Barnard

Barnard is an all women's college right across the street from Columbia. 2300 young women attend and are able to take classes at Columbia as well as participate on Columbia's Division 1 sports teams- making them the only women's college that plays D1.
Students here most often major in the liberal arts, English and Psyhology are the most popular majors, but Dance, Theatre, and Writing are very strong programs as well. Most graduates will attend graduate school upon completion of their Barnard Degree.
Barnard is also very selective and also has it's very own campus. All buildings are connected by tunnels which makes the winters a bit less harsh!

Columbia

Columbia University in Manhattan's Upper West Side is a sanctuary from all the hustle and bustle of NYC. It is a true college campus with lots of history, beautiful architecture and wide open spaces. Columbia is an Ivy League school and, lke all Ivies, extremely selective. Students with straight A's and great SAT scores have about a 1 in 10 chance of getting accepted here. For those students, my advice would be, APPLY!
Nearly all of the 5500 undergraduates live on campus, stay all 4 years and graduate on time. About 20% are international students. 4100 are majors under the Columbia College school (mainly liberal arts) and the other 1400 are in the Engineering and Applied Science school.
At $52,000, it is quite expensive BUT financial aid is abundent. Students from families making less than $60,000 per year basically attend for free. Columbia has also done away with the need for loans for all students. This means that if you qualify for financial aid, regardless of your income, you'll recieve grants and work study, essentially eliminating debt for it's grads!
Our current president and governor are Columbia grads along with several other former presidents.

FIT

The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City is part of the SUNY system and, therefore, one of the least expensive schools to attend in the Big Apple. Besides Fashion Design and Fashion Merchandising, FIT offers Bachelors Degrees in over 20 other areas. Some of the most interesting include Toy Design, Cosmetic and Fragrance Marketing, Packaging Design, and Interior Design. All majors are of the artistic variety. An interesting and unique fact about FIT is that all students starting here must first earn an Associates Degree before moving into the Bachelors track. Still, it takes just 4 years to get through.
About 11,000 full and part time students attend, campus housing is available mainly to freshmen and Presidential Scholars. In all, there are 11 buildings, 10 within one block of one another. FIT also boasts the highest career placement rate in the SUNY system.
Thanks to Erika Schuster, VHS class of 2006 and current FIT junior (and sister of Max), who gave me a tour of her campus.

NYIT

The New York Institute of Technology has 2 campuses. I was not planning to visit this one but as I was walking from Juilliard to FIT, it was right along my route so I stopped in. Their main campus is on Long Island Students can take classes at either location but housing is limited to the LI campus. Most of the students that attend NYIT are from the city and surrounding counties. They do offer some very popular majors such as Physical Therapy, Nursing, Architecture and Engineering. Students with a B average would stand a very good chance of getting accepted here. Costs are reasonable (for a private school)and about 7500 undergrads attend although most are commuters.

Juillard

Students from all over the world come here to perfect their already exceptional talents in music, drama, and dance. Only about 450 undergrads attend along with another 300 or so music grad students. Located in Lincoln Center in Manhattan, it is an extremely difficult place to gain acceptance. Of nearly 1100 drama applicants, only 20 were accepted! Music may be somewhat less selective, but it really depends on the applicant pool. Julliard will only take a certain number for each type of voice, a smaller number for each orchestral instrument, etc. As a result, most graduates are employed upon completion of their degree. Many go on to great fame in their field.
The college consists of just 2 buildings and about half the undergrads live in campus housing. Total cost per year with housing and meals is about $45,000. Nearly all who get accepted here do attend and nearly all of those do graduate on time.

