Upenn vs. NYU - please chip in

<p>Yes, I know penn and NYU are both GREAT schools!!!</p>

<p>I’m interested in majoring in economics and I also know that Penn and NYU have great economics department. </p>

<p>But taking everything such as campus life, general college experience, location, WORK load, classmates, etc, which one do you recommend?! and for internship availabilities… (EVERYTHING factored in… :))</p>

<p>I want to go to NYU but the lack of campus community is a problem, i want to go to Penn but maybe a little intimidated by the competitiveness of students. (I’m sure NYu students are as competitive)…</p>

<p>Which one would you recommend?! </p>

<p>thanks, i really want to make up my mind but can’t…</p>

<p>if you get into Penn, you should go there.</p>

<p>Penn has more campus life. NYU has no campus. NYU is in a better part of town and NYC>Philly so that is another plus. Penn has a better econ program, but you can't go wrong with either academically. NYU is more relaxed than Penn and some econ classes at Penn are probably very competitive. It may be easier to be a top student at NYU, but don't underestimate the strength of the best students at NYU because they are just as strong as the best Penn students. Penn is the social Ivy, but NYU is a straight up party school. Penn isn't cut throat competitive, but it is not easy either and neither is NYU. For internships and job opportunities, I would say Penn's offering are slightly better around the country, but NYU's will be the same on wall street. I have actually heard that NYU is better known internationally than Penn because New York is one of the best known cities in the world and in many countries the #1 university is also in the biggest city. In the end, I would go to whichever costs less, and if they cost the same, Penn.</p>

<p>in terms of internship/employment opportunities, remember that many companies that recruit wharton students still hire other penn students. this can be good and bad: better companies recruit more heavily at penn, but as an econ major you have to compete with wharton students for jobs...</p>

<p>NYU is absolutely ABSOLUTELY NOT in a better part of town. I went to NY with intentions of visiting NYU and Columbia, and ended up skipping the NYU tour because both I and my parents were too scared, and would never consider having me go to school there after seeing it. All the buildings and walls were vandalized with rust stains and etc. all over. The windows were all barred up. There was absolutely no campus, no feeling of enclosure by the school.. you are basically wide open out in a not so nice part of the city.</p>

<p>It's no contest. Penn by a landslide if you want anything remotely resembling a college experience and campus life (the existence of a campus helps greatly in this "campus life" thing you see).</p>

<p>Few urban schools have such large campuses with lots of green space. Notable exceptions of course being Penn, Columbia, UChicago, and Harvard if you want to count Cambridge as part of Boston...</p>

<p>takeme2cali,
You & your parents need to get out more. The neighborhood around NYU (Greenwich Village) is among the coolest places in the country. If it was a choice of where to live (rather than where to go to college), I don't think there's too many people who would choose West Philly over the village.</p>

<p>Note that "where to live" and "where to go to college" are not the same. I would never want to live in Philly but I love it for college.</p>

<p>And with all the new apartments and condos priced way out of the range of students being built in University City, it's clear SOMEBODY wants to live here.</p>

<p>Johnny,</p>

<p>I agree with you on where to go to college. I didn't even consider applying to NYU due to lack of campus. But I LOVE hanging out in the village and don't think it's "scary".</p>

<p>UPenn>>>>>>>>>NYU
done. haha</p>

<p>seriously greenwich village is not scary at all. my parents and I had NEVER been to a major city and we were walking all over the place. Even at night, there are so many people out in restaurants and such overflowing onto the sidewalks that you never really feel alone unless you go to chinatown. That place is scary at night!</p>

<p>I've never been to Philly but as of now I haven't found a place as cool as NYC and Greenwich Village. Still, I would opt for Penn just because it's a BEAUTIFUL campus and much better school.</p>

<p>i just had a 'talk' w/ my dad this evening. and he was like, "put nyu as ur top school and THEN upenn."
why? b/c nyu's only <1 hour away (i live across manhattan). he was like, "if ur not so-and-so, then i'll let u live in dorms, but penn is too far away (2 hours?) and i dn't want u to do that. so go consider nyu, columbia (i don't think so altho a great school), or rutgers."</p>

<p>then he goes to talk about how i'm a great student in my school but only average realistically.</p>

<p>i like both schools a LOT. but i just prefer Upenn over nyu</p>

<p>for the record,</p>

<p>columbia has nilch green space compared to Penn-syl-vay-nuh-yah</p>

<p>I def. thought Columbia was better than NYU.</p>

<p>Quaker, I have been to pretty much all the major cities in the US (L.A., San Fran, Chicago, Boston, and New York). I've seen pretty much every part of NY, and just within the past 2 years, I've been there at least 4 times. The area directly surrounding NYU is not bad as some city schools (and I'm thinking of Yale when I say this) but the streets on which some of the buildings and dorms of NYU were located on is definitely not too reassuring when you drive by. All I can say is, I would definitely NOT want to walk around at night on those streets... and if you go to NYU, you pretty much have no choice except to walk around since there is no campus.</p>

