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New York

United States · North America

Finance, media, publishing and the art market in one place. The density is the reason people put up with the price.

Who this suits, and who it doesn’t

Suits you if you are aiming at finance, law, media, publishing or the art market and want to be where those industries actually are. Look elsewhere if you are cost-sensitive or want a quiet, spacious life. This is the opposite of both.

The catch, and the way in

The catch

Same as Boston: cost and visa uncertainty, plus rent that eats junior salaries.

The way in

Need-based aid at the universities that offer it to internationals; portfolio and writing competitions are how you start being seen from far away.

Living there

What living here is actually like

The one American city that works without a car, which changes everything about daily life: the subway runs constantly, you walk a great deal, and neighbourhoods are distinct enough to feel like separate towns. It's loud, fast and culturally saturated. The density of galleries, theatres, publishers and newsrooms is the reason people accept the price.

How the money works

Rent is the defining problem and it eats junior salaries in finance, media and the arts alike; sharing an apartment well into your twenties is normal rather than a failure. Everything social costs money, which is easy to underestimate when the social life is the reason you came. Need-based aid at the universities that offer it is what makes studying here possible at all.Described in shape rather than figures on purpose: rents and salaries move every year and we cannot keep numbers true, but what is expensive and what quietly eats income stays true for far longer.

The language you actually need

English, and in the creative and media industries a specific fluency in writing and pitching. This is a city where being able to explain your work compellingly in two minutes has direct economic value.

The work that clusters here

The kinds of work New York is a route into, each with what it actually involves, and what the catch is.

Who is named here

Not a ranking and not in order of merit. These are the places a subject is actually studied and taught at in this city, so you have something to search for.

  • Columbia University

    • Law
    • Business & Economics
    • Humanities & Social Sciences
    • Medicine & Health

    Degrees taught in English

Language of teaching moves within a cycle, so check it on the university’s own page for your own entry year.