Columbia is known to have a particularly extensive core.
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Ah, I see.
I feel like the core curriculum for D at NYU is very light in science and math and heavier in the social sciences and humanities. But, again, it varies across the individual schools.
Ok. My S was accepted to CGS without requesting it and did not want the January start.
If you D doesn’t want a large core curriculum she should probably steer clear of (or at least research carefully) Jesuit colleges as well as they generally have extensive cores.
GW has been having issues at least during pandemic with facilities maintenance backlog, search for new president. See student paper.
GW is expensive and with federal govt / regional economy still hybrid, makes me wonder if it is worth it.
GW has pre med , pre- law, poli sci vibe.
An intriguing safety could be University of South Florida in Tampa.
I’m pretty familiar with all 3 schools. I went to Law School (years ago) at BU, and it’s my son’s first choice. We just toured it recently. George Washington is high on his list, we toured it a few months ago. And my wife is an instructor at NYU. (adjunct… no hook).
Some random thoughts:
- My son is not considering NYU. He likes a city, but not being overwhelmed. The NYU area is a very different vibe than GW or BU. The lack of a real campus doesn’t help either, but the whole city can be overwhelming. Where BU and GW almost feel small in comparison. And parts of BU have a very definite campus feel.
-GW’s strongest programs are political science… BU probably has the strongest programs for the fields your daughter is considering. Though all 3 schools would match.
-If it matters, GW would be the most likely to provide Merit Aid. BU only gives about 5% of students merit aid, I think NYU is even less. GW gives big merit aid packages to nearly have their students.
-Based on her background, I would dare say your daughter is a match/likely for GW, especially if she were to apply ED. For NYU and BU, I’d call them high match / low reach. Her stats are worthy of admittance at BU, but as they play the yield game, lots of worthy candidates can be rejected.
-“Traditional” college experience means different things to different people. I definitely think all 3 of those schools have far less “school spirit” than the more traditional rural campus school. Those rural campuses have more shared experiences for the students, as there is less to do away from the campus. While NYU is the least “campus-y,” I don’t know that the other 2 schools really offer much more in the way of a “traditional” experience. GW does have their Mount Vernon campus, which can give a more traditional feel to those students who live on that campus.
To me, much of the “traditional experience” comes down to the students and what they choose to experience.
I wouldn’t describe any of these urban schools as having much of a campus feel, so I would visit if you can. But another point to consider is that 60 percent of the people who teach at GW are not faculty. They are adjuncts or professionals who come in to teach a course or two. That is a completely different academic experience than a student would have at a school that had a higher percentage of instructors who are actually faculty.
At Columbia University, Columbia College does indeed have a stringent core curriculum - which certainly can be a desirable feature for some.
For others who are less enthused, a female student could instead opt for Barnard College at Columbia Univ, which has quite the opposite approach. Instead of a “core”, it has a decidedly broad “distribution requirements”, covered by choices from hundreds of courses in their catalogue, many of which will fulfill more than one requirement.
Some of which might very well complement/tangent someone’s primary area of interest.
I did suggest suggest looking into Barnard (among other colleges) in my first post on this thread.
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Hi, I ended up at Northeastern, but was interested in three of the schools you mentioned, especially NYU. The one thing I didn’t like as much about NYU was that it was missing that campus feel for me. I also found that BU was lacking in a defined campus in comparison to NU where I was really excited by the campus feel while still being right in the city. They are also really accommodating to students not sure of what major they want to go into for sure. There is definitely time and resources here to narrow it down by the time you do your first co-op and then with that you get hands on experience to see if you actually like what you are doing. Coming from Arizona, I definitely relate to not wanting to be cold, but everyone has reassured me that you get used to it quick 
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Congratulations on the opportunity at Northeastern. Make the most of it! 
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Late to the game so your daughter likely has already ranked her choices…
My son was in a similar boat. He didn’t want NYU, because it is less “campus-y” and downtown Manhattan is a bit too overwhelming though he likes urban.
He loved both GW and BU when he toured. (and I do think BU is quickly climbing the prestige ladder, and is now more prestigious than NYU for what it’s worth). I attended Law School at BU, so I know the area kinda well, though it has changed a lot in 25 years. My daughter also did a 2 week summer program at BU.
My son is a UW 3.9, SATs of 1430… good essays and ECs but not spectacular. Fair rigor from a super competitive public high school.
GW is pretty straight “target” with its acceptance rate of 40%, his SAT on the upper part of their range, etc. BU, with his legacy status, is more low reach… His SATs are within the mid 50%, the overall acceptance rate being half of GW’s…
He was choosing which school to make ED1, BU or GW. Part of me worried he was underselling himself if he made GW his top choice. But in the end, it’s not about prestige or getting into the school with the lowest acceptance rate. It’s really about just being the best fit.
My son wants to do public policy, specifically environmental policy. While BU is a fantastic school, GW felt like the better place for my son’s interests. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the winters are much milder than Boston.
So his ED1 application is in at GW. If he doesn’t get in, he will likely do ED2 at BU…
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