A Guide to the Best Colleges In New York State

May 30, 2011
Robert LeDonne

NYU's Famed Library - Wikimedia Commons

Looking for colleges in New York but have no idea where to apply? Use this handy guide to figure out where you're going to get your education.

From the city to upstate, here are some of the best schools of higher learning New York has to offer.

School: New York University

Location: New York City (Manhattan)

Summary: New York University (or as its better known, NYU), is one of the best schools in the state. Located in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, it's known for a very selective admission process and a wide spectrum of students. Boasting one of the best film schools in the country (Tisch School of the Arts), many former NYU students are at the top of their respective fields. While some may not like the fact there's no real campus (dorms and classrooms are spread out over a number of blocks), this school is for the cream of the crop to get a first class education and explore one of the greatest cities in the world.

School: Syracuse University

Location: Syracuse (Upstate)

Summary: With one of the most storied basketball teams in the nation, Syracuse isn't all about sports. It's also a breeding ground for some of the most succesful broadcast news personalities working in television today. Syracuse students are known to throw wild parties and get stellar grades to boot. With a campus that's the antithesis of NYU's (located in the middle of Upstate New York farmland), campus life may be a turn-off for people since there isn't a lot going on outside it—New York City is about a four and a half hour drive away.

School: RPI

Location: Troy

Summary: To put it bluntly, RPI (or Rensellear Polytechnic Institute), is a school for brainaics. Widely considered to be one of the best schools in the country for engineering and architecture, its one of the oldest schools on this list, having been founded way back in 1824. Notable alumni include the inventor of the Ferris Wheel, the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, and the inventor of e-mail as we know it—not bad for a school with an enrollment of only 7,500 students.

School: Hofstra University

Location: Hempstead, Long Island

Summary: Originally built as a satellite school for New York University, Hofstra has carved a niche as being one of the best schools in the state for business and law. Featuring a student body made up mostly of Long Islanders, the school features a beautiful campus (which is surrounded by the impoverished area), and is just a 40-minute train ride away from New York City.

School: Columbia

Location: New York City (Manhattan)

Summary: One of NYU's main rivals, Columbia is one of the most prestigious schools in the nation. A member of the Ivy league, and with an endowment of $6.5 billion, it is the former school of such luminaries as Presidents Barack Obama and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.