NYU or Cornell?

I'm currently a sophomore transferring. I'm currently ranked in the top 5% and have a BB internship. I'm completely torn between NYU and Cornell (accepted at both already).

I love the city with a passion, and have a bunch of friends at NYU, but I will be in Gallatin's School of Individualized Study combining Finance at Stern, Pre-law, and economics and will graduate with an individualized study degree; I know I can market myself and pitch the Gallatin degree fairly well (I mean I got four BB offers out of a third-tier). I got into CAS economics as a freshman out of high school but temporarily transferred elsewhere and now like Gallatin's program better.

I got into Cornell's ILR school as well. I've never been to Ithaca, I only know one person there, and it's five hours from home, but a Cornell ILR degree has an edge over a NYU Gallatin degree.

Would going up to Cornell and possibly sacrificing immediate happiness be worth the degree in the long run?

 

I'd go NYU. Even though ILR might have an edge over a Gallatin Degree in school brand name, your indivudualized major would mean a lot more to recruiters and your own education, especially with Finance and Econ. Plus, New York City is much more fun than Ithaca, especially since you already have BB offers.

 

Go for Cornell. You'll be working in the city after, probably for a few years at least, and may be it would be better to have a more traditional college-y experience (i.e. a college with a nice, contained campus, etc.) . When I applied to college out of high school, I stayed away from all the city schools for the above mentioned reason.

Cornell has a pretty strong alum network and the alums i've met at my bank have always been willing to help their cornell students.

 
Best Response

NYU, if and only if you are ok with not having the traditional campus life. If you need a big frat scene, definitely DONT choose NYU. Frats are more or less looked down upon and less than 5% of the school goes Greek. It's a waste of time and money.

I somehow doubt Cornell has a great social scene seeing as it works people to death (literally) and is in shithole Ithica.

Granted, I'm an NYU grad, so I'm a bit biased, but I got a banking job with an econ degree from NYU CAS, and I know people who got jobs out of Gallatin so you'll be fine.

NYU will give you the same opportunities (and then some since you can work during the year in the financial capital of the world) and a great social life.

 

Well, from the other side, so long as you are not in the engineering or architecture school, classes seem to be pretty easy. There were about 8 kids from my high school class who went to all parts of cornell (ILR, CAS, Engineering, ag life) and with the exception of the engineering kid, all the students though classes were easier than hyped up to be. I actually had a two friends in ILR (one's at MS and the other decided to go to law school) and they definitely breezed through 4 years of college without breaking a sweat.

Cornell's social scene is much more your typical frat scene (i.e. frat house parties, slope parties, etc.). Ithaca has a few bars which I think a lot of seniors frequent when they tire of the greek scene. Of course, they are in no way comparable to the social scenes that NY has to offer..but its' comparing apples to oranges.

Both are good places. Choose the one you feel most comfortable.

 

Thanks for the posts everybody. I find it funny that every other post disagrees with the previous poster. The train of thought here is exactly what's going on in my mind: Cornell has a better name and network for everybody, but NYU might provide a better college experience and can offer similar opportunities if I know how to play my cards right.

I'm not into fraternities in the sense that they tend to make ethnic cliques. I really value seemless diversity in my environment. I don't smoke or drink either so I guess that'll go against me at Cornell (occassionally hookah or a fancy wine?). I just don't for health reasons: used to be captain of my basketball team and still run track for fun.

TheKing: Do you know a lot of Gallatin students that succeeded in the business world without trouble? I fear that I'll be overshadowed by Stern and CAS econ kids when in reality I'll be replicating their curriculum and then some. Can you shed light on the oncampus recruiting as well? At my old school we had simple resume drops, you come in and interview, and then get an offer. None of that crowding around recruiters at public displays bs.

Cornell would offer better networking and possibly better career possiblities, but doesn't the social demographics, the weather, and the insane workloads the bother anyone? I'm all for working hard to get where I'm going as I've sacrified my freshman year to attain a 4.0 and get offers, but it just seems a little harsh up there. I have trouble picturing myself battling snow storms going from class to class across that large campus with little to look forward to at night but homework and possibly a frat party. Don't get my wrong; I've only talked to people, saw pictures, and am speaking through hearsay, but that just seems like the general consensus. For all I know I might give in after I visit next week and end up there, though.

Could anyone shed light on how on campus recruiting works at Cornell as well? Example: I know BBs interviewed 20-40 people each at my old school and gave offers to 10, regardless of major. Simple career-center resume drop and you get a call if they like your resume.

 

All I can say is, it doesn't matter if you go to cornell or NYU speaking strictly in terms of BB recruiting for the following year because both are equally good. As for the lifestyle in both places, I know a friend who told me Cornell was absolutely amazing and cannot possibly dream of leaving that place. That said, I know another person in NYU who said the city life was a blessing. But in simple terms, Cornell is an Ivy league. No matter where you go in this world, you tell people you're from an ivy league and they recognize the quality of your education immediately. NYU stern cannot provide that advantage. So I suggest you think in those terms as well. No one knows what the future is going to be like. Today, the banking center is NY so NYU is very well known, but maybe four or five years down the line, it might London or Hong Kong and at that point, Cornell definitely has a stronger brand name.

 

I go to Cornell and love it, but based on what you've said I would definitely recommend going to NYU. The frat scene is big here; if you're not at all involved in it, you're missing out on a lot. It's not ethnically separated like it is at your school (or at least that's the impression you gave). 1/3 of the campus goes Greek, so there's a very good mix of personalities in all of the houses. So many people come in with these misconceptions about Greek life, many of them based off of hyped up media or urban legends. In reality, your Greek experience will be heavily based off of what house you join, and there's a lot of variety.

Don't drink? Well, the saying here is "work hard, party harder." Although, many in the soft majors (ILR, AEM, etc) ignore the former and emphasize the latter. I don't know what you'll be doing with your weekends, especially being in ILR. Ithaca isn't New York. We do have "the college experience" per se, whereas New York allows you more of a taste of "real life," or at least that's what I've been led to believe.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Cornell. There hasn't been a suicide for years. It snows just as much as it does in the city (maybe even less), and we're not all miserable and overworked.

Recruiting? The same as any other school. General resume drop followed by interviews (you're notified through this site called CornellTrak). And what "tier 3" school do you go to that gets recruited by BBs? Something's fishy. Are you doing operations or something?

 

Indian: NYU itself does NOT have a good reputation. Stern does. Most of the people I've met say they go to Stern, not NYU (think that NYU is below them). Of course, there are exceptions, but that's been the general consensus.

 

If you already have your BB offer, I would not worry about being overshadowed by Stern. Recruiting at NYU will be schoolwide, not Sternwide.

More importantly, the students who have transferred into NYU, sometimes have trouble meeting people and developing that group of friends. Unlike Cornell, there is no central anything. However, if you know what you want to get out of your experience, I don't think there is any place in the country better than NYU.

Hope this helps.

 

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