<p>I was going on USNWR graduate rankings, not the NRC rankings. I find the former more straightforward. According to the USNWR, Michigan and NYU are tied at #12 in Economics. I am not sure if NYU’s Econ department has a better reputation than Michigan’s. The USNWR ranking of Econ departments is entirely based on reputation, and in that rranking, the two are tied. As for Music, I assumed the OP was interested in Music performance, not Music theory. The NRC ranking is for theory. In Music performance, Michigan is particularly strong.</p>