New York University

Date: Jun 10 2011
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
Originally, I was going to counter the opinions on here that the Liberal Studies Program is useless (when it most certainly is not) but over the last couple of days, things have changed. LSP is now the entire school's Core Curriculum, which I think is an intelligent move on NYU's part because now the entire student body will benefit as opposed to a smaller percentage. But since my first comment covered other aspects of the NYU experience, I will present you with both it and my revised argument.

First opinion:

Chances are, your first semester in NYU is going to be as tough as hell. It is hard to meet people because the university has no sense of community; I've met virtually all of my friends in my classes. Depending on where you dorm, your room might suck and, considering how many people I know who hated who they lived with by the end of the year, your roommates or suitemates may be worse (NYU may have you fill out that profile but unless you choose someone yourself they won't follow through with matching you up with someone compatible). You're going to have to learn time management and fast. Make sure you have your books before the first day of class and get ready to work the second day. This isn't high school anymore, kiddos.

NYU itself is just another part of the city—a bunch of organizations all spread out in vertical buildings and asphalt seeing random people come in day in and day out. Students very quickly become just New York City people, which is a mixed barrel of pros and cons. On one hand, you can brag to all of your friends back home that you go to museums for your humanities class and Times Square is so "ew." It also (willingly for some, unwillingly for others)forces you to grow up and learn independence, unlike a university with a grass-filled campus that is happy with the idea of coddling you. On the other hand, NYU sees you as a city person too—and, more importantly, one of their consumers—so you're just another number and they want your money. Financial aid sucks and you will always hear conflicting policies from your adviser and your friends and their advisers (for example, a classmate shared with the class that her adviser said electives you take in LSP won't count towards your later major. Honestly, I say fuck it and do the classes anyway, because the school is so big there's no one around to ride around on your back and see what you're doing). I've heard people complain about the bureaucracy as a whole, but that's something I disagree with. If your toilet's clogged in your private bathroom (YAY! No community showers in NYU!) That can be fixed by sending out a form to the dorm maintenance that takes less than five minutes to fill out. The health center, which has been updated recently due to the large amount of mentally and emotionally ill individuals that attend the school and the three suicides that took place in the library, is excellent. Housing will be just as excellent if you go to the health center frequently for any issues that fall into the above mentioned "mental or emotional" category and if it's a period of time where there's room available.

Most importantly, NYU will never look bad when it's on your job application! Yes, Stern and Tisch are considered to be among the cream of the crop of their respected fields when ranked against all the other universities in the country; but the rest are not so bad either especially for the humanities. We have the #1 Philosophy department and #15ish English department and, despite a bunch of whiners telling you so, the Liberal Studies Program is NOT a bad program at all.

(WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY MAIN ARGUMENT)

Most of the professors in LSP are great and they work hard in teaching you how to think critically and how to put those ideas properly onto paper. Business students DO NOT learn this, not even in Stern. There have been articles highlighting the advantages of the skills liberal arts classes teach you. Studies have shown that we're better at puzzling problems out and forming cohesive arguments than those who don't have liberal arts backgrounds. I can tell you that I have learned how to think in different ways about different subjects in almost every class I've been in, including the 2-semester pain-in-the-ass writing. Check ratemyprofessors.com, get the most brilliant, and learn all about more ancient cultures and art, philosophy and trains of thought, paper-writing and idea-planning than you ever wanted to know, but hey! Turns out some of this stuff is actually pretty cool!

End original argument. This is coming from me, the person who thought LSP would be a pain in the ass when it came to forming my major for Gallatin—which obnoxiously had the easiest core curriculum, but now is in the same boat as the rest of us—and would be a total waste of time. I ended up being one of the few that enjoyed the program, because I can see it was really worth it. JOHN SEXTON, our university president, loves it. You can't say much against that.

As a last note, always remember: the first year is the hardest in any college. It's even more difficult in NYU because you have to adjust to the city at the same time you adjust to your new life out on your own where time management is harder than you ever dreamed while in high school. But once you get comfortable you'll be grateful for all that surrounds you. In the city, you never have an excuse to be bored or hungry because there are endless things to do and an uncountable number of kinds of food and restaurants you can visit. Sure, sometimes you will get angry at NYU for not always working out like the way we all dream and other times you'll feel like an ant in an anthill (excuse me for the cliche, which my last semester Writing professor would kill me for using if she knew) because of the city. But, overall, if you can survive the first year you're going to be alright in the end. Trust me, it's worth it.