The New School
The New School at a Glance
Reviewed by James A. Barham, PhD, Vice President and Academic Editor. Influence ranks come from our InfluenceRanking™ methodology; other figures come from federal data, with the year shown under each section. Report an error
The New School Featured Rankings
- #3 New York's Best Online Colleges
- #4 New York's Best Online Master's Degrees
- #6 Best Private Colleges in New York 2026
- #7 Best Grad Schools in New York 2026
- #7 Best Research Universities in New York 2026
- #8 Best Colleges in New York 2026
- #15 Best Online Master's Programs
- #35 Best Private Grad Schools 2026
- #41 Best Undergrad Research Universities 2026
About The New School
In brief
The New School, in and around Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, was founded in 1919 as the New School for Social Research and took its present name in 2005. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #59 in the United States and #169 in the world. It admitted 63.5% of applicants for fall 2024.
Its divisions include the New School for Social Research, the Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, and the College of Performing Arts, and it also has a campus in Paris. From the late 1930s to the early 1950s it gave academic homes to many scholars fleeing Nazi persecution.
Where the New School’s influence is strongest
The New School’s influence is led by sociology, economics, and philosophy. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:
- Sociology: #21 in the US (#64 in the world)
- Economics: #27
- Philosophy: #31
- Anthropology: #34
- Communications: #37
Within those fields, the New School is a national leader in several specialties:
- #1 in the US: graphic design, the field of its Parsons School of Design
- #4: neoclassical economics and social philosophy
- #7: continental philosophy
How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.
Notable people
New School faculty and students have included the philosophers Hannah Arendt, John Dewey, Leo Strauss, and Hans Jonas, the scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, the writers James Baldwin, Jack Kerouac, and Lorraine Hansberry, the painters Jasper Johns and Edward Hopper, the composers Aaron Copland and John Cage, and the actor Marlon Brando. Our full lists of the New School’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.
Frequently asked questions
Is the New School hard to get into? Moderately. It admitted 63.5% of applicants for fall 2024.
What does the New School cost after financial aid? Tuition is $61,558 for 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $46,064 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $39,465 for incomes of $30,000–$48,000 to $59,291 for incomes above $110,000.
How do the New School graduates do? 67.8% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 85% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $64,471.
What is the New School best known for academically? By our influence data: sociology, economics, and philosophy, plus graphic design, where it ranks first in the country.
According to Wikipedia, The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. Since then, the school has grown to house five divisions within the university. These include the Parsons School of Design, the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, the College of Performing Arts, which includes the Mannes School of Music, The New School for Social Research, and the Schools of Public Engagement.
The New School's Online Degrees
Certificate in Media Management
- Required Credits: 12
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
MPS in Fashion Management
- Required Credits: 30
- Completion Time: 2-3 years
- Format: Fully online
MS in Media Management
- Required Credits: 36
- Completion Time: 2-3 years
- Format: Fully online
MS in Strategic Design and Management Global Executive
- Required Credits: 36
- Completion Time: 2-3 years
- Format: Fully online
MS in Strategic Design and Management
- Required Credits: 36
- Completion Time: 2-3 years
- Format: Fully online
MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
- Required Credits: 30
- Completion Time: 2-3 years
- Format: Fully online
BA in Degree Completion
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: 4-5 years
- Format: Fully online
BS in Degree Completion
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: 4-5 years
- Format: Fully online
MA in Media Studies
- Required Credits: 39
- Completion Time: 2-3 years
- Format: Fully online
The New School Admissions, Retention, and Graduation Information
| Annual Applications | Acceptance | Retention Rate | Graduation Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9,148 | 63% | 85% | 68% |
Source: U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and NCES); acceptance rate for fall 2024; test scores for fall 2024; applications and enrollment for fall 2023; retention for students who started in fall 2023; graduation rate within six years for students who started in 2019.
How Much Does The New School Cost To Attend?
| Tuition and fees (in-state) |
|---|
| $61,558 |
| Income | Average Net Cost |
|---|---|
| 0 - 30K | $39,567 |
| 30K - 48K | $39,465 |
| 48K - 75K | $46,064 |
| 75K - 110K | $49,974 |
| 110K+ | $59,291 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and NCES); tuition and fees for 2025–26; net price for 2024–25, for first-time, full-time students receiving financial aid.
How Much Do The New School Graduates Make?
Ten years after starting college, former The New School students who received federal financial aid earn a median of $64,471 a year, and 84% of those not still in school are working.
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard; students who started college in 2011–12 or 2012–13, measured in 2022 and 2023, in 2024 dollars.
