New York University

Having come from a primarily suburban setting, NYU was NOT my first choice since there practically isn't a campus at all, not to mention a common building or student center. (The latter was torn down for some mysterious reason so another could be built in the exact same place. Budget surplus, I guess) The lack of a campus or common building means people congregate in dorms, which are open only to residents. A resident has to sign visitors in and basically hold their hand the entire time they're there. So unless you know someone on the inside you can forget about socializing there.

If you're a freshman hope that you'll get a dorm near the cluster of classroom buildings near Washington Square, as this is where you'll probably meet the people you'll interact with for the rest of your career here. I ended up in an upperclassman dorm because housing lost my deposit 3 times. Although the place was really nice, there wasn't the social interaction you'd find in Weinstein or Brittany, two mainly freshman dorms. So I got screwed there. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into CAS scholars, which provides you with a scholarship and paid weeklong "vacations" to NYU's study abroad sites, such as Florence or Prague. However, unless you are involved in this, don't expect the University as a whole to pay much attention to you. Otherwise, NYU is out for your money, which happens to be a lot.

This university has grown too fast for its own good, and now it's up a creek. Facilities are crowded, (I swear there are 2X the number of students from last year), housing is scattered around because NYU leases whatever they can find. The Bio and Chem labs are crammed into 1 building, and I've yet to see a decent lab that's open to undergrads for general purposes. We have less than 10 open-to-all computer labs to accomodate 20,000 students. Yeah, most people bring their own, but if you compare with a similar sized school, (U Michigan has like 16) this is one area that is extremely lacking. The crowding problem will only get worse. NYU is getting record numbers of applicants, and space is dwindling. Try building anything in New York City in a timely manner, even if you manage to find a lot and get approval. If you originally hail from a city environment, you probably won't have any problems adapting. If you're from the suburbs, or a rural area, you may want to reconsider, unless this is what you want.

People here are generally friendly, but are for the most part unapproachable. Like I said, the friends that you'll value most will be those you meet first year in your dorm, or perhaps in your classes. After that, it seems like everyone remains in their little "groups", and generally do their own thing. You might be able to talk to them, but you probably won't get to know them.

All in all, the academics here are pretty good. The only problem I have is with the core curriculum courses you have to take. They’re for the most part a waste of time and just busy work. Take care with Writing Workshop…don’t step in the bullshit. Otherwise, the courses I’ve had to take for my major have been quite good. First year biology is taught by various professors, who lecture on the topics they do research in. This is quite interesting, you don’t have to listen to the same guy for a whole year, and you can ask basically any question you want and the professor will probably know. Expect to be challenged, but don’t expect to have to compete with your classmates. The professors I’ve had seem to discourage it, and don’t make you memorize crap like the structure of the stereoisomers of glucose in low level courses.

There are some redeeming features at this school, but if I could go back and do everything over again from the end of high school, I’d without a doubt go somewhere else.