NYU vs University of Texas Opinions

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I am in quite a dilemma. I was almost decided on the fact that I was going to go to UT CAP (UT Arlington for 1 year, get the fairly easy GPA requirement, and then go to UT Austin for 3 and transfer into their engineering), but NYU Poly just accepted me. These two schools are so different, and I have no clue what to do.</p>

<p>NYU Poly directly accepted me into their Electrical Engineering program, a program, which I know for a fact, is one of the most emerging in the United States. The company my father works for has a research development going on at NYU Poly, and they, ironically, got a professor from UT Austin to go and do some research there. Yet I feel like NYU Poly might not be the top school I was looking for. UT Austin is one of the top schools for engineering, and it is my father's dream school.</p>

<p>Could anyone help me make the decision? Financially I am fine, of course a cheaper school would be better, but my father and I are both willing to pay the extremely high cost of NYU if we do see it as the better route.</p>

<p>All input is welcome, I'll be able to supply more information if there is anything else you would like to know. Regardless of where I go, I will be trying to transfer into my dream schools my junior year, but I want to make sure I have a solid base just in case.</p>

2

<p>Have you been to NYU Poly? From what I understand it doesn’t have a real campus. Would that be a problem? If you have a picture in your head of you on a UT like college campus, NYU Poly might not be for you. Sounds like it would also be far from home. How do you feel about that? </p>

3

<p>Thank you very much for your reply.</p>

<p>That’s one of my mother’s fears. She believes Brooklyn might not suit me too well, considering that I am an international student and I would be hours away from any family (parents in Texas with Visas, or Italy). Being 17 and living in Brooklyn does sound a bit scary, yet I think I can overcome that if I really feel like it’s the right place for me. I’ll be, hopefully, going to a campus visit with my father within the next two weeks, and I have a meeting with a representative for this Sunday. Thank you for bringing that up, I’ll be sure to look into it. </p>

<p>Living away from home might not be too much of a stress. Ever since I was 1 years old, my parents and I have been moving around quite a bit (7 countries in 17 years of my life). It could be hard leaving them, as they have always been by my side, but I love to travel and explore places so, whether now or in a couple of years, I was bound to say arrivederci. </p>

<p>I’m still a bit undecided on what I want to study as well. Petroleum Engineering is also what my father wants me to do. He’s an Electrical Engineer, what I want to be, and is in the business industry, also what I want to do. Petroleum does have that aspect of traveling and money involved, yet I still think it might not be the office or managing job I’m seeking. Electrical Engineering, with a minor in Business (I think a minor in Business at NYU or UT would look really nice along with the Engineering degree) and a possible Masters in Business would help me get that business like job I am looking for. High salary, lots of travel, and plenty of managing would be the ideal job for me (Yes, I know it’s decently hard to achieve, but when I set my mind to thinks, I generally achieve them). </p>

<p>Thanks again for the replies.</p>

4

<p>Many petroleum engineers work in an office setting, especially if they’ve done a couple years of work out on the field. PE is not limited to on site analysis, as evidenced by the fact that Houston houses around 1/3 of all US based petroleum engineers. </p>

5

<p>That’s interesting, thanks for your reply.</p>

<p>I’m still very much treading in uncharted waters, I don’t have an utter clue and the deadline is coming soon. I do believe, as of now, I think I am leaning more towards UT since I’ll have more time to decide.</p>

6

<p>UT Austin has a very strong engineering program, you would be closer to family and your parents would be less worried, and would save money along the way which is always a good thing. If you like NYC, you can always work there once you become an engineer. UT Austin definitely seems like a much better choice for you if you can get in honestly.</p>

7

<p>If you do UT CAP, what are the requirements to get admitted <em>into your chosen major</em>?
At some universities, including UT, there are specific requirements to get into engineering and then extra requirements on top of that to get into specific branches of engineering, with ChemE being really hard (=“a real feat worthy of Hercules”) but I don’t know for EE.
What about costs?</p>

8

<p>Costs do matter a little bit, yet they aren’t a deal breaker. If I were to chose NYU, my father wouldn’t say much on the cost other than I better do well. </p>

<p>UT engineering requirements are fairly easy. Since I’m taking AP Calc and I took both AP Physics C and B, I’ll have the credits and also the base for all of that. I have already gone over which credits to take in order to maximize my competitiveness for engineering in general. EE doesn’t have specific ones outside of the ones that they ask for Engineering in general, yet my father said I should take chemistry and possible an additional math in order to really be ahead.</p>

9

<p>I have no background knowledge about NYU Poly’s programs, but I will tell you that NYU is really trying to integrate the Brooklyn campus with the main campus. There are free shuttle buses and now that Poly is fully part of NYU, students can take classes at either campus and use all the facilities of NYU in the Village.</p>

<p>But more than that, Brooklyn is not a scary place! Especially as a young person, it is quite the place to be in terms of bars, clubs, restaurants, galleries etc. Many, many young people are calling Brooklyn home. Some are doing it because it used to be that it was cheaper than Manhattan. But now many are moving there because they like the overall community. If you’ve lived in 7 different countries, Brooklyn will not be a challenge! </p>

10

<p>You seem to have a fairly good handle on what it will take to succeed in your CAP program and eventually at UT. You appear to have a reasonable plan with a decent chance of success of gaining entrance into UT engineering, with options for Electrical and Petroleum Engineering – both elite programs at UT. Going to NYU Poly would introduce several unknown variables into the equation as well as significant cost and does not appear to be a justifiable risk.</p>

