Im majoring in Economics, and is having serious trouble deciding between these 3 schools!! all are amazing options but they are so different. I want to work in Art Management after college, and is thinking about minoring in Art History.
If i go to UMich or NYU id be aiming to get into their business schools i.e. Stern and Ross. If i go to Vandy I’d just be doing Econ.
I’m also thinking about maybe transferring after a year or two and try for the ivies.
Which of these is the best for me??? what would you choose if you were in my shoes?
Most people would tell you Vanderbilt is the easy choice here, however, considering your econ interest and desire for an internal transfer to a business school I would not consider Vanderbilt a good fit for your academic aspirations.
NYU and UMich both have equally amazing business schools. NYU and UMich also both have top 15 economics departments (NYU tends to be ranked a couple spots higher). NYU and UMich will both provide you with the same quality of education… it comes down to Ann Arbor vs. Manhattan (and cost).
DO NOT plan to external-transfer! You want to make a choice now that you are excited and happy to live with for the next four years. Transferring is usually not the “easy” way into the ivies, it is often actually the hard way into the ivies. Transferring should be reserved for finding a school of better fit in terms of academics or quality of life (and schools admit transfer students on this criteria). Most ivy transfers are students from the top LACs who decide they actually want a university or students who are at the absolute top of their non-ivy schools and are looking for a more challenging environment. The ivies are great schools, but so are NYU and UMich (especially for undergrad-biz)! Fit at a school is much more important than impressing your fellow high school classmates. Remember – Ivies are always there for MBA if you still are carrying that chip on your shoulder in six years (which I doubt you will be). I don’t have much advice on internal transfer to the biz schools at NYU or UMich… I know it is very competitive.
Good luck making a choice – you have amazing options!
@deller123 thank you so much for your detailed comment!! I love NYC and what it has to offer: but theres just too many distractions (and too many chinese students which make me dread I’m going to spend all my time in a “bubble” and not make any friends from different cultural backgrounds). I have never been to Ann Arbor or Nashville, so I’m in no position to judge if i will like living there.
@Yankxy If there is any school with the most diverse backgrounds and cultures, it would be NYU. NYU is without a single doubt the most diverse school within those 3 schools and I would go as far to say that it is the most diverse school in the nation. It’s New York. So many different people, from different backgrounds, from different races, are in New York. I have never heard of any complaints of NYU having “too many chinese students”. It indeed is the school with the most international students, but that is not a reflection on the number of chinese students. If it were MIT, I would understand, but NYU has never been looked upon as one dimensional in terms of races. I’m not even an NYU student (in fact, I was waitlisted to Stern this year), but I can tell you for sure that if NYU being “too full of Chinese students” is a big reason holding you back, you’ve got it completely wrong my friend.
Having transferred from a state school, the amount of exposure you have to people with different backgrounds (not just based on race or nationality) is much greater at NYU by leaps and bounds. Also if you are targeting Stern and Ross, just keep in mind that Ross is a 3 year program. For the most part you have to apply during your Freshman year with the rest of the matriculated students, unless you are an exceptional HS candidate and get guaranteed placement during your college apps.
Hi! I know this is probably not quite as helpful as you would have liked, but I just finished my first year at NYU and am about to transfer to Vanderbilt. My top two schools for transfer were UMich and Vandy. I am a neuroscience major, so I don’t know much about the business schools, but I do know that the kids who seem to be the happiest at NYU are the Tisch kids and the Stern kids. There’s also a huge jump between NYU and the other two. NYU is a very urban school… no campus, very big and busy city, a very individualistic environment, not much school pride. The other two schools have a stronger influence on community, spirit, sports, greek life, social events etc. That doesn’t mean they’re all sort of on par academically, but I think you should really sit down and think about what you want in a school. I chose NYU for the program (I was in the Gallatin School), and I quickly realized that the things I wanted in a school overpowered how much I liked the program I was in. In my case, Vandy was everything I was looking for in a school–all it took was a little bit of soul-searching.
