Colleges in NYC

With the second highest number of degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the country (led only by California), New York State has options galore for the budding college student — with NYC itself boasting an impressive array of Ivy and Ivy-adjacent options. You know what they say about NYC: if you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere!

But with so many college options to choose from and all of them screaming, “pick me!” it can be hard to rub the stars from your eyes long enough to figure out: which New York City college is best for me?

Let’s take a look at some of the top colleges and universities in the most highly-populated city in the nation.

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COLLEGES IN NYC

Columbia University

Located in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights neighborhood, Columbia University is a private, Ivy League research university that, despite making headlines last summer for fudging its stats, nevertheless retains its reputation as an impressive postsecondary institution. (And it has the endowment to back it up.) It should come as little surprise, then, that Columbia is among the most competitive of the Ivy League schools: of the 5,738 Early Decision applicants to the Class of 2027, 650, or 11.33% were admitted, but of the remaining 51,391 who applied in the Regular Decision round, only 1,596 applicants were admitted (a 3.11% RD acceptance rate). For the lucky 6,668 undergraduates and 25,880 graduate students who currently make up the Columbia University community, the sprawling urban campus provides a myriad of opportunities and resources for both learning and fun: Columbia has over 500 student clubs, including the Columbia Space Initiative, which, in 2016 through NASA’s STEM on Station initiative, launched a plush Roaree (the university’s mascot) into space; and the Columbia Arts Initiative distributes over 45,000 free tickets to cultural events across NYC each year. Columbia’s Core Curriculum, a defining feature of the institution, enables students to engage in discourse around some of humanity’s most “enduring questions.” The curriculum lays the foundation for students to discover their passions — whether in the social sciences, computer sciences, engineering (the top three areas of study for undergraduates), or beyond — and engage in future research though Columbia’s many interdisciplinary centers and institutes (including the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes, the Center for the Ancient Mediterranean, the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience).

Barnard College

Cross the street at Broadway and West 117th Street and you’ll be standing at the main gate of Barnard College, a private women’s liberal arts college ranked #25 among National Liberal Arts Colleges by U.S. News & World Report. Barnard, whose total undergraduate student body hovers just over 3,000, is one of the five remaining “Seven Sisters” — the oldest all-women’s colleges in the northeastern United States — alongside Wellesley, Smith, and Mount Holyoke colleges in Massachusetts and Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Barnard has become increasingly competitive: of the 12,009 total applicants to the Barnard Class of 2026, 1,080, or just under 9% were admitted, 62% of whom were admitted during the Early Decision round. Barnard maintains an institutional partnership with Columbia, its kindred spirit from across the way. Barnard students take classes at Columbia, have access to Columbia libraries and facilities, and compete in NCAA Division 1 athletics in the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium — and Columbia students have the opportunity to similarly explore the variety of offerings under the auspices of Barnard College. This partnership between liberal arts college and major research university exemplifies the spirit of interdisciplinary education Barnard emphasizes. Also notable is the beautiful Arthur Ross Greenhouse, 3,400 square feet of greenery.

New York University

New York University, located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, is the largest private university in the United States — with an undergraduate student population just under 30,000, a similar graduate student population to match, and over 19,000 employees, making NYU among the top employers in NYC. Ranked #25 among National Universities, this “Campus Without Walls” is a top pick for applicants looking to take advantage of the perks of New York City living: aside from getting free access to museums through the Museum Gateway program, NYU students also roam freely about the city, taking of NYU’s many discount programs and perks (like ScholasTix)  Back in the classroom, among over 400 academic programs (and over 600 courses on sustainability topics alone!), some of the most popular areas of study include visual and performing arts (NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and Tisch School of the Arts encompass a broad array of artistic majors) and business/marketing (NYU’s undergraduate business education is ranked #5 among all national universities) — both natural fits for the artistically rich and entrepreneurially strong culture of NYC. And in a city as diverse as NYC, the 20% of the NYU undergraduate student body who are international students fit right in. Indeed, NYU’s internationalism is reflected in recent ranking as #1 school for Study Abroad. This “campus without walls” spreads its wings from New York to Abu Dhabi and beyond.

Fordham University

Located on two campuses in New York City’s Manhattan and the Bronx is Fordham University, a private Jesuit research university. Of the approximately 9,900 undergraduate students and 7,100 graduate students enrolled at Fordham currently, 7,286 attend classes at the idyllic, 85-acre Rose Hill campus in the Bronx and 9,479 at Manhattan’s urban Lincoln Center campus, a stone’s throw from the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera. Ranked #72 among National Universities, Fordham prides itself on its spirit of “full-hearted engagement—with profound ideas, with communities around the world, with injustice, with beauty, with the entirety of the human experience.” The Fordham Honors Programs, too, centers “community engaged learning experiences” at the heart of the Honors education. And programs like The Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP), at the Rose Hill campus, consistently give back to the community: BAAHP is committed to recording the cultural, political, economic, and religious histories of over 500,000 people of African descent in the Bronx. Students of faith also find ample opportunities to engage with their peers on both campuses through Campus Ministry, a student-led, multi-faith community.

The New School

Just a short walk north of NYU, right by Manhattan’s Union Square neighborhood, The New School. Known for its Parsons School of Design — which comprises the lion’s share of undergraduate students, double the number of undergraduates in the next-largest school, the Eugene Long College of Liberal Arts — The New School had a total of 7,632 undergraduates and 3,183 graduate students enrolled as of Fall 2021. Ranked #127 among National Universities, The New School is not, in fact, so “new”: it was founded in 1919 as a “new kind of university […] one where scholars, artists, and designers come together to challenge convention and create positive change.” Indeed, over the years, The New School has become known for attracting top talent in the creative arts: instructors have included Aaron Copland, W.H. Auden, and Martha Graham. And the institution was the first American university to offer college-level courses on the history of film. These days, The New School prides itself on its many interdisciplinary research centers, institutes, and labs that center the challenges of today in the context of scholarly discourse and action, from the environmental justice-minded Tishman Environment and Design Center to the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility to the Housing Justice Lab.

City University of New York (CUNY) and Macaulay Honors College

Formed in 1962, the City University of New York (CUNY) today comprises 25 campuses across NYC’s five boroughs. Highly-competitive students apply to the Macaulay Honors College, which provides full-tuition undergraduate scholarships and encourages interdisciplinary study in a customized degree that best aligns with the student’s interests. Each CUNY campus is unique in its areas of expertise: Baruch, located near Manhattan’s Gramercy Park, is a leader in business, boasting one of the largest business schools in the nation, the Zicklin School of Business, while Hunter, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, is known for its top-notch programs in health professions, social work, and education. CUNY is also a college of “firsts”: Brooklyn College, located in the Midwood/Flatbush neighborhoods, was the city’s first public coeducational liberal arts college; and CCNY, located in Harlem, is known for offering the first documentary film program in the U.S. and housing the first student government in the nation.

WRAPPING UP

At Top Tier Admissions, we guide students through each step of the college admissions process. Check out our “college tour” of NYC and work with an expert counselor to identify the best fit for the next four years of your academic journey.

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