<p>I'm currently attempting to pick between going to NYU (college of arts and sciences) or UMD-CP (I'm also in the college parks scholars program-international studies). I live in the suburbs of New Jersey outside of NYC and am planning on majoring in economics. Both schools rank well in terms of economics with NYU having the edge(NYU is ranked 11th, UMD is ranked 22nd), however in terms of overall rankings NYU is ranked substantially higher (32 vs 58). I realize ranking aren't everything, but all things being equal I would rather go to the better ranked school. I'm currently torn on whether or not I want to go school in a city with no real campus and whether I want to go to go school so close to where I live (about 45 min.). On the other hand Greenwich Village is a really cool place to be and Manhattan offers lots of opportunities. One appealing part of UMD is its proximity to DC, which is good for me as I am very interested in politics and would consider going into public service. Additionally, UMD costs $30,000 less per year (aside from it being a state school, I got a scholarship). While I could afford both without loans, I don't want to spend $120,000 if it isn't worth it. Any thoughts, particularly from people who have experience with these schools, would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>In addition to the above, I’m curious about the social experience. I don’t exactly like the idea of a “party school” but I don’t want it to be dull either.</p>
<p>Can your parents pay the tuition cost difference out of pocket with ease? If not, UMD is then the obvious choice.</p>
<p>I can afford it. Factoring out money, do you think NYU would be the preferable choice?</p>
<p>@Lionegg-Have you visited Univ. of MD yet? The two schools could not be more different and if you haven’t visited Maryland you should try. I can’t speak to the differences in the departments of your major ( you should try to examine the course catalogs online) but both are wonderful schools. It’s depends on the college experience you want. If you want Greek life and athletics, a lovely green campus, great academics, and a more traditional experience, Maryland might be more to your liking. Both schools have excellent reps and it’s what you do with your time and opportunities that will matter most. Think about what you like to do in whatever little spare time you have- what are your interests and hobbies? which school will enable you to enjoy your life as well as furthering your academic education? Maryland is very close to DC but I am not sure what the public transit situation is into the District and you should check on that, unless you will have a car on campus. The area immediately surrounding the school is not great, but that’s the case with many schools near urban areas. Think about the “vibe” you want. You can’t go wrong with the academics either place. Don’t be seduced by rankings which can be skewed in many ways- and at those levels, the difference is negligible. Look over the course listings and requirements for your programs, visit, listen to your “gut” when you’re on each campus, ask about internships and look at where students have been placed over the past five years, etc. And congratulations on your acceptances- great choices to have!</p>
<p>I applied to both NYU and CP for transfer. I live in DC. Here’s my take…</p>
<ul>
<li>NYU - definitely more opportunities in terms of making connections in my opinion (maybe because nyc is more dense?), higher endowment = more opportunities for its students and more programs</li>
<li><p>NYU - people who go there tell me they feel lonely and it’s a million times worse b/c you’re surrounded by so many more people, expen$ive, no real campus, living in the city is expensive too! </p></li>
<li><p>College Park - so much cheaper than NYU, fun greek life, pretty campus, lots of parties, has a metro stop “College Park,” easy to get into the city</p></li>
<li><p>College Park - so many budget cuts recently, also last year they offered some people in my class a scholarship and took it away due to “lack of funding” after they already put deposit down, bad area surrounding although campus is pretty safe (at least when I go)</p></li>
</ul>
<p>If money isn’t an issue and you don’t care about the setting of the school as much as the program, I would go to NYU. I don’t know, what do you think?</p>
<p>@smewshie- I’ve heard that lonely thing about NYU before. One thing I’m a little concerned about thought, is that since I’m not really into partying, or Greek life, or sports, I might feel more out of place at Maryland.</p>
<p>I mean, I feel like you can always find a group that you’ll fit into if you put yourself out there. Maryland is a big enough school for that. Even though it has a lot of parties and greek life, doesn’t mean you HAVE to participate. Even if 85% of undergrad women are in a sorority, there’s still 15% that aren’t. 15% is a lot! I wouldn’t worry about this much.</p>
<p>Same with parties. Some people go, some people don’t. Some people go to parties where no one drinks, some people go to parties where most drink. It just depends. And you can always leave at any time. It’s not that serious.</p>
<p>I’m assuming you are exaggerating on purpose, but by no means are 85% of girls in sororities! Your numbers are backwards. Real numbers are as follows :</p>
<p>Sororities 15%
Frats 10%
This means the overwhelming number of kids are not in either.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted to both UMD and NYU. She was also given scholarships at both schools. She chose UMD. The academics are strong at both. The two schools are completely different though. If you are looking for a traditional campus, go with UMD. If living in the Village excites you …go with NYU. My daughter loves both atmospheres. It really came down to academics and internships for her. She wants internships in DC and to be able to participate in UMD’s federal semester program.
