Upstate New York

Upstate New York is not the part of New York State you ever want to find yourself in, if you have a choice about it.

Expert opinion differs on where "upstate" New York actually begins. A "clever" NYU student might actually joke that Columbia is upstate of it. Since there's not really a great response to that, it's best to change the subject and note that it implies that a school that's actually upstate, like Cornell, is effectively located in the tundra.