
New York, NYprivate nonprofitwww.yu.edu/
Admit rate has ranged 55%–67% over the last 5 years — notably volatile. Source: IPEDS via Urban Institute.
Acceptance & SAT from Common Data Set / IPEDS; net price, earnings & graduation from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~1–2 years — verify with the school.
Yeshiva University is a singular institution—a Modern Orthodox Jewish powerhouse in New York City that fuses rigorous Torah study with top-tier liberal arts and pre-professional programs. With gender-separated campuses, a tight-knit community, and graduates who out-earn peers at most colleges, YU offers an education that’s as intellectually demanding as it is spiritually formative.
Test-optional — scores considered if submitted
Source: IPEDS Admissions survey (2022) via Urban Institute. Covers formal factors only — it does not reflect essays, extracurriculars, or other holistic criteria.
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Outcomes & value
Median earnings by field of study (highest credential), ~2 years after completion.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (field-of-study earnings). Figures cover graduates who received federal aid and lag ~2 years; not all programs report data.
Campus & location
On-campus criminal offenses classed as violent (murder/non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) for the most recent reported year. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education Campus Safety and Security (Clery Act). Counts reflect what’s reported to the school, and urban campuses often report more partly due to non-student incidents nearby — read alongside campus size and setting, not as a standalone safety verdict.
Pleasant days counts days per year with a mean temperature of 55–75°F, a high at or below 90°F, a low at or above 45°F, and little precipitation — a transparent comfort measure, not a weighting we invented. Computed from Open-Meteo ERA5 daily history (2019–2023). Natural-hazard risk is the county’s composite rating from the FEMA National Risk Index.
Institutional research volume and impact from OpenAlex. The h-index reflects large research universities and will be low for teaching-focused liberal-arts colleges — not a measure of undergraduate quality.
Mobility rate = the share of students who both start in the bottom household-income quintile and reach the top quintile; bottom → top is that chance conditional on starting at the bottom. Source: Opportunity Insights Mobility Report Cards (Chetty, Friedman, Saez, Turner & Yagan). Reflects 1980–82 birth cohorts, so it’s directional, not current.
Yeshiva University’s admissions process is moderately selective, with Acceptance rateThe share of applicants a college admits in a given year. A 10% acceptance rate means it admits about 1 in 10 applicants. hovering between 55-63%—though this masks the intensity of its dual-curriculum applicants. The middle 50% of admitted students score between 1340-1500 on the SAT or 22-30 on the ACT, with course rigor and test scores weighing heavily in decisions. Early action is available, letting applicants hear back well before regular decision dates. Notably, YU’s admissions process is deeply intertwined with its religious mission: the university seeks students committed to both secular academic excellence and Torah study, creating a self-selecting pool of Modern Orthodox Jewish applicants.
Earnings = median of students working ~10 years after entry; debt = median of graduates. Value divides 10-yr earnings by one year’s net price — read it as earnings per dollar of annual cost, not a full lifetime ROI; it favors lower-cost schools. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~2 years and reflect all students, not your intended major.
YU’s academic model is unlike any other: a dual curriculum that pairs intensive Jewish studies (Talmud, Torah, Hebrew) with a full slate of liberal arts and pre-professional programs. Standouts include:
Small class sizes are the norm, with faculty deeply engaged in both secular and religious instruction. The workload is notoriously heavy—students juggle morning yeshiva sessions with afternoon secular classes, a grind that forges serious time-management skills.
Life at YU revolves around its gender-separated campuses (men in Washington Heights, women at Midtown’s Stern College), creating distinct social ecosystems. Key facets:
One Reddit user sums it up: 'It’s a bubble—but a bubble with subway access to Manhattan.' The vibe is intense but familial, with Shabbat meals often hosted by faculty.
YU graduates punch far above their weight in earnings:
The numbers reflect YU’s dual advantage: a rigorous secular education paired with the discipline and networking of the Orthodox world. Alumni often credit the university’s time-pressure cooker—balancing yeshiva and academics—for teaching unparalleled work ethic.
At $49,965 average annual cost, YU isn’t cheap—but robust aid softens the blow:
The calculus changes for families valuing YU’s dual mission: where else can you study Talmud and computer science under one (kosher) roof?
Yeshiva University is the only elite U.S. university where Talmud study is as non-negotiable as calculus. Its graduates emerge with a rare hybrid identity: worldly enough to thrive in white-shoe law firms, yet deeply grounded in Jewish texts and tradition. The trade-offs are real—limited dating freedom, grueling schedules—but for Modern Orthodox students seeking academic rigor without compromising observance, YU is the gold standard. As one Reddit user put it: 'Harvard won’t pause classes for Sukkot.'