11

<p>Those are two VERY different college experiences. If you want a traditional college experience, you would have to choose Texas, but NYU would offer things to do off campus that Texas will not have. Either way, congrats.</p>

12

<p>You can’t really choose wrong.
Personally, if you currently live in Texas (and since you can afford it), I’d advocate NYU Poly because of the cultural experience. You’ll get to live in a different environment - and Brooklyn is great, yes, not scary at all unless you find hipsters dangerous :p.
However your reason for attenting CAP then UT are well thought-out, so it’s a personal choice between staying close to home and within a known environment, or discovering another part of the country and fending for yourself. It really depends on you, your personality. Congratulations: your hard work, intelligence and dedication have placed you in that enviable position where you can’t choose wrong. :)</p>

13

<p>Thank you all for the wonderful replies, this is definitely helping!</p>

<p>Yesterday I got my Green Card! Thus I will be applying for Financial Aid and will have a guaranteed Texas In-State tuition. This might change quite a bit, as the schools I got denied from all have said that with this new document I could be able to appeal (except for UT, who already considered me as a Texas graduate. I was actually on the phone with the head of Admissions today to talk about CAP, he was very reassuring even though it took a while to get what I wanted to hear. CAP students do somewhat get preferred over regular transfer students for Engineering, and he said as long as I have a good GPA and take the classes, I will be fine. He also approved my plan of taking the classes I don’t have AP Credit for already, because UT will see how I’ll have some of the requisites already and be able to use those my second year. Some of those credits are already for engineering, so I’ll be way way ready for it). I will talk to NYU about the whole Financial Aid now, as well. They might give me something, I hope, or at least be able to aid me in that.</p>

<p>As of now, I will be going to visit Arlington and Austin (see if a counselor there can tweak my plan a little bit), and also try to get a trip to New York with my father. Another development for me to look at is my appeals at schools, where a couple of admissions counselors have told me that some of those appeals for Green Cards have worked in the past. (Pray for Berkeley, my girlfriend and I will be very grateful!)</p>

<p>I’ll have to tell my mother about Brooklyn. She has a biased view due to it usually being portrayed negatively in the news sometimes, and, since we’re Italian, we don’t have a great contemporary knowledge on what’s really going on. We’ve visited New York once, and even though we lived in Mexico City for 4 years, it was still quite the place. But like someone mentioned, I lived in Tokyo, Mexico City, Madrid, Milan, and Rio de Janeiro, all big and some nasty cities.</p>

<p>The fact that NYU and Poly are merging is a huge factor for me, as NYU would have been a potential University for me just because, well, it’s NYU. I’ve heard from students there and from graduates and most of them have said to forget any other school, because NYU is the best out there. With NYU Poly emerging like that, I feel it could be a risk but one that could pay off. Like I mentioned, the company my father works for has a research development program at NYU Poly, and NYU Poly just got a professor for Electrical Engineering at UT Austin to go up there and lead this research. I would have the connection with this professor through my father’s colleagues, and I would be able to really launch myself with this.</p>

<p>Decisions decisions, loving the help though! Thank you everyone who has replied. It might seem crazy that random people on the internet are so influential on my future like this, but it is how it is and your opinions might just push me here or there. If anyone would like to further help, I’ll try to get back to any messages you send me.</p>

14

<p>This should not even give you a moment’s hesitation. UT is one of the best engineering schools in the world. If you go to UTA for a year and decide you don’t like Austin for some reason, you could still transfer to NYU. If you go to NYU, the chances of transferring into UT are negligible at best. </p>

15

<p>Torveaux, academically you’re right, but not financially: OP may not be able to afford a transfer into NYU ( we don’t know whether OP is full cost = transfers don’t get financial aid beside their federal loans…) </p>

16

<p>My father and I could both be able to afford NYU (but who likes spending 70k a year?). I should be getting a couple of scholarships here and there, my mother and girlfriend are both making sure that I apply. Now with a possible Financial Aid that comes with the Green Card (as an International student, I didn’t apply, but i’ll be asking if it’s too late since the deadline was a month ago), I’ll be able to possibly get more money (Texas said that even though I wasn’t a permanent resident, which I am now, I could still apply to get aid from them since they considered me Texas graduate, so I think I have decent chances of getting financial aid from Texas more than NYU). Overall, though, the costs don’t matter too much. If it’s on the line, then of course I’ll be picking the cheaper school, yet it won’t be a big factor in my decision process.</p>

17

<p>What has NYU said re: financial aid now that you have a green card?</p>

18

<p>I haven’t reached out to my admissions counselor yet as I didn’t have my Green Card number. It actually came in today (YAY!) and so I’ll call her on Monday. </p>

19

<p>As an engineer, I cannot imagine paying all that money for NYU when you have the opportunity to attend UT-Austin, which is one of the best engineering schools in the world. But it’s your family’s money! I just don’t understand paying MORE money for an “emerging” program. I would save up that money for grad school, down payment on a house, car, etc.</p>

20

<p>NYU is notoriously stingy on the FA, especially at this late date, so I think you’d better off with UT CAP. There is nothing Brooklyn Poly can provide that UT can’t. (You will get a degree from NYU, but in the industry, they call it Brooklyn Poly).</p>