New York University (NYU)
College review by Lisa Bleich
Immense, global, “In the city, of the city”; “in the world of the world”, friendly, diverse, independent, exciting, bustling, filled with opportunities, overwhelming, buzz words. These thoughts all came to mind as we toured NYU. The students were urban, hipster chic with a sense of sophistication.
They were independent self- starters, who thrived in the life of the city. These characteristics are critical for succeeding at NYU because the school relies on its location in not only Manhattan, but, Abu-Dhabi, Singapore and other NYU global portals to provide the energy and opportunities that abound.
NYU’s newest tagline is “Global Network” and this idea pervades the campus from the diversity of its student body to the many international study options for students to participate in. One of our tour guides was from a small town outside Chicago and the other from a small town outside of Los Angeles.
Each one took full advantage of the city through internships, theater and wandering around. They also were extremely warm and friendly in engaging in conversation with the students and trying to identify their interest to personalize the tour.
NYU has 9 schools and students must choose which one to apply to. The college of arts and sciences is the largest, but other world-renowned programs include Stern school of business and Tisch School of the Arts. NYU also has a very strong nursing program and Gallatin school for individualized learning.
NYU students are required to take the Morse Academic Plan (MAP), which varies depending on the school they are in. It is easy to double major in across professional schools with a major from the College of Arts and Sciences, but it is more difficult to double major in a Professional School if your main school is the College of Arts and Sciences.
For example if you want to double major in Business and English, you are better off applying to Stern School of Business and then adding a major in English from the College of Arts and Sciences then vice versa.
The Tisch School of Performing and Visual Arts bases half of its criteria on a student’s academic record and half on their talent, e.g. portfolio, audition, etc. It is important to follow the directions to the letter for the talent part of the application and mail that piece of the application directly to the department. NYU received 42,000 applications last year for all of its schools and accepted 25% of them.
The campus is completely urban comprised of building around Washington Square. The student center is a tall building with one of the most amazing views of Manhattan. Students are active, involved, and take full advantage of the city from internships to theater to museums.
It seemed like they were pushing the Abu Dhabi campus as the most global university in the world with 70% of the students from outside of the United States. While globalization is a reality, it felt like there was a bit more emphasis on that campus than the flagship in New York. NYU also recently merged with NY Polytechnic to offer engineering within the next year or so.
Students, who crave the excitement of Manhattan with the maturity to navigate the city while going to class, will enjoy NYU and its many opportunities.
My daughter’s impression:
“ I don’t think I am ready for the city life, even though I find the students genuine and friendly. Also it looks like the only place I can major in Creative Writing is Abu Dhabi!”
Beth Cassie
A Tale of Two Universities
This past week, I joined my nephew from Texas as he visited two colleges in New York City — New York University and Columbia University. NYC was the final leg of his marathon Spring Break college trip that took him from Houston to Chicago to Washington D.C. to Virginia to Philadelphia and finally to NYC. He was excited to head to NYC and visit these two unique schools. Both NYU and Columbia were on Spring Break – yet that did not prove to be an issue at either place as there were plenty of students around. We visited on an unseasonably warm March day that was a welcome reprieve from our long, cold winter.
New York University
Our first stop was NYU, set in the heart of Greenwich Village. It was easy to get to the University via public transportation and while there is no central campus, there are many maps and purple banner flags identifying NYU buildings around Washington Square Park.
Lisa recently wrote about her experience visiting NYU with her daughter, so rather than repeating our shared observations, I will comment on a few particular items that stood out. The tag line “In and of the City, In and of the World” used to describe NYU is a great way to sum up the university.
The student body is global, the courses offered are global in nature and the places available to study span the globe. NYU is big (20,000+ undergraduates) and offers a wide array of courses in over 230 majors. The curriculum ranges from liberal arts to pre-professional studies in the 11 different undergraduate schools and programs.
There was a lot of emphasis on the opportunity for internships while at NYU. The ability to have an internship during the school year, not just during the summer when companies are flooded with requests for internships, seems to be a real advantage for students studying in NYC. ==
A typical NYU student was described as someone who wants to pack 25 hours into a 24-hour day – double majors, tons of activities, internships, etc. NYU students are clearly passionate, independent go-getters and while the school is large, there are opportunities for the proactive student to do just about anything. One of the real values of the NYU degree is the huge alumni network (380,000+) that students can tap in to.
NYU does require standardized tests for admission, yet the requirements are very flexible — SATs or ACT with writing, or 3 SAT subject tests, or 3 AP scores. NYU does offer need, merit and talent based aid.
Despite it being Spring Break, we were given a tour by a junior journalism major/Spanish minor from Texas. She was incredibly enthusiastic about her experience at NYU and her energy was contagious.
She has taken full advantage of living in NYC and her personal stories made the prospective students on the tour realize all that is possible at a school like NYU (multiple internships, auditioning and being cast for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, finding a cheap airfare to Copenhagen and hopping on a flight from JFK for part of Spring Break). She was thriving on all that NYU and NYC had to offer.
My nephew’s perspective:
I really like the curriculum and the opportunities for internships year round. New York City is exciting and there is always something going on. The lack of a traditional campus is something I really need to think about.