanks!!!
New York has tons of political/IR internships - there’s the City of New York, there’s the UN, and there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of other international organizations, NGOs, and nonprofits that are headquartered or have locations in New York. Conversely, there are also lots of multinational businesses that have locations in DC. You can get a good international affairs or business internship in either city.
American University is also located in DC and has great international affairs, but is a bit less competitive than GWU.
Both schools would do well with IR but like said above, NYU has another hoop to go through to get into their IR program.
You need to decide if the effort at NYU is worth it and what campus you would like more. I never visited NYU but I have been to GW and their campus is too urban for me. GW is an amazing school though… so if you like urban campuses, go for it.
But if you are not sure, another option, like another poster said, is American University. It’s also in DC but has it’s own college campus - unlike GW which does not have traditional college campus. The competitiveness between AU and GW is becoming pretty equal unlike the past, AU’s acceptance rate is 25% compared to GW’s 39%. (To be completely transparent, I am an AU student…)
Let me know if you have any questions about either GW/AU or IR in general.
Never knew GW’s campus was too urban! Only saw them through pictures…
Thank you so much American University is also one of my options!!
Well, whether “too urban” is an accurate description for GW depends on your own preference: some people prefer rural campuses, some prefer suburban campuses, and some want the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle.
I’d go with NYU. Stern is a great business school, even for undergrads.
While they are both urban un-campuses, the city context of GWU and NYU is very different. NYU is in Manhattan, the most densely populated borough in NYC. In DC, the district proper is about 1/3 as dense as Manhattan, with some of the highest density areas (Mt. Rainier, Friendship Heights) located outside the district in suburbs because the height restrictions put a limit on density in the district.
So while it’s a city, DC is more like the concrete woods compared to Manhattan’s concrete jungle.