Bloomingdale High School Counseling Department

 

With the world at its doorstep, New York University invites its student body to jump right in. Firmly planted in the heart of Greenwich Village, arguably one of the most eclectic and energizing neighborhoods in New York City, NYU has set its sights on becoming the world’s first truly global university. Its growing student body, burgeoning new facilities, and multiple opportunities for high-level internships and research projects have made it a top option for a rising number of students. One senior observes, “The prestige of the university has certainly increased.” What’s more, “NYU is a place to gain street smarts in addition to book smarts,” says a senior. “The combination of strong academics and an amazing location give NYU a big advantage.”

It doesn’t get more real world than the venue that NYU calls home. NYU has campuses and centers throughout the city but is centered on Washington Square. Trendy shops, galleries, clubs, bars, and eateries crowd neighboring blocks; SoHo, Little Italy, and Chinatown are just blocks away. Academic NYU buildings—both modern and historic—blend with 19th-century brick townhouses surrounding Washington Square Park (the closest thing NYU has to a quad). Kimmel Center for University Life houses meeting space for NYU’s nearly 400 student clubs, plus areas for the frequent recruitment fairs and lectures featuring national and international leaders. It houses the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts’ 860-seat theater, which is the largest performing arts facility south of 42nd Street.

The city scene is a core element of the NYU experience. So, too, is the wide range of academic programs. The Tisch School of the Arts trained such famed actors and directors as Marcia Gay Harden, Alec Baldwin, Martin Scorcese, and Spike Lee, and current undergrads continue to win many national student filmmaker awards. Tisch also boasts excellent drama, dance, photography, and television departments, and it’s not uncommon to see students who haven’t yet finished B.F.A. degrees performing in Broadway shows.

Wall Street’s future bulls and bears make their home at the Stern School of Business, where they benefit from a business and political economy program. Another favorite department among students (and the New York corporations who recruit them after graduation) is accounting, known for its high job-placement rate. The arts and sciences are strong, with English, journalism, history, political science, and applied math winning highest marks. There’s an increased emphasis on foreign exchange and study abroad, with a dozen sites in Paris, Berlin, Shanghai, London, Florence, Madrid, Prague, Accra, Tel Aviv, and elsewhere, as well as exchange agreements with universities in other locations throughout the world. The Gallatin School of Individualized Study provides flexible schedules and freedom from requirements for those wishing to engage in independent study or develop their own programs. An annual undergraduate research conference at the College of Arts and Sciences gives students the chance to present findings from their research. The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the Silver School of Social Work, the College of Nursing, and the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and Sports Management offer a plethora of career-based programs, including art, education, nutrition, and sports and leisure studies.

Finding a cheap New York apartment may be easier than sailing through NYU’s academics. The climate “is quite diverse across the various schools and programs,” says one junior. “The classes can be very challenging,” adds a senior, “but students have a plethora of resources to help them succeed.” Everyone is very focused on career preparation—it’s never enough to just concentrate on your classes. Premed, prelaw, and prebusiness students may encounter packed schedules and competitive classes, while Gallatin and Tisch students may have lots of spare time, students say. “It’s hard to avoid the pressure,” says a student majoring in drama and politics, with nine hours of acting class a day and writing-intensive academic courses, too. At least the NYU library is accommodating—it’s one of the largest open-stack facilities in the country, with more than 5.1 million volumes.

Under the Morse Academic Plan, freshmen and sophomores take courses including foreign language, expository writing, foundations of contemporary culture, and foundations of scientific inquiry. The language offerings, though, go beyond the typical Spanish-French-German—among the choices are Cantonese, Hindi, Modern Irish, Swahili, and Tagalog—and students are required to show medium proficiency. Despite the university’s mammoth size, 63 percent of classes taken by freshmen have 19 or fewer students. Graduate students might lead foreign language sections, writing workshops, and the recitations that accompany lectures, but students still say teaching is top-notch. “Surprisingly, most of our introductory courses are taught by really great and well-known professors,” says one student. “I have found professors to be accessible and willing to help their students succeed,” a history major adds. Those qualifying for freshmen honors seminars study in small classes under top faculty and eminent visiting professors. 

