What is it like to attend NYU?

I got my BA from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, the school where everyone makes stuff up (in a good way!), and I lived in a few different places in Lower Manhattan during that time. As far as NYC-related life is concerned, living in New York City as a student at NYU is pretty much the same thing as answered in , with the big exception that you're unable to afford most of the luxurious experiences in Manhattan, like eating at those nice restaurants that you walk by everyday on your way to class and going to bars famous for their expertly-crafted cocktails and buying more than one drink. Most of my friends and I spent the vast majority of our time in the "cheaper" neighborhoods, like the LES, chinatown, the East Village, Williamsburg, Bushwick... etc., and I have fond memories of scouring for free food and open bars, along with eating a whole lot of 2 bros pizza (the one dollar a slice place) and falafel. Much has been said about the joys of living in NYC, so it's not really worth rephrasing them, but it is definitely a very exciting place to be in school. From a school specific side, my experience at NYU was wonderful. I got to take amazing classes with passionate professors; I took classes as diverse as Machine Learning and Baseball as a Road to God. I was able to take the things that I learned in school and directly apply them to where I am now. However, my experience at NYU was colored by the fact that I attended the school where everyone designs their own major and is allowed to take any course in the NYU catalogue -- an awesome opportunity that I got to take advantage of, however, not the typical experience at NYU. People in larger majors, especially ones like biology or chemistry where there are a large number of prereqs for graduation and there is a rigid structure, often complained about the lack of support from their department, and that they felt like just a number. On a whole, generally the most dissatisfied students were in CAS majoring in something extremely popular. That being said, even in the largest majors there are tons of opportunities to take advantage of, however, it's just that those students have to be better at seeking out those interesting opportunities.

Loved every minute. I think there's a real advantage have a more cosmopolitan lifestyle at that age, and not being cooped in some far off campus. NYUers have the City at their finger tips. We could learn things in class and literally take a 15 min subway ride to the best museums in all the world to see an exhibit on that subject. Early 20s is the only time you may have to learn extensively about history or art (depending on your profession), and hang out at museums, exhibits, shows etc. I was a journalist major and the type of people I got to meet, the characters I got to interview in the city were unforgettable and would never be accessible if I lived in some far-off campus.

I attended NYU for graduate school in computer science, and I worked part-time while I was doing so. I got my MS and completed everything but the thesis for my PhD. I loved the area around NYU - I was living on lower third avenue at the time. There are some great, inexpensive restaurants down there -- or there were at the time.

I went to grad school at Tisch School of the Arts. Two of the best years of my life - no joke! Being a grad assistant helped tremendously with covering tuition and expenses, so I may have a more positive outlook on NYU because of that (I was able to graduate with relatively little student debt compared to my classmates who were not grad assistants).'s response is good.  But the Buzzfeed article that quotes is a bad joke:  I do not agree with the perception that NYU is only for Jews. That's a stereotype and it's not true. Yes, many Jewish folks attend NYU. But the student body is the most diverse you'll find at any American university: I had classmates from all over the U.S. and the World (China, Japan, Israel, Lebanon etc. and some foreign place called California *sarcasm intended*). I also want to emphasize that if you need hand holding (and hopefully by the time you reach your first year of college you won't) this is NOT the school for you.  Like any large university, there's a bureaucracy to be dealt with - you need to be proactive to get thru registration and getting your financial aid, housing assignment etc. (if you decide to live in a residence hall) since you will literally be a number in a haystack of thousands of other students.  The flipside  to all of that is that you are in NYC, one of the most dynamic cities in the world where everything and anything a curious student could want is available to you in the worlds of business, medicine, science, art and culture.My professors both in Tisch and Stern School of Business (I took two courses in Stern) were all uniformly excellent.There's book smart and there's street smart: attending NYU in NYC will give you the ability to dive into and excel in both of these areas.In some ways, attending NYU was my boot camp for life - I wouldn't trade anything for my grad school experience at NYU in the Big Apple.

Check out the original post: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mallory/30-signs-you-went-to-nyu-na5 Let me just copy and paste 6 interesting ones below. You went to Yankees/Mets/Jets/Giants/Knicks/Nets/Rangers games, rather than actual NYU sports games. Your friends are mostly from Long Island, New Jersey, or California, and are Jewish. You know that finding a nice, attractive, straight boy at NYU was like spotting a mythical creature. You’ve been involved in at least one protest in Washington Square Park. You have no idea what Greek Life would be like, because Frat Row at NYU was a hallway. And the annual sight of the Empire State Building lighting up all purple for NYU commencement reminds you that you went to college in the greatest city in the world. And there are many reviews on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/new-york-university-new-york-18 In Moon R.'s review, he said something very true. "The administration really doesn't care much about students. It's a big education machine, where students come in and have to figure out how to work the system (everything from navigating Albert to navigation your major)--everything is up to you. There is relatively little support. For undergrads this can be frustrating, but for students that know how to take the intitative and be aggressive about getting what they want the school is a diamond mine waiting for your pickaxe."

That totally depends on which school you attend. I went to a couple at NYU. I received my Masters from the ITP program, Tisch School of the Arts. The two years I spent at ITP were easily two of the best years of my life. Primed my digital media senses for the remainder of my professional life. Courant and Stern, not so much.