Top universities in New York City

Ranked 161-170 in the US is Pace University – New York. Pace University was founded as a one-room accounting school in 1906 and has since grown to three campuses in New York City and Westchester County. It enrols around 13,000 students in more than 150 majors and programmes.  

Pace University places a strong focus on the liberal arts and sciences, with an emphasis on the combination of theory and practice.  

Image: Matt Green 

In joint sixth place in NYC and 151-160 is CUNY Hunter College. Hunter College has around 23,000 students and is in the heart of New York City, in Manhattan. 

Hunter College offers more than 170 programmes, ranging from adolescence education and anthropology to nursing, urban affairs, women’s studies, and Arabic. The programmes stress the significance of diversity and emphasise research and artistic creation. 

Image: Frederic Gleach 

Baruch College claims joint sixth place in New York City this year, ranking 151-160 in the USA rankings. The school has more than 19,500 students from around 168 countries and is widely known for having one of the most ethnically diverse student populations in the USA. 

Baruch College has a central location, within easy reach of Midtown, Wall Street and the global headquarters of many international corporations, making it easy for students to find internships in the city. 

Ranking 121-130 in the QS World University Rankings: USA 2021, Fordham University calls itself the Jesuit University of New York and specializes in liberal arts, sciences and business. Fordham University is composed of 10 colleges – four for undergraduates and six for postgraduates. These enrol around 15,000 students in total, with two main campuses in New York City – the Rose Hill campus in the Bronx and Lincoln Center in Manhattan – as well as a much smaller campus in West Harrison, about 25 miles north of Manhattan. 

Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus is close to the Little Italy area, historically associated with Italian migrants and still characterized by Italian restaurants and shops, while the Lincoln Center is close to the south-east corner of Central Park. 

Cornell University is currently ranked third in NYC and 12th in the USA. A member of the prestigious Ivy League group, it offers a range of both academic and vocational courses. Known for being the first US university to offer a degree in veterinary medicine, Cornell University also bears the title of the first US university to teach modern Far-Eastern languages. 

Cornell University’s main campus is in Ithaca, around 200 miles to the north-west of New York City, but it also has a strong presence in NYC. Its medical campus can be found in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and in September 2017 the university opened the innovative ‘Cornell Tech’ engineering campus on Roosevelt Island, creating 28,000 jobs. Cornell University’s schools of financial engineering and architecture are also based in Manhattan. 

New York University (NYU) is another of the top universities in New York City to be ranked among the world’s best, up two places this year to rank ninth in the USA. New York University has a strong focus on internationalization, with several branch campuses around the world and an impressive study abroad program. NYU also counts many international students among its extensive student community. 

While NYU has several New York locations, its main hub is the Washington Square campus, in Greenwich Village. Known as the Village, this area of Lower Manhattan is famed as one of New York City’s most creative and bohemian localities, offering a great atmosphere for NYU students. Over the years, the school has attracted an eclectic mix of writers, artists, musicians and intellectuals to study in New York – all part of the appeal for many creatively minded students. 

Columbia University currently ranks seventh in the QS World University Rankings: USA 2021 and is the best university in New York City this year. Another member of the prestigious Ivy League, its famous alumni include US President Barack Obama. A world-leading centre of research, Columbia University has a strong offering across the full subject spectrum.  

Columbia University has a central location in the Upper West Side of Manhattan – close to the northern tip of Central Park and just off Broadway, the boulevard which gives its name to New York’s famous theatre scene. It boasts a highly diverse faculty (over 4,200 academic staff) and the third-largest international student population of any US university, with 36 percent of its 33,032 students coming from outside the US. 

Trying to decide between Columbia and NYU? Find out how they compare here.