You have two excellent choices! You are very fortunate. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>Both schools are large enough that if you reach out, you should be able to find people whose interests are the same as yours.</p>
<p>@proudmomx2 yeah you’re right, sorry! Yeah, it’s exactly the opposite. That did seem weird to me…</p>
<p>Only like 15% are in sororities or frats…</p>
<p>@smewshie, can you imagine if the numbers were as you first read them!?! Lol! That would be a bad situation!</p>
<p>I went to UMD and currently working in Banking in NYC. </p>
<p>So the difference between UMD and NYU is there but not a massive difference (I am trying to give you an honest, impartial advice here.)
The cool thing about NYU is NYC is flooded with NYU graduates, due to its locations in the heart of city, which definitely helps out when finding networking opportunities and looking for jobs. NYU reputation is as strong as you’ll get for a school that is not IVY leauge institution.</p>
<p>Now the undergraduate ranking difference you pointed out (NYU:32 vs UMD:58) is really not accurate. I don’t want to take on the world now by arguing these rankings but UMD is a top research institution, its graduate programs, especially in the math/sciences, rank in the top 20-30ish area across the board. That is where most of UMD’s reputation lies. UMD publishes more papers in academic journals per year than NYU. It is a larger school and your more likely to find alumni easier at many companies. It has a highly regarded reputation everywhere you go.</p>
<p>Coming from UMD and working in NYC, where many of my colleagues are IVY league alumni, I can definitely say no one has ever denied me an opportunity because of where I went. UMD’s reputation is highly respected in NYC, in case at some point you decide to work there ( I am not going to mention DC because its given UMD has an edge there in terms of connections). </p>
<p>Look, NYU overall is a better school but where not talking miles here. However, on the financial savings it is. We are not talking about UMD vs Harvard/MIT here. Look at your budget; believe me you’ll be glad you did by the time you graduate ( I know it is tough to think about that when you haven’t even started college). I cannot tell you how many kids I see coming out of tops schools (friends at other IVY’s) who cannot find a job and are loaded with college debt. Please make the financially wise decision because I can promise you the quality of education your going to get is pretty much the same from these two schools.</p>
<p>I have a friend in an almost identical position, accept not for economics. He’s chooseing UMD, and I think thats a good choice, Because as schools, I don’t know that NYU is $120,000 BETTER in most respects. But since you are an economics major, I would suggest NYU, just because of their fabulous internship opportunities. Although, I don’t know anything about CAS economics… If it was Stern there would be know question.</p>
<p>NYU has the huge advantage of being in the city and having professors with tons of connections. I don’t know about CAS but I know a few Stern kids who graduated with wonderful jobs on Wall Street. Big advantage. While it was way more expensive, they will make back the price of the degree and more.</p>
<p>I think you need to look more into these programs. The list you were referring to is a grad school list – undergrad is different, although I know of BA grads from Stern doing well. I don’t know much about CAS but I strongly suggest you research more before blowing $120,000 on the wrong NYU school. As far as I know, CAS economics doesn’t sound like its worth more than UMD. I say go to Maryland and go to Grad school at NYU, or, transfer to Stern your sophomore year.</p>
<p>I have experience with both. I am an NYU alum, and I was raised in MD. I have spent considerable time on the College Park campus, and know scores of people who’ve passed through that university, and the UMD system on the whole.</p>
<p>I won’t mention finances because you yourself discounted them. </p>
<p>Prestige: There absolutely is no comparison, if name is really important to you. UMCP has a strong name, especially in certain areas, like research, but the NYU name goes much further overall. This isn’t important to all, but if any part of you is concerned with how impressive the name on your degree looks, it’s NYU. You’ll get a lot of naysayers, and hits against NYU here on CC, but trust me, in the real world, people’s eyes still get wide when you tell them you’ve come out of NYU.</p>
<p>Academics: Both schools excel academically, but those rankings you see are there for a reason. UMCP has about a 45% acceptance rate, and NYU is currently sitting around 32% (less if you’re trying to get into one of the top schools like Tisch or Stern). You will encounter a higher pool of students with top grades, tests scores, and overall experience than you will at UMCP simply because the lower acceptance rate concentrates them more. I have known quite a lot of people over the years who’ve gained admissions to UMCP that would frankly never have been competitive in the NYU admissions pool. Some of the most intelligent, socially apt, and culturally savvy people I’ve ever met were at NYU. But both universities have strong enough academics that you likely wouldn’t be making a mistake choosing one over the other.</p>
<p>Economics Department: Both have well regarded Econ departments. NYU’s however is widely considered superior to UMCP. Do a little research, NYU’s econ department is one of the school’s strongest, most regarded, draws. </p>
<p>Housing: No comparison whatsoever. NYU has some of the best “dorms” you’ll ever encounter. And I use quotes around dorms since many of the buildings, especially upperclassmen housing, are less dorm and more nice NYC apartments. And it’s guaranteed. UMCP has had dorm issues in the past that forced some kids to seek off campus housing. Not sure if that’s still the case. But regardless, UMCP has typical, standard, hideous looking college dorms that are often called “cells” by the students.</p>