NYU

New York University near Washington Square and Greenwich Village in Manhattan is comprised of 8 undergraduate schools. The Stern School of Business is probably the most selective followed closely by The Tisch School of Performing Arts and then The School of Arts and Science (which is also the biggest). Almost 50,000 students attend NYU but just a quarter of those are full time undergrads. Most of these students live on campus all 4 years. Students come from all 50 states and many foreign countries. In fact, well over 10% of students here are international students.
There are over 160 majors that run the gamut from performance-based to hospitality to sports management to nursing and nearly everything in between. There are also several hundred college-sponsored clubs, with the most popular being 'The Milk and Cookies Club'! Some majors require study abroad for a year or more and many students do a term abroad at some point.
Total cost stated during the info session I attended was the highest I've heard yet; $55,000.

Cooper Union

Cooper Union is a very unique place. Located near Greenwich Village in New York City, this college charges no tuition and has just 3 majors. Students do have other expenses (such as housing), but annual costs are under $20,000.

The 3 majors are Art, Architecture, and Engineering. There are only about 1000 students total. About half are engineering majors and admissions criteria are extremely selective for each program. The Art and Architect majors have to complete an at-home test that will really challenge even the most creative and talented. Once admitted, students will work very hard during their undergraduate years, but most will graduate on time.

A fifth building is just about complete and all buildings are within a block of one another. It is an Urban setting- meaning no true campus- but is is right next to a nice park.

Hunter College

Hunter College is made up of 4 buildings within a block of each other in the middle of Manhattan and part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system of which there are 23 institutions total serving the 5 boroughs of NYC. 21,000 students (undergrad+ grad) attend Hunter who, for the most part, are all commuters.

The Macauley Honors College is a special program within the CUNY system that provides a full tuition scholarship for 4 years as well as housing and a $7500 study grant. Only 100 Hunter students per year are accepted into this program, so it is much more competitive than is regular admission to Hunter.

Known as a research institution, Hunter incorporates the big city into it's curriculum and requires students to complete internships. Tuition is very low, about the same as at a SUNY. Education and Health Sciences are popular majors.

Parsons

Parsons is part of 'The New School'. In fact, the full name is 'Parsons The New School of Design'. It's the largest of 8 schools that fall under The New School heading. Eugene Lang The New School For Liberal Arts is another as are 2 music schools, a drama school, a General Studies college predominently for adults and 2 that are mainly post-graduate options.

Students from VVille often look at Parsons for their many and varied art majors including Architecture and Fashion Merchandising as well as the more traditional visual arts type programs. Donna Karan went here.

This is a completely urban campus in the heart of NYC near Greenwich Village. Nearly 10,000 students attend New School colleges, with almost 40% coming from foreign countries. It is a commuter school but does have dorms that house nearly 1000 freshmen and 3 new dorms are scheduled to open next year. Like most art schools, there are far more girls than boys (nearly 3:1).

Costs vary by program, but one can expect a total bill in excess of $50,000 per year.

Boston University

With over 16,000 undergraduates and 13,000 grad students, BU is one of the largest private colleges in the country. Located right along a major and busy street in Boston (unlike BC which is in the suburbs)it is truly an urban campus. Unlike Northeastern which does seem to also have an enclosed college campus, BU just seems like a lot of large city buildings that happen to be close to each other. It is residential, however, and housing is guaranteed all 4 years. With over 250 majors, there is something for everyone here academically. I'd recommend that those who do want to attend to not be Yankees fans! In Boston, you're likely to be on the receiving end of 'the bird' simply for having NY license plates. True story.

Olin

The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering is a very unique place. It's tiny; just 300 students total. It's new; the first graduates were in 2006. And it's extremely focused; everyone here is an engineering major. It's also extremely competitive with accepted students having an A average in a challenging high school program and incredibly high test scores. The buildings are new, built this decade and current students pay no tuition! They just have to pay room and board and fees, totalling around $18,000. Everyone is required to live on campus all 4 years.
Unfortunately, Olin is not immune to the current financial crisis so this policy will be changing for future students. Still, it's an interesting choice for students serious about engineering.

