w103psp wrote:
Apart from the ranking, what are the major differences between Columbia and Stern? I couldn't really find any useful link online. Most were partisan in their argument!
Based on my experience (both are my top 2 choices, I have done a lot of research and visited both campuses) I would largely echo gkumar's points and add the following:
- Columbia is Ivy League, for those concerned with such things;
- NYU is in south Manhattan, more in the "heart" of NYC, whereas Columbia is north of Central Park in East Harlem;
- Columbia's campus is more self-contained than NYU -- Columbia has really old beautiful buildings (other than Uris, the main CBS building) and nice green spaces in a clearly-defined campus, whereas NYU blends into the city more (you could walk through NYU and not realize it's a university if you weren't paying attention);
- IMO, historically Columbia has been ranked higher and if anything has seen its stock fall a little over the past several years, whereas the opposite is true of NYU;
- Columbia's class size is ~730 (including j-term) whereas NYU is ~415; and
- NYU has a part-time MBA, CBS does not -- consequently, NYU's alumni base is claimed to be 80,000, whereas CBS is 38,000.
My personal observation based on visiting the campuses is that NYU felt much smaller and more community-focused, whereas CBS had more of an air of history and prestige. I went into my visits with CBS as my #1 and NYU as my #5, and left with the two tied at #1.
My $0.02.