The New School

Colleges You Ought to Know: The New School, New York, NY.

I was lucky the other day when I visited The New School. It was a sunny, breezy March day and the university looked beautiful underneath a bright blue sky. The New School is an unusual place and it’s not for everyone. But I love it. It’s comprised of five divisions: Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, Parsons School of Design, the College of Performing Arts, The Schools of Public Engagement and the New School for Social Research. The New School has a fascinating history as an institution designed to challenge traditional methods of education and ways of thinking. Some of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century are associated with the school. Faculty have included Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, Margaret Mead, W.E.B.DuBois, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

This is a college for a student interested in creative thinking and expression. It is for someone who wants to study fine and performing arts (see Parsons and Performing Arts for details) and someone who challenges conventional ways of looking at society. It is expansive and interdisciplinary in its thinking. The student has to understand that this is not a traditional campus community; the school has a number of buildings between 11th and 13th Streets and 5th and 6th Avenues. While all freshman can live on campus, by sophomore year most students have moved to apartments in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. If you want an alternative, urban approach to college this may be the school for you.