<p>takeme2cali: u r from massachusetts so dont judge ny....and u have ABSOLUTLEY no clue what ur talking about...greenwich village is the classiest, most upscale, cultured, and SAFEST part of NYC...in fact it is the safest police precinct in the city...so do me a favor and dont spread false information...as for the intial question....i do think penn is a better educational environment but it depends on ur personality...if u are an individual and are into art and culture and fashion nyc is the place for u....in any case good luck!!</p>

<p>Just because I am from MA does not mean I have not lived in other parts of the country or even the world. What I merely said was that when I visited NYU, the area around the campus was not appealing at all. </p>

<p>"so do me a favor and dont spread false information"</p>

<p>before you attack me, please reread the OP's and notice that the OP asked for our recommendations. That was my recommendation, aka my idea and so why don't you lay off of my thoughts and stick to your own.
And if you supposedly are from New York where everything is classy, why are you still typing with "u" for you and "r" for are?</p>

<p>How about you mind yourself and stop attacking my opinions, since my ** opinion ** is right.</p>

<p>It is clear that the best way to solve this problem is with violence.</p>

<p>I just thought I might clear some things up:</p>

<p>Yes the immediate area surrounding Columbia's campus is nicer than that of NYU's, however Columbia is just as connected with the associated problems of city life as NYU, if no more so. Columbia is in Morningside Heights, an area that can be described as having the best New York City life, with a dabble of the worst. You have the Cathedral of St John the Devine, St Luke's Hospital, Columbia and Barnard, but you also have Morningside Heights Park, a notoriously crime ridden park that Columbia's own literature will tell you to absolutely stay away from at night, and implies somewhat it may be worthwhile to avoid during the day. Traveling south of Columbia you'll never have any problems, but traveling north you will start seeing some of the less safer aspects of New York City starting in about 10 blocks. That being said, the whole area is (and has been) gentrifying rapidly and as a result, will probably see a slow but steady reduction of crime in the future.</p>

<p>NYU is in Greenwich village, a very Bohemian area of New York, but pretty much harmless. Yes Greenwich village will have graffiti and some shady looking characters, but so does any part of New York City and out of towner could name (including the area around Columbia). Also there are so many people out and about in the surrounding areas at night, that one can take comfort in the safety of numbers. Also rust stains are hardly indicative of a bad area, in some parts of New York City people believe they add character and would passionately fight to protect them. If I'm out at night at a party, I would place Greenwich village in the top 10% of places in New York in terms of how safe I would feel.</p>

<p>Now don't take this as an attack takeme2cali, but if you have been all over New York City, I think you may have gotten a very white-washed tour of it. As a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, living simultaneously in one of its nicest neighborhoods, but also a ten to fifteen minute walk from an extensive public housing complex, I can safely tell that I can think of so many more places that I would be worried about getting stuck in than Greenwich village. I have got a friend that lives four blocks from Wall Street, and sees a theft or attempted theft in his building at least 5 times a year (and was used as a block in the ghetto on Without a Trace, but that's a different story) Should you be vigilant in Greenwich Village? Absolutely, but you should be vigilant wherever you go in a city, even (or especially) a neighborhood you might think of as being on of its nicest.</p>

<p>That being said, the difference between Penn and NYU I believe mainly comes down to campus style. Penn has a Campus, and frankly NYU doesn't. Washington Square Park is the nicest substitute one can get for a campus (A large portion of NYU surrounds the park), but it still doesn't match the campus of Penn. That being said, if you're a real city person it seems to me you might feel somewhat insulated at Penn. Myself I subscribe to the stereotypical image of a college with quads and old buildings, but I am also a city-kid at heart, all of which I find at Penn. I would also mention if you are someone that is into studying or being in a community dominated by arts (theatrical, visual, musical, etc...) and entertainment (as in the industry, not the noun), there is no doubt in my mind that NYU should be your choice. Personally I feel the need to see some place else for a change (even though I absolutely love New York City) so Penn is where I'd choose.</p>

<p>I think Penn has lots of stuck up kids..and judging from the news lately, a few criminals. I'd pick NYU</p>

<p>Well said. </p>

<p>Philadelphia is a nice city, and leagues ahead of where it was 15 years ago before then-Mayor (now PA governor) Ed Rendell (Penn alum, naturally) cleaned it up.</p>

<p>That being said, there is no doubt that NYC is a better city. If one can say Philadelphia is one of America's great cities, then NYC is one of the world's great cities. For live I'd always take NYC over Philadelphia. But for college, I'd take Philadelphia over NYC.</p>