New York University, New York, NY

NYU is a “hot” school. If you are looking for a big, private college in the Village, maybe NYU is for you. You can join about 20,000 undergrads studying over 230 majors, in classes averaging fewer than 30 students. About ten thousand of these students live in the residence halls, and housing is guaranteed for all four years. In addition to the campus in NYC, there is a 2-year old campus in Abu Dhabi, and a campus is scheduled to open in two years in Shanghai.

NYU also owns and operates twelve other physical sites in Accra, Florence, Paris, Tel Aviv, Berlin, London, Prague, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Shanghai, and Washington, D.C. You can attend classes taught by NYU professors in English at these sights for the same price as classes in New York. A lot of students (42%) take advantage of studying abroad.

NYU has both research opportunities and 22,000 internship opportunities for undergraduates.

What NYU doesn’t have is a campus. On the other hand, most of the undergraduate buildings are a short walk from Washington Square Park.

 

Most financial aid at NYU is need-based. The school does give merit aid, which ranges from $1000 to full tuition. Students need to submit both the FAFSA and CSS/PROFILE.

There is Early Decision I, Early Decision II and Regular Decision. Students can apply to a first and second choice college within the university.

There are 9 undergraduate schools, colleges and programs:

• College of Arts and Sciences (1443 freshmen)
• College of Nursing (63 freshmen)
• Gallatin School of Individualized Study (253 freshmen)
• Stern School of Business (552 freshmen)
• Liberal Studies (1125 freshmen)
• Silver School of Social Work (26 freshmen)
• Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management (100 freshmen)
• Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development (567 freshmen)
• Tisch School of the Arts (776 freshmen)

NYU Poly, also known as the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, in downtown Brooklyn is transitioning to become the tenth school within NYU. At this time, it has it’s own application.

 

There are a lot of testing choices. You can submit SAT or ACT with writing or 3 SAT subject tests or IB scores or 3 AP tests.

Students in the arts have to audition or submit a portfolio. In addition to being talented they also need to have strong academics.

Students interested in the business school need to know Calculus.

The Gallatin School is made up of students who create their own majors from classes that cross other major boundaries.

There is plenty to do because of the city location. In addition, NYU has over 400 student organizations, two athletic centers, a gym on 14th Street, 21 Division III varsity teams, and the largest theatre south of 42nd Street.

If you are looking for a big school with dorms in the big city, and don’t mind not having a campus, NYU might be for you.

If you are a student or alum, do you have any comments to add about NYU?

 

The Cooper Union, New York, NY

The Cooper Union is a one-of-a-kind private college.  Since 1859, it has been providing a full-tuition scholarship to every admitted student.  But it’s not an easy school to get into.  Only 8% are admitted.  There are about 1000 undergrads (64% male) who study engineering, visual arts or architecture.  The school has a handful of buildings (including a student residence that houses only 178) scattered in or near Cooper Square in Manhattan.  They represent both the old and the new as you can see from my photos.

Pace University, New York, NY

If you are a student who would love to go to a co-ed college in the Big Apple, you may want to consider the Pace University campus in lower Manhattan. (Pace also has another campus in Westchester.)


For undergrads, the New York City campus has about 4000 full-time undergrads in 3 undergrad schools:

• Lubin – the Business School 
• Dyson – the Arts and Sciences School
• Seidenberg – the Computer Science/IT School.

Pace also has an Honors program, which comes with benefits like significant merit aid, special honors classes, special events, research opportunities and housing.

  

The NYC campus consists of a handful of buildings including dorms in lower Manhattan and one dorm in Brooklyn Heights. If you are looking for green lawns and trees, you are in the wrong place. Your campus is the city. If going to the South Street Seaport, soaking up Wall Street, or walking across the Brooklyn Bridge excites you; Pace may be for you. My tour guide Michael, a freshman in the Seidenberg School, lived on a themed housing floor in a Freshman Residence Hall. Housing is guaranteed all four years and there are also a sizeable number of commuters.

 

Most of the classes are given in the main building pictured below. Class size averages 28 students and grad students don’t teach classes.

 

  A second building, diagonally across the street, is the home to the bookstore and two black box theatres.

 

 

The school boasts of having a large number of internship opportunities with 56% of the student body taking advantage of this opportunity (#1 university in NY for internships per US News). Pace graduates are 12% more likely to have a job after graduation based on the Fall 2011 Salary Survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

  

The Division II teams are all in Pleasantville. There is a bus twice a day between the two campuses. The NYC campus has gym facilities, but no pool. There are club hours three times a week.

  

Virtually all students (97%) get some form of need-based or merit-based financial aid. Students are automatically considered for merit aid of between $4K and $28.5 K.

  

PACE has rolling admissions with a 2/15 preferred deadline. Those who apply Early Action by 12/1, will hear if they have been accepted by the second week in January. Overall eighty-four per cent of applicants were admitted. Those who are interested in performing arts have a 1/15 deadline and need to audition; admission for the performing arts spots is highly competitive.

Are you a Pace student or recent alum?  If so, add your comments.