<p>Community/Spirit: College Park, hands down. There is a palpable sense of school spirit, and pride, on the UMCP campus. You actually see lots of people sporting school logo emblazoned attire, which you almost never do at NYU. Sports serve as a binding element for a lot of CP students, and there is a TON of pride, and love, from the Terpes. UMCP is the crown jewel of the Maryland college system, and so there is just a lot of pride within the state from students, parents, alum, and faculty alike. There is also a decent frat/sor life there, which further helps foster a sense of community. Overall if you’re talking about wanting a traditional college atmosphere, completely with lots of school pride, and community cohesiveness, UMCP murders NYU.</p>
<p>Campus: Night and Day. College Park’s campus is huge. It’s big, green, and beautiful. I find CP’s campus just absolutely breathtaking. It’s the kind of campus you’d see portrayed in a film about college kids, complete with power frisbee throwers, and pretty young girls jogging across the greens. But I emphasis that CP’s campus is quite sizable. It’s not uncommon to end up needing 20 minutes to get to a class, depending on where your dorm is located, or how far it is from your previous class.</p>
<p>NYU, surprisingly, has shorter travel times for somebody in the econ department. NYU owns a near obscene amount of land, but a lot of the departments, and classes, are actually clustered around Washington Square park. Most Freshman dorms are located near the park, so at least during the first year or two you’re likely to have a very short commute between your residence and most of your classes. NYU DOES have a campus. WSQ serves as, IMO, the coolest quad EVER. But there are no iron gates. The campus does bleed into the city. But the immediate area around the park feels pretty much like the heart of NYU, and is very, very distinct from the rest of the city, and even the village.</p>
<p>Partying: CP students know how to get a party going. If you’re worried about partying too hard for CP, don’t. Trust me, you’ll have no problem at CP. It is a HUGE party school. But it definitely is a traditional type of deal, with kids spending a lot of their partying time on campus, or in the immediate surrounding area.</p>
<p>With NYU, NYC IS the party. It’s a round the clock, damn near 24/7 potential party. There is some dorm partying, absolutely, but a lot of your social time here will end up being out in the City proper. The party will be at clubs. The party will be at somebody’s apartment on the Upper West Side, or in a brownstone down in Brooklyn. The party will extend late into the night, in a city that rarely sleeps. There will be no major, school wide party that everyone is aching to attend. The party almost always comes down to people in your circle, people you know. Everyone at NYU finds a different way to have a good time, because there are just so many ways to make this happen. But there is definitely a sophistication, and a variety, to the NYU social scene that doesn’t exist at UMCP.</p>
<p>Area: The actual town of College Park sucks. Period. It’s improved somewhat over the years, but it’s not a huge draw. A lot of CP students either spend most of their time on campus, or take the metro into DC. DC is a GREAT city. But NYC is THE city. That’s the difference. You visit DC, during the hours the metro allows you to. You live in NYC, and have access to all that entails. As much as I do enjoy DC, there really is no comparison here IMO. Well, save one area; I think DC is just absolutely gorgeous down by the mall, and in surrounding areas, and with all that impressive greek-roman style architecture. </p>
<p>Transportation: No comparison. Besides maybe the London tube system, NYC has the best, most extensive, transportation system on planet Earth (considerable warts and all). DC’s metro looks far better, but it’s laughably insufficient for hitting large swaths of the DC/Metro area. And it is more expensive than NYC’s. You will never need a car in NYC. You will definitely need access to a car in MD if you’re looking to do a lot of exploration of the state, and even parts of DC and Virginia. </p>
<p>Dining: NYU wins. It has far more dining halls than UMCP, and the food is surprisingly decent, and varied, for dining hall food. And when all else fails, all of the upper classmen apartments have kitchens, and, well, it’s New York City, dining capital of the world. </p>
<p>Support: I’ve heard, and read, that College Park kids do feel pretty supported by their school. They feel like part of a family, and that there are resources, and staff, there in times of need. I can’t say NYU feels like that at all. You definitely get the sense that you’re expected to be strong, and handle a lot of situations on your own. It’s not a warm hugs and cookies kind of school.</p>
<p>All things, save money, considered? If you want a really solid, well regarded university that’s bustling with school pride, a strong sense of community, complete with manicured lawns, sports, and a traditional college atmosphere, CP would be an excellent fit for you.</p>
<p>If you’re a more independent person, who enjoys the thrills of living in a huge metropolis, coupled with the merits of a very well regarded econ department, an impressive name, and are looking for something far outside the box of “normal” college, NYU is it.</p>
<p>Iwishyouwell, that was an absolutely fantastic review. Really enjoyed reading it.</p>
<p>Thank you so much Finalchild!</p>
<p>My son will be applying to both schools next year, so thanks for the great review.</p>
<p>The people who are attending UMD from my D’s NY suburban high school are definitely the big partiers. The kids going to NYU are the more serious students. </p>
<p>I am a NYU alum and have hired many people over the years. If I received a resume from someone from NYU and someone from UMD for economics–I would be more impressed with the academic credentials from the candidate from NYU. Just being honest…</p>