The variety of degree options here may tempt students to hang around the Village for more than four years. There’s a seven-year dental program and a five-year joint engineering program with New Jersey’s Stevens Institute of Technology. Freshmen selected as University Scholars travel abroad each year. Point to a spot on a world map and you’ll likely hit a country hosting NYU students. Locally, internships range from jobs on Wall Street to assignments with film industry giants. The career center is “amazingly personal and well run,” says an econ major, and has thousands of listings for on-campus jobs, full-time jobs, and internships.

An international politics major says NYU students are “high achieving individuals, cosmopolitan, independent, self-driven, confident, and able to manage academics, part-time jobs, and internships while having active social lives.” Thanks in part to the university’s investment in new housing, a majority of students (67 percent) now come from outside New York State. The NYU students who are from New York State come primarily from the city and nearby suburbs. African Americans make up 4 percent of the student body, Asian Americans 20 percent, and Hispanics 10 percent. On this generally liberal campus, gender issues, social justice, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and rights of all kinds—gay, lesbian, transgender, animal, human, and workers’—are important now, students say. “NYU is primarily a pretty liberal university,” says a sophomore, “but conservative folks are welcome here, too!”

Because NYU is large and fairly decentralized, the Student Resource Center helps students navigate university resources and services. The university’s Wellness Exchange provides students with a hotline that connects them with professionals who can help them address daily challenges or crises they may encounter. Students also meet with academic advisors—usually professors in their major department—at least once a semester. For concerned parents and students, the Office of Student Life, Protection, and Residence Halls hosts a series of workshops on keeping safe at NYU, and programs like the NYU Trolley and Escort Van Service provide door-to-door service for students until 3:00 a.m. “I always feel safe,” says a linguistics major. “I can’t walk more than one block without seeing an NYU security officer or an NYPD car just patrolling the area.”

While NYU students once had to fend for themselves in New York’s outrageous housing market, the university guarantees four years of housing to all freshmen (and most transfers) who seek it. Twenty-one residence halls, ranging from old hotels to a converted monastery, provide a wide range of accommodations. Most rooms have private baths and are larger, cleaner, newer, and better equipped than many city apartments, enticing 50 percent of students to stay on campus. Freshmen are housed largely in freshman residence halls, many of which have theme floors, and rooms are assigned by lottery each spring. Amenities include central air-conditioning, computer centers, musical practice rooms, kitchens, and even, in some buildings, small theaters. The university provides free shuttle buses to dorms that are further uptown or downtown. The dining halls offer extensive choices—from wraps to sushi to Burger King. “The dining halls really try to accommodate everyone,” says one student. Of course, downtown’s array of ethnic restaurants also offers a variety of food at cheap prices.

Students can’t say enough good things about NYU’s social life. “You’re in New York City,” says a student. “Why would you bother staying in your dorm at night when you’re within minutes of internationally renowned art, world-class theater on Broadway, shopping in SoHo, and dining in Little Italy?” Another adds: “Greenwich Village is full of students, professors, artists, families; it’s the most exciting, alive, cultural part of New York City.” On campus, there are concerts, movies, fraternity and sorority events (only 8 percent of the men and 5 percent of the women go Greek), and nearly 400 clubs. The springtime Strawberry Festival includes free berries, cotton candy, outdoor concerts, and carnival amusements. Many students march in the city’s Halloween Parade, which literally takes over Greenwich Village, while most spring and fall weekends find a city-sponsored street fair somewhere nearby. The Violet Ball, a dinner/dance held each fall in the atrium of Bobst Library, is an excuse to get dressed up.  

While sports have not traditionally been NYU’s strength, successful Violets programs include men’s cross-country, women’s basketball, men’s soccer, women’s fencing, and men’s indoor track and field, all of which compete in Division III. Nearly 40 percent of undergrads participate in intramural sports, which include touch football, bowling, and quickball. The Palladium Athletic Facility boasts a big swimming pool and a 30-foot-high indoor climbing wall.

Though it might seem hard to concentrate on schoolwork as the heartbeat of New York City thumps day and night, NYU students thrive on all that energy, and know how to spread it among their studies and social lives. “To be an NYU student is to be part college student, part New Yorker,” a senior says. “Don’t come here if you’re not up to working hard and moving fast.”

 

Deadlines & Requirements

NYU: Early decision: Nov. 1. Regular admissions: Jan. 1. Application fee: $70. No campus or alumni interviews; campus visit strongly recommended. SATs or ACTs (with writing) or three Subject Tests: required. Accepts the Common Application. Apply to particular schools or programs. Essay question. Portfolio or audition required in some programs.