New York University

I went to NYU in the 90's - the Tisch School of the Arts for Film, but transferred my junior year. I would have to say that since the university is so large, it really depends on the college you're in - the dept. - in terms of having a great social experience. I made friends with many of the people in my film classes, but that was probably because we had to work so closely together. As far as the location - what better place to be than NY if you're interested in the arts, right? Well, if you're loaded, sure no problem, if not, look out. Even back then the tuition was outrageous, dealing with Financial aid dept. was a headache and the class I took outside of Tisch was lacking - it was a creative writing class and everyone in it thought he or she was the best writer in the class - kind of pretentious. I couldn't put my finger on it then, but what I think I was sensing in the other class was a little rich kid trying to be hippyish-cool vibe. I'm still paying on that flipping student loan for the one year that I attended. Look at the dates potential NYU'ers - it's 2003 now - I was there 10 years ago. Think carefully before choosing this school. If you don't have a lot of money or you're not in love with art/culture and NYC in general, go somewhere else. If you do your homework, you will find that there are plenty of great schools out there that are socially rewarding, academically strong and affordable. I wish I would've done that a long time ago instead of setting my sights on the monolithic NYU.

1st Year Female -- Class 1993

Education Quality: A, Faculty Accessibility: B

NYU has the most applicants of any school in the entire US because of it"s reputation :location and entrance requirements. Graduating from NYU will look impressive on your resume and will open doors for you in certain fields such as media and entertainment where your GPA will not be heavily weighed. So if you're considering Tish, for example, the entrance requirements are not that hard ( weight is given to your "audition") and the coursework is easy. However there is no school spirit here no matter what division you are in. Everyone has a sense of the school not really caring about the students. It's a depressing atmosphere. Not what was expected. The administration and faculty are arrogant and condescending and don"t expect to graduate from NYU with a respectable GPA unless you can get by on one or two hours sleep each day. The coursework isn't hard but the volume of material they give you here makes it impossible for you to maintain a decent GPA. The school doesn't seem to care about that. So if you are willing to put the time and work into getting good grades consider going to another school because it's practically impossible to attain that here. You might leave here after having worked your ass off with a low GPA. But if you are willing to sacrifice a decent social life and academic record you can have the brand NYU on you for the rest of your life. Your decision. If you don't care and are only interested in the brand name, no matter what the quality, then choose NYU, as you might choose to wear a pair of sneakers that were too small and hurt to wear but you wore them anyway just to show off the brand. Be careful in what you choose. Sore feet heal but a poor academic record does not.

1st Year Male -- Class 2012

Campus Maintenance: B+, Faculty Accessibility: F

I am a senior in a NYC high school. I have known about NYU even before I came to this country 6 years ago. This means...NYU is popular and is a Brand name school!!! Lets face it, we know that most colleges that cost 50K a year will probably provide the same excellent education (not because they want to, but because they have to spend that money somehow ex. Clubs, superstar professors,etc to attract future applicants). NYU is different in that it carries a name of a city that happens to be the CENTER OF THE WORLD,whether it is fiscal, artistic, medical, etc.

Another intersting aspect about NYU is that it is a University that is "in and of the City". It was designed to take advantage of the City and it certainly does. There is no clear campus--most of undergrad buildings are in "the Village" right next to many landmark sites. If you want the typical college lawn and frat parties NYU is not the place for you. You feel like you are living in the City and just in between, you are going to class.

This Year (2008) NYU has lowered its admission rate from 34% to 24%. with the biggest applicant pool in the country (37,000 applicants and will prob get bigger every year!), NYU selected a smaller class. The admission rate for NYU is projected to lower every year and its rank will go up every year (appearantly there is a correlation between rejections and rank).

NYU is very competative with Columbia U, the "other" NYC University. At any rate, NYU is the place to be if you want to be in the center of everything and actually PARTICIPATE (meaning:no notetaking)in the various activities that run this city.

About the Schools in NYU:

College of Arts and Science the most popular college and its the biggest ( I go here). It is optimal for Undecided people and you can transfer "internally" to other schools.

Stern Business school is supreme in terms of connections on Wall st. and what not. I personally dont understand how one can stare at bar graphs and pie charts for 4 years in Business school...but I guess Stern does it best if that what you want.

Ticht School of the Art: Very popular program. Has the best film school in the country ( this art school holds the most alumni with oscars-- people like Angelina Jolie, Martin Scorsase (the guy who directed "the Departed", Cohen brothers ( directed No country of old men) and others).

Nursing school at NYU: I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD YOU SPEND 50 K a year to be a nurse. But if that what you want..it is also top tier.

Hope this is helpful and hope my personal opinions didnt sway you too much.
Feel free to Email me about any Questions and I will respond promptly.

1st Year Male -- Class 2012

Education Quality: A+, Campus Aesthetics: C+