Sweepstakes

"Like" my Slosberg College Solutions LLC Facebook page, and be entered into a sweepstakes drawing on 3/16/2012.

Flagler College, St. Augustine, Florida

Flagler College, in St. Augustine, Florida, several miles from the beach, is the most beautiful campus I’ve visited, with many buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. The main building is a resort, built by oil magnate Henry Flagler in 1888, with Spanish-Moorish Renaissance Revival architecture.

The school is a private liberal arts college with an in-state, public university cost. The 2011-2012 cost for tuition, fees, room and board was $22,500. If you are a B/B+ student, somewhat conservative, and looking to go South you may want to consider it.

The school has around 2,500 students, small classes, a small campus in the center of St. Augustine and a 19-acre athletic complex two miles away. About 40 per cent of students are from out of the state of Florida. The school is a member of NCAA Division II.

Flagler has a limited number of majors in selected liberal arts and pre-professional disciplines. The most unusual majors are deaf education and sport management. The biggest majors are business administration, psychology, sport management, communication, and education.

The college has been making changes academically. Freshmen take a keystone seminar investigating cultural identity and communal values, drawing materials from a variety of disciplines. To improve transition to college, Flagler developed clusters of courses around a central interdisciplinary theme with each class attended by the same students.

All Freshmen are required to live on campus. The residence halls are all single-sex residence halls and students are not allowed to visit rooms or halls of students of the opposite sex.


For additional campus photos, check out the Slosberg College Solutions Facebook page.  If you visited or attended Flagler College, what were your impressions? 

Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida

 

Looking to go South to study engineering, aeronautics/aviation, or marine biology.  You may want to consider Florida Institute of Technology in the small city of Melbourne, not far from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.  Florida Tech is a private national research university with small classes, a flight school, and co-op opportunities for engineering majors. 

The school offers up to $19K/year in academic scholarships. Eagle Scouts and Gold Awards (Girl Scouts) receive a minimum of $10K/year in academic scholarships, as do members of high school FIRST Robotics teams.

Melbourne is not a college town and there is a low male/female ratio, so college life may be limited. There is, however, Greek life and over 100 clubs. The school is starting up a Football program in Fall 2013 and is a Division II school. About half the students are from out of the state of Florida; 20% are international students.

The school wants to encourage you to attend so the application is free and if you visit and subsequently attend, you will receive a $1,000/year Florida Visit Grant.

Have you attended or visited Florida Tech? What were your impressions?

For additional photos check out Slosberg College Solutions LLC Facebook page.

Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY

Sarah Lawrence is a liberal arts college of 1300 students on 44 acres in Westchester County, NY that is unique in several ways:


· It is among the colleges with the largest percent of classes with fewer than 20 students.

· Students interview the professors for 30 minutes in order to decide what classes they are would like to take.

· The classes are modeled after the Oxford/Cambridge tutorial. The seminar classes include a round table discussion with a group of 15 or fewer where the students need to come prepared to reflect on their reading and have a conference with their professor every other week to go over their term research project/paper.

· The music, theatre, and dance classes are organized differently. Each class is broken into three-week sessions on a particular skill set. There are theatres, art and performance spaces, and music spaces.

· There are only 10 lectures courses offered each year and they are capped at 45 students.

· Professors give students a written evaluation of their work, in addition to grades.

· Their don (i.e., advisor) is also their teacher for their yearlong first year seminar. With the don, students create their own program of study.

· Students take three 5-credit courses a semester.

· Thirty credits are needed for a concentration (i.e., major). Many students take two or three concentrations.

· Many buildings contain teacher’s offices, classrooms and student housing. Freshman housing is not separate from upper-class housing,

· Sarah Lawrence is one of the most expensive colleges in the country.

The college is known for creative writing, visual and performing arts, history and international studies. The student body is 70% women and tends to be politically liberal. Eighty-five per cent of undergraduate students live on campus. There are six study abroad programs, including one in Cuba.

The school is located in an upper middle-class suburban area. There are some stores and restaurants about a 15-minute walk from school. Many students go to New York City, a 30-minute train-ride away, for pleasure, cultural experiences, or internships. A free shuttle to the train station is available after 5:30 PM. Those who stay on campus on weekends participate in dances, poetry readings, concerts, plays, or community service.

The school seems to be a good fit for an outspoken, well-written independent learner, interested in intellectual discussions in multiple disciplines and independent research in the liberal arts. The academic requirements include that students to take a yearlong freshman seminar, take a course in at least three of the four areas of study, and take 2 physical education classes. Students can earn a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in five years in Teaching, Child Development, or Women’s History. There is a 3-2 Engineering program with Columbia University. There is also a pre-med program.

The school has recently applied to join Division III sports. There is a nice gym and pool.

SATs / ACTs are not considered in admission. The college uses the Common App with a Supplement which includes the “Why Sarah Lawrence?” question. Students should submit a graded high school paper as part of their application. An interview is strongly suggested; seniors often conduct the interview.

The college is need-sensitive and uses the FAFSA and CSS/PROFLE for financial aid. Students are automatically considered for merit aid.