by Dave Best – Galin Education College Counselor
The exhilaration of the college admissions process reminds me of a roller coaster. The journey to pick a school is rapid and packed with a variety of emotions including fear, excitement and anxiety. After you conquer the stomach turning ride to ultimately select one school, will your destination be under the bright lights of a big city?
Some students desire a classic college experience on a picturesque campus steeped in tradition. These schools are often outside the major markets, spread out across hundreds of acres. Students proudly wear their school’s merchandise and pack the football stadium. Much of the activity is through campus organizations, including fraternities and sororities. As there certainly are a wealth of options fitting that description, why then is there a high demand for big city schools?
Perhaps it is to experience a city that never sleeps, to enjoy the thrill of the nightlife, culture and cuisine. Or perhaps it’s to network, intern and discover what careers most interest you. Many major employers are based in the big cities and are strategically near excellent colleges. Many schools bring in leaders of industry to speak on campus or even teach a course. Students who connect these dots can open the door to unparalleled career prospects.
Let me share a few examples of schools strategically located in great cities:
New York / Wall Street
New York University is home to the Stern School of Business. The school blends into its Greenwich Village neighborhood, which is a vibrant yet unique place to live. NYU has a great location to connect with financial companies that inhabit the skyscrapers near Wall Street as well as across Midtown. In fact, 98% of Stern juniors have internships or paid work experience. With Wall Street nearby, graduates can tap into the NYU alumni network for excellent positions locally in investment banking. Top employers include JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
D.C./ Politics
George Washington University is steps from the White House in Foggy Bottom and home to the Elliott School of International Affairs. This school’s mission is to educate the next generation of international leaders. GW has strong relationships with public, private, and non-profit organizations that offer a variety of internship opportunities. These positions are an invaluable way for its undergraduate students to gain professional experience to complement the strong academic fundamentals they learn in the classroom. To help plan for and find an internship, Elliott School students are encouraged to work with the Center for Career Services and to utilize GWork, a database of internship and job opportunities available exclusively to GW students and alumni. Major local employers include the extraordinary number of governmental agency and related organizations in the Capitol.
Los Angeles / Entertainment
USC is located in Los Angeles and is home to highly ranked School of Cinematic Arts, School of Dramatic Arts and the Thornton School of Music. LA is considered the entertainment capital. Many of the top movie studios are nearby including Paramount, Columbia, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers. USC is often used to shoot movies as well as tv shows. Students have a solid inside track and a powerful alumni network for local internships/jobs in film, television, games and interactive media.
Seattle / Technology
University of Washington is right in Seattle and is one of the top research universities nationwide. The school benefits from its Seattle location and proximity to some of the country’s most successful companies including Amazon and Microsoft. University of Washington has deep ties to both companies and they each invest significantly to ensure the school continues to thrive and in hopes they hire top graduates. For example each company recently donated $10,000,000 to build a new computer lab and double the size of the computer science program at the University of Washington. Amazon is the world’s largest Internet retailer. Microsoft is well known for its Microsoft Windows and Office products.
