<p>What are people's opinions in comparing Vassar's econ program to NYU's business? Reputation, job placement, etc.</p>
<p>How can it be anything other than apples and oranges? An undergraduate business school in the middle of Manhattan, vs. a liberal arts college a couple of hours away? A business curriculum vs. an academic discipline? You are talking about two quite different approaches to what college education should be, and how students are expected to spend their time outside of class. Both of them “work”. It’s hard to believe that the Stern students don’t have an easier time finding their first job out of college, or that they don’t have a much, much easier time accumulating business experience while they are in college. On the other hand, I have no trouble saying that I believe the Vassar students will be better educated, and that I expect that to benefit them over time relative to the Stern students – but that is somewhat a matter of faith.</p>
<p>In terms of general academic reputation, Vassar is probably a little better than NYU, although NYU’s reputation has been increasing rapidly. Twenty years ago, it would have been no contest in Vassar’s favor, and twenty years from now I wouldn’t be surprised if NYU were clearly superior. Stern has a good reputation as an undergraduate business program, but people like me that’s like saying you are a good midget basketball player – we think all undergraduate business programs are inherently suspect, and Stern gets less impressive students than the very best of those (Wharton, MIT, and some public university programs). Economics is an academic discipline that can have lots or very little to do with practical business problems, depending on a student’s interests and directions. Very few great CEOs would make great economists, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Check out the NYU website. The home page has a link to a study of salaries/placement of NYU 2009 grads including Stern grads.</p>
<p>Agree as being apples and oranges, but I think JHS underestimates Stern. It is behind only Wharton and Sloan in the average SAT of the entering class (1435/1600) and the job placement is outstanding.</p>
<p>Another voice for agreement on this being an apples to oranges comparison.</p>
<p>However, they are both in New York State. Also, there will be some Vassar economics majors will hope for jobs in consulting, banking and Big Business…and LOTS of NYU Stern students will look for jobs in consulting, banking and Big Business.</p>
<p>The student body at Stern is, for the most part, very professionally focused. They are bright and hard working (except for, possibly, a few development admits.) A few, but very few, freshman would consider working at a microfinance non-profit foundation to be their ideal first job out of college.</p>
<p>Vassar will have some professionally focused students…especially juniors and seniors…but many fewer, proportionally, than Stern. There will be a number of economics majors at Vassar who would consider a job in a goverment or NGO policy organization to be an ideal first job.</p>
<p>Vassar and Stern were the last two programs that my son was deciding between. After the Stern Accepted Students Day, my son decided that he was not willing to give up the traditional undergraduate liberal arts experience. He is now a senior at Vassar and was just accepted to four PhD programs. He is very happy with his choice and has never looked back!</p>