Wellesley

Wellesley is an all female school with a great tradition and very high standards. Current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is an alum and the network of alumnae is said to be one of the school's strengths. Nearly all of the 2400 students live on campus and the retention rate is very high. Upon graduation most students continue their education at some type of graduate school.

The workload is said to be challenging and professors are said to be tough graders. English, Economics, Psychology and International Relations are the most popular majors. Students (including male students)from nearby Babson and Olin can take clases at Wellesley and probably do so for foreign language clases more than any other.

Social life is typical. Boys from other colleges do find their way to Wellesley for parties and events and girls from here are welcome at social events at the two neighboring schools as well as at MIT.

Babson

Every student at Babson is a business major of some sort. Each student works as part of a group of 30 freshman year running a business of their own design. The college supplies each group with the funds to begin the venture and all profits go to charity. It's kind of like being thrown into the deep end of the pool to learn how to swim. Babson is a school that trains entrepreneurs, it's ingrained throughout the curiculum. For this it is known throughout the world. One quarter of it's student body is from a foreign country in fact.
1850 undergrads make up Babson and they can take classes at both Wellesley and Olin which are very close. It's 14 miles from Boston so students frequently take advantage of all the city has to offer.

Bentley

Over half the students who attend Bentley are business majors. It's what they do best. Of particular interest is their high tech 'trading room' that gives students great preparation for working on Wall Street. Most graduates do, in fact, start their careers upon graduation as opposed to going to graduate school. A student with a high B average and better than average test scores can get in here. Most students who look at Bentley also look at Babson and Bryant; the 3 B's of northeat business schools.
While it's very high tech inside, outside it's all red brick. It's vey clean and well maintained, but there's just too much brick, buildings look too much alike. 4000 undergrads attend and the cost is (just) $43,000- low for a private school.

Brandeis

Brandeis is an interesting place. There is a really cool looking castle in the middle of campus that serves as a dorm. About half of the 3200 undergrads identify themselves as Jewish but the school prides itself on including everyone and being non judgemental- despite their nickname "the Judges"! The school was started in 1948by the likes of Albert Einstein, Leonard Bernstein, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Economics and Psychology are the most popular majors but Physics is said to be very strong here as well as PreMed and PreLaw. The Arts and Humanities thrive here through student run groups and college sponsored clubs and performances. It's a very selective school and most who get in do stay. After graduation, most attend grad school. Many work for PeaceCorps and Teach America as well.

MIT

Like their neighbors in Cambridge (Harvard), The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the most selective schools in the world. Unlike their more famous neighbor, once you get in, the workload is notoriously difficult. This is a school for the very bright, very serious student who wants to work hard. Over half major in some type of engineering, and another quarter major in science. Architecture is also offered and a small percentage major in management or a liberal arts field. Whatever the major, MIT grads are sought by employers and many have gone on to make significant contributions in their chosen field.

Many unique buildings make up the campus from the 1970’s inspired library to the classic columned structures (pictured) housing the bulk of the academic classes, to the new dorm that looks made of Legos, the windowless silo chapel, and the indescribable student center (pictured).

Harvard

They say the hardest part about Harvard is getting in. During the tour and info session I participated in, social life and extracurriculars were stressed and residence halls seem to be amazing. Virtually all students live on campus and have seemingly unlimited opportunities to participate in sports and clubs, attend lectures and concerts by the biggest stars, and get involved in organizations and events in Boston. Students take 4 classes per semester after the ‘shopping period’ that allows students to test-drive a class prior to finalizing their schedule and 97% graduate. No classes start before 9am, make that 9:07-‘Harvard Time’!

As far as the getting in part; it’s also reported that Harvard receives applications from enough valedictorians to fill their entire freshman class. Instead, they do take students from every state and around the world. They also need about 1500 athletes on campus to fill the rosters of their varsity and JV sports programs. So while they do accept about 10% of all applications overall, students from New York State who are not sports recruits probably have an even tougher time.

America’s oldest college is also the alma mater of several US presidents and famous alums too numerous to mention.