The New School's Demographics
Students enrolled at any time during the 2023–24 school year, including part-time and online students.
| Student Body | Under-Grads | Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| 10,813 | 8,010 | 2,803 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics; 12-month enrollment for 2023–24.
Where is The New School?
The New School is located at New York, NY 10011.
How Safe is The New School?
The New School reported 0.7 violent and property offenses on campus per 1,000 students in 2024, fewer than most large partly residential campuses. Its figures can also be looked up in the U.S. Department of Education’s Campus Safety and Security database.
Relative to its enrollment, The New School has a violent crime rate of 0.06% and a property crime rate of 0.01%. New York has a violent crime rate of 0.69% and a property (including theft) crime rate of 2.42%. Sources: campus: U.S. Department of Education Campus Safety and Security data, on-campus offenses in 2024 (violent: murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault; property: burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson, which excludes ordinary theft); city: FBI Crime Data Explorer, offenses reported to the city police in 2024.
What Is The New School Known For?
The New School is known for its academic work in the following disciplines:
- Sociology
- Economics
- Philosophy
- Anthropology
- Communications
- Literature
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Education
- History
- Engineering
- Business
- Computer Science
- Biology
The New School's Top Areas of Influence With Degrees Offered
Each rank compares how much The New School's faculty and alumni have shaped a field with other schools, using Wikipedia, Wikidata and scholarly citation databases such as Crossref and Semantic Scholar. World and U.S. ranks reflect modern influence; the historical rank counts influence across all time. How we rank influence
The New School ranks #21 in the U.S. and #64 worldwide for influence in Sociology.
sociology DegreesThe New School ranks #27 in the U.S. and #65 worldwide for influence in Economics.
economics DegreesThe New School ranks #31 in the U.S. and #99 worldwide for influence in Philosophy.
philosophy DegreesThe New School ranks #34 in the U.S. and #85 worldwide for influence in Anthropology.
anthropology DegreesThe New School ranks #37 in the U.S. and #117 worldwide for influence in Communications.
communications DegreesThe New School ranks #43 in the U.S. and #118 worldwide for influence in Literature.
literature DegreesThe New School ranks #51 in the U.S. and #168 worldwide for influence in Political Science.
political-science DegreesThe New School ranks #54 in the U.S. and #92 worldwide for influence in Psychology.
psychology DegreesThe New School ranks #73 in the U.S. and #228 worldwide for influence in Education.
education DegreesThe New School ranks #73 in the U.S. and #181 worldwide for influence in History.
history DegreesThe New School ranks #80 in the U.S. and #307 worldwide for influence in Engineering.
engineering DegreesThe New School ranks #89 in the U.S. and #222 worldwide for influence in Business.
business DegreesThe New School ranks #99 in the U.S. and #371 worldwide for influence in Computer Science.
computer-science DegreesThe New School ranks #141 in the U.S. and #471 worldwide for influence in Biology.
biology DegreesWho Are The New School's Most Influential Alumni?
The New School's most influential alumni include professors and professionals in the fields of Sociology, Psychology, and Economics. Here are some of The New School's most famous alumni:
- Tennessee Williams
- An American playwright .
- Marc Jacobs
- An American fashion designer.
- Peter L. Berger
- An American sociologist.
- Franco Modigliani
- An Italian-American economist .
- Ruth Benedict
- An American anthropologist and folklorologist .
- Lewis Mumford
- An American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology and literary critic .
- James Baldwin
- An American writer .
- Amiri Baraka
- An African-American writer .
- Heinrich Blücher
- A German poet and philosopher.
- Robert Heilbroner
- An American economist and historian of economic thought.
- Shimon Peres
- An Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister and then President of Israel .
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- An American politician, diplomat, activist. Eleanor Roosevelt is First Lady of the United States .
Who Are The New School's Most Influential Faculty?
The New School's most influential faculty include professors in the fields of Sociology, Psychology, and Economics. Here are some of The New School's most famous faculty:
- Eugene Thacker
- An American philosopher.
- Markus Gabriel
- A German philosopher.
- Federico Finchelstein
- An Argentinian historian.
- Miguel Robles-Durán
- A .
- Chiara Bottici
- An American philosopher.
- Christopher Shinn
- An American playwright.
- Jenny Zhang
- A Chinese-American writer, poet, and essayist.
- Siddhartha Deb
- An Indian author born in Meghalaya.
- Brian Willison
- An American academic.
- Maggie Nelson
- An American writer.
- Katerina Lanfranco
- An American artist.
- Lenore Malen
- An American artist.
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