Is UMass Amherst or NYU more selective for undergraduate admissions?

The biggest practical tradeoff is that NYU draws a larger, more national and international applicant pool across highly sought-after urban programs, while UMass Amherst, though definitely competitive, operates more like a strong public flagship with broader access, especially for in-state students. In overall undergraduate admissions, NYU is generally more selective than UMass Amherst. That difference shows up not just in raw competition, but in the kinds of applicants each school attracts and how many spots are available relative to demand.

NYU tends to be harder to get into across the university as a whole because of its global name recognition, New York City location, and especially high demand for programs like Stern, Tisch, and some other pre-professional tracks. Even outside those schools, NYU admissions usually feels tighter because the applicant pool is very large and self-selecting. Students applying there are often treating it as a reach or high-target school.

UMass Amherst is a well-regarded flagship and can absolutely be selective, especially for certain majors such as business, computer science, and engineering. But overall, it is not typically viewed as being as difficult to enter as NYU. Its admissions landscape also varies more by residency and program, with Massachusetts applicants often seeing a different level of competition than out-of-state applicants.

The one important nuance is that a very competitive UMass Amherst major can still be tougher than a less selective NYU division for a particular student profile, but at the university-wide level NYU is the more selective school.