New York University Top Questions

The administration was wonderful. The financial aid office was a but screwy, but eventually they got the job done. My advisor Linda Vega was a saint, seriously. I was a permanent fixture at the Barney Building. Thats where most of my classes were, and thats where I did all of my work. I also spent a lot of time in Washington Square Park. Downtown New York is really a fantastic place to be located as a student and artist. I would say there's just enough school pride to be the right amount.

The best thing about NYU is, hands down, the location. If I could change one thing, I would make it so that there's less red tape standing in your way whenever you want to do anything. There are so many nonsensical rules to break through or find your way around. You can accomplish alot but sometimes the amount of administration you have to go through to get there makes it not worth it.

NYU's college town is NY City below 23rd street and Williamsburg/Bushwick in Brooklyn. Technically campus is from Union Square South to Washington Square South, from 6th avenue to Broadway, but it really radiates much farther out than that. NYU has a wonderful administration, a president who has hugged 80{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the student body before their graduation, and amazing professors. There is no school pride, but students are very proud. We dont walk around in NYU sweatshirts, or have flags in our dorm rooms, but we're very proud of our school within a city. Unfortunately we've recently been known as a school of many controversies (suicides and drug busts), but its actually a very warm environment. The biggest student complaint is probably about Weinstein Dormatory being a concrete prison, but once you get past it, you realize its the same dorm that the Beastie Boys used to practice, and then its not so bad.

NYU has no gated campus, which is amazing. The best thing about this school is that it is fully a part of the community and you get to experience the city every day! One thing that I don't really like is that NYU has no football team. I guess because it's a very "smart" school and we don't have room for a football stadium it makes sense, but at a lot of schools that's where the school spirit is built, in the football stadium. I think there'd be more school pride if we had some sort of sports team, not just football. Intramural sports don't really cut it. In the film department, the most frequent complaints are definitely about the allotments. We already pay a very large amount for tuition (and there's an extra fee for being in the film department, I believe) and then we have to buy most of our own supplies on top of that? That makes a lot of film students upset.

The best thing about being an NYU student is living in New York City and constantly seeing so many different kinds of people. In terms of size, it's hard to remember that there are 19,000 undergrads. I've met a lot of people through my classes and clubs that I'm in, and so far, almost everyone I've met has a connection with someone I already know. That makes the student population seem a lot smaller than it actually is. I'm not a fan of NYU's administration. They refuse to disclose the details of their budget, and I wouldn't mind seeing where my $52,000 a year is going and how it's being spent. If you're looking for a school with a lot of school spirit and cheerleaders and pep rallies, NYU is not the place to be. That said, there are sports/school pride related events. We have the All-University Games, for example, which is where representatives from each school (CAS, Stern, Gallatin, etc) compete against each other in basketball, foosball, sumo-wrestling, and ping pong. The biggest controversy on campus right now is probably the renovation of Washington Square Park. I have yet to meet someone who supports the construction.

NYU is way too large. One of the biggest complaints is that it's too hard to meet people. Lectures are too large so it's hard to get the teacher's attention, making it more difficult to learn. When I say I go to NYU to someone from my home city they think it's a big deal because it's a nationally acclaimed school and it's in New York City, however, up here NYU is not that big a deal especially with Ivy League Columbia just uptown. We don't have a campus so I try to spend most of my time in the dorm especially because I'm active on hall council so I'm needed here a lot. This is NOT a college town. NYU has a great administration that is always reaching out to the students which is nice in a place where you're just a number, it's as though they go out of their way to try to make you feel like a bigger fish. Biggest recent controversy on campus- mixed sex housing and it's broadening (we only have 1 mixed sex housing dorm). NO school pride! Complaints: no school pride, too big, socially independent, no dorm parties always bars and clubs, hard alcohol and drugs

The best thing about NYU is, of course, the city. It's a very different experience and it requires independence and a willingness to make your own way, but if you dedicate yourself to all your efforts, you will enjoy the NYU experience. Being right in the middle of the Village, NYU is very close to the East Village, West Village, Soho, Chinatown, and Little Italy - all very fun places that are perfect for a college student. Other neighborhoods are just a short walk or a subway ride away. Everything in New York is easily accessible and it is good to know that there is always something to do. Each neighborhood has such a different personality that there is something for everyone. The lack of campus that everybody talked about is really not that bad. I run into plenty of people on the streets and in dining halls. Especially in Kimmel (the student life center), there are always plenty of students and friends around. It would be nice if the upperclassmen dorms were closer to campus to prolong this sense of community beyond freshmen year, but that is the tradeoff of being in fun places like Soho and Chinatown. If you make the effort, maintaining relationships is easy. In such a large school, there is never a single thing going on. Each weekend, everyone has different plans. Other than the occasional club, there isn't a party that all of NYU is expected to show up to. However, you make your own communities - in dorms, in classes, and in clubs. There are so many groups at NYU, with most people being a part of more than one, that it is very easy to make friends. There is a lot of red tape to get to the administration. Making an appointment with your advisor isn't easy, and even then, they aren't too useful. They just give general guidance that the NYU website could, and probably does, provide. Trying to pay bills or register for something is annoyingly difficult too. In general, NYU needs to update its technology so that NYU Home and Albert are more user friendly.

The best thing about NYU is the wide range of experience it allows. If you want it, it's out there. I think that they might be trying to make it too large though with new mergers and acquisitions. Yes, buying property all over the place is great, but that don't leave much left for the people already at NYU. I get a mix reaction when people hear I'm from NYU. The main two responses would have to be though, did you sell an organ to get there and have you seen the Olsen twins yet? My dorm is far from campus now, but I do have breaks in between, I would saw that I'm generally at a place with couches, like Kimmel's second floor or the downstairs of Bobst. Of course during warm weather, and before the days of construction, I loved Washington Sq. Park. The latest controversy from NYU would probably have to be that graduation is taking place at a stadium now and not Washington Sq. park. I would be pretty sad not to take that symbolic walk through the arch.

No one cares about sports. There's no school spirit. You don't care nearly as much about the school as about the fact that you're living in Manhattan. NYU is HUGE. Make sure you want that.