As seen in the Washington Square News.
NYU was named the No. 1 “dream” school among college applicants for the third year in a row, according to a survey released yesterday by the Princeton Review.
The annual survey, titled the “College Hopes & Worries Survey,” reported that NYU was the “dream college” students would most like to attend if acceptance rates or tuition costs were not of concern, placing NYU ahead of Harvard, Princeton and Stanford universities in the survey’s fill-in-the-blank questionnaire.
Conducted since 2003, the survey is based on the responses 3,890 college applicants and 1,012 parents of applicants submitted on paper or online between August and February. The results are featured in the review’s book “Best 361 Colleges.”
Robert Franek, the publisher for Princeton Review Books, said that NYU’s ranking made sense.
“It’s because the [NYU] admissions office and communications office is unapologetic about telling students that they’re going to get an excellent undergraduate education in the classroom and are connected to the city of New York,” Franek said. “That is a very powerful and endearing message to college-bound students.”
The top dream school listed by parents was Princeton, with Stanford, Harvard, the University of Notre Dame and Duke University rounding out the top five.
“We really don’t pay any mind to these surveys, No. 1 or not,” NYU spokesman John Beckman said. “We ought to be honest about what these devices area for. Colleges and universities are not assembly-line commodities. You cannot rank them — they’re simply too different.”
The key to choosing a school is what truly appeals to the student, Beckman said.
“If you are the greatest student in the world, and your love is agricultural science, NYU will not be right for you, because we don’t have a school of agriculture,” Beckman said. “If your interest is in journalism, neural science, computer science, cinematic and performing arts, writing, economics, business – NYU’s a great place for you. But if you wanted to go to a school with a football team, NYU’s never gonna fit.”
The survey’s results may reflect the record number of applications to NYU, which nearly quadrupled to over 35,000 this year from about 10,000 in 1991, Beckman said.
“The last two years have been within a hair’s breadth of [this year's] figure,” Beckman said. “I would hazard to say that it’s a unique phenomenon.”
Franek said that although there are some “usual suspects” on both the parent and student lists, like Harvard and Yale, students are becoming increasingly interested in city life.
“There has been a very clear shift over the past five to seven years in student tastes towards studying in an urban area or a school that’s close to an urban area,” Franek said. “I think that parents focus on what they think is overall quality of life and safety — less urban areas.”
The discrepancy is a result of students’ renewed focus on the benefits of their degrees beyond a piece of paper, Franek said.
“Students are focusing on, in a real way, the practical outcomes of their degrees,” Franek said. “They’re learning something in the classroom, and for that to have a practical application is much different than 10 years ago. It resonates with prospective students.”
Beckman said there are three reasons behind NYU’s allure: The university’s academic prowess and reputation, the desire for internships and professional experience outside the classroom and the rehabilitation of New York City’s image by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and current Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“New York was always the capital of the world, but over the last few years, that reality has come to shine much more brightly,” Beckman said. “What 18 year old would not want to live in Greenwich Village with a bunch of other talented 18 year olds and spend all day learning in the greatest city in the world?”
According to the survey, 55 percent of students said in deciding which college they will attend, they’ll pick the school that’s the best overall fit. Only 9 percent say they’ll choose the college with the best academic reputation. The study also reported that 59 percent of student and parent respondents reported high levels of stress about the college application process, and 71 percent expect the cost of their degree to exceed $50,000.
“Part of that figure is [stress from] standardized exams and the SAT changes in 2005,” Franek said. “There’s lots of uncertainty for college bound kids for logical reasons.”
CAS freshman Myla Arumugam, who is the youngest of three siblings who all went to NYU, didn’t initially think to come here.
“It wasn’t my dream school when I applied, but it is now that I’m here,” Arumugam said. “It’s everything you ever wanted in a college: Good education, a great location and a diverse group of people.”
Stern junior Ali Malik said that though he didn’t come to NYU for a particular reason, its downtown location is the university’s biggest asset.
“It’s Manhattan. You can’t find a better school in a better environment,” Malik said. “That’s what makes this school what it is.”
George Brower, 17, a senior at Horace Greely High School in Chappaqua, NY, who was recently accepted to the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, said that the Greenwich Village’s atmosphere attracts students.
Location influenced her decision, he said — “in fact, more so than the strong academics — just because it’s a guarantee that you’re going to have a really good time.”
“It’s just an added bonus that it’s a really good school,” he added.
The Princeton Review is an educational services company that offers test-prep courses, college and grad school admission services, K-12 education programs and publishes over 200 books.