New York University

Date: Dec 07 2008
Major: PreLaw and Legal (This Major's Salary over time)
Make sure that you realize what you're getting into: NYU doesn't have a real campus, it is so large as to be, at times, totally impersonal, and students are extremely competitive. If you're ready to feel like a young professional living in New York, this is the school for you—most people balance school, work, internships, etc. If you're not ready to be a full on adult (and not in the "Friends" way, either), go elsewhere.

Social Life

Freshman year is the only time when there are actual parties in dorms on any sort of a regular basis—then, everyone on your floor knows each other, so weekend parties can be wild. After that, floor-based socializing is nonexistant. Everyone then goes out to bars or clubs, so you'll need a fake ID and lots of cash to so anything social on a regular basis. If you're willing to risk getting caught/spending $10 on a drink three nights a week, it can be really fun and rewarding. Frats are nonexistant, as are sports; no one cares about them and almost no one plays them (our mascot is the Violets!). The club scene is relatively active, but many are extremely competitive—ie college democrats want to be political interns, and the debate club is future lawyers who would slit each others' throats to get into Harvard Law.

Academics aren't anything special. Under no circumstances should anyone apply to the College of Arts and Sciences here, it is a hellhole. I promise. You will get a much better education elsewhere since NYU does NOT care about the CAS students. At all. (+there is red tape everywhere, impossible to get into good classes, etc).

Going to NYU, in the end, is forsaking college as a distinct experience. If you want to feel like you live in the city and take classes somewhere, than NYU is right for you. If you're ready to start working on your career, if you want a killer internship, if you're extremely independent, and if you hate nature, then NYU is for you. If you want even the slightest feeling of being young and carefree—essentially, being a college student—go somewhere else, even somewhere else in the city. If you aren't ready to be thrust into adulthood, to feel guilty for not juggling 15 things at once, or to spend hundreds of dollars a weekend having the same amount of fun you could have anywhere else, pick somewhere else to go to school.