Halfway Through NYU: An Extremely Honest Review

Last spring semester I reopened my CommonApp account and was ready to transfer. If you would have told me a year ago that I would be finishing up my sophomore year at NYU, I would have laughed and thought you were lying. I hated NYU almost as much as I hated my major. When people would ask me how my freshman year was going, I would lie about all the fun I was having. In reality, I was miserable. Finishing up my sophomore year one year later, I’m having such a fantastic semester that I’m dreading summer break and leaving NYU. I don't think I've ever once dreaded a summer break in my life. NYU, for sure, still has its flaws - don’t get me wrong. But at least now I can say that, by sophomore spring, this university has become my home and I’ve never been happier. 

This is not some piece of NYU admissions propaganda. I intend to give an honest, personal account of my experiences of my first two years as a student here. My sister is an incoming student of the class of 2027 and I’ve recently been reflecting on the rocky relationship I’ve had with the university. So, to whomever is reading this article, let me be your big sister and give you the honest, inside scoop. Just a disclaimer: These are my opinions on being a student at NYU based off of my own personal experiences from the past two years.

Some background on me feels necessary. I’m a sophomore in Steinhardt majoring in Media, Culture, and Communication and minoring in Producing. I’m a part of CommClub, Lamplighters NYU, and Pi Beta Phi. I’m from Long Island, an hour train ride from New York City (or as us Long Islanders call it, “The City”). So far, I’ve exclusively lived in campus housing. I just accepted my first internship this summer in casting. I declared the Producing minor this fall and will probably declare a second minor next year by the time I go abroad in the spring. I’ve attempted to change majors and then changed my mind. So… there's a lot to unpack here. Allow me to offer up a taste of my NYU experience and opinions. 

College Life in NYC

Growing up about an hour outside of Manhattan, I was never a stranger to NYC like most of the students at NYU. It didn’t take me much time to adjust to life in NYC but I know I’m a unique case. Not to speak for my classmates (but speaking for my classmates), adjusting to life in the ‘Concrete Jungle’ was challenging. I want to emphasize that New York is a very independent city where people from all over the world congregate to get from Point A to Point B without interruptions. No one really cares what you’re doing or what you’re wearing. That’s not to say that New Yorkers are heartless and will not help you out. As long as you don’t act like an “NYC transplant,” you’ll be okay. The city is on a grid system after all… 

While there is a running joke that NYU students never really venture past 14th street, it's actually pretty close to the truth. NYU students more or less overrun downtown Manhattan. Especially when it comes to nightlife. While I cannot publish any specific locations, a quick Reddit or TikTok search is likely to provide you with baseline information. What I can publish is that one of my favorite parts of being an NYU is exploring the different downtown parks, cafes, and coffee spots. Whether it's grabbing a coffee and spending the afternoon in Elizabeth Street Garden or meeting my friends to go check out a vintage store in Soho, you’re never bored as a college student in NYC. Be warned: Manhattan is very expensive and you do have school work as a college student. Because there is so much to do and see, the students that go to school here really need to make it a point to prioritize school work and budget their money. I’m embarrassed to admit that that is something I struggled with my freshman year. I had saved money from years of working and spent all of it over the span of two semesters. From Broadway shows to lunches with friends to boutique shopping it adds up. If you’re easily distracted and almost as bad at money management as I was, be careful. 

Being a Student at NYU: Making Friends, Club & Greek Life, and Finding Community NYU

NYC can be a very isolating place in spite of the multi-millions of people that call this city home. Same could be said for NYU. There are nearly 30,000 undergraduates at the university only. While NYU brags about the fact that “the city is our campus”, having 30,000 undergraduates and no traditional campus meeting and maintaining friendships a challenge. If you take one piece of advice out of this article, please get involved. Whether it's Welcome Week events, joining clubs, rushing a sorority or fraternity, or introducing yourself to your floor, just do it. The worst thing that could happen is you meet new people and decide you do not want to be their friend. Please, just do it. That was by far my biggest regret of my freshman year. Being a train ride away from your family, pets, friends and boyfriend, it's so easy to hop on a train and head home for the weekend. Do not do this. Well, I’m not saying don’t ever go home ever again. Just do not go home all the time like I did. You are at college and should not feel guilty about the separation between home and school. 

I want to emphasize that the friends you make during your first couple of weeks at NYU are probably not going to be your forever friends. Or maybe they will be. Everyone goes to college in hopes of making new friends, obviously, and the first couple of weeks or months at NYU is where everyone ‘tests out the water’ with the people they meet. My advice? Say yes to everything but do not try and force a connection when there isn’t one. There are so many people to meet at college, if you do not like someone there is no need to continue the connection. Maybe that’s a little harsh, but after holding out on some first year friendships, it would have been way easier for everyone involved if I would have just stopped being friends with them than unnecessarily dragging out the friendship. Everyone is in the same boat as you and just wants to make new friends at a new school. 

It took me a while to develop some semblance of community at NYU and I believe a large part of that was that I waited until my sophomore year to join any kind of club. Coming from a background in theater, I didn’t realize how important a sense of community would be to me until I didn’t really have one. In Fall 2022 I joined CommClub (shameless plug for anyone reading to apply) and Lamplighters NYU (a theater club). Both clubs gave me a collaborative, team environment that I deprived myself of during my freshman year. NYU offers hundreds of clubs, but does a poor job of advertising them. From theater clubs to business clubs to the famous ‘cheese club’, NYU offers a club for just about every niche with the option to create your own club if you feel your niche has not been fulfilled. While there are online resources for students to browse available clubs, Club Fest, which is held at the beginning of each semester, is probably the best way of learning about club life at NYU. 

While finding a sense of community and belonging is important at any university, it is essential at an institution like NYU. With no campus and tens of thousands of students, it is quite possible there will be a time you feel lonely in a city of millions. While joining my two clubs definitely gave me a taste of community and fulfilled my niches at NYU, I decided to turn to Greek Life to offer me a stronger sense of community. Greek Life at NYU is a controversial subject to many. Let me state off the bat that Greek Life at NYU is minimal, at best. NYU is not the place for you if you are looking for the stereotypical depiction of college Greek Life. NYU Greek Life is, in a sense, much more “chill” and focuses on the philanthropic aspect of it all. That is totally not to say that sororities and fraternities at NYU do not party or interact with one another. Depending on the Greek Organization of your choosing, each has different reputations and values you will come to learn. I participated in informal recruitment in the spring which is where I got to choose what sororities I wanted to meet with. I only met with Pi Beta Phi as I knew a few individuals in the sorority and realized my values lined up best with theirs. Informal recruitment is much more relaxed than fall recruitment. Fall recruitment requires you to meet with most of the sororities and fraternities, lasts multiple hours over multiple days, and is pursued by hundreds of potential new members. If you are unsure if Greek Life is for you or what organization you feel suits you best, I definitely recommend fall recruitment. While I have only been a member of my sorority for the Spring 2023 semester, I made the right decision in joining Greek Life. I have made some of the most amazing friends and found a sense of community that appears to match my values. While I personally recommend exploring Greek Life, it is definitely not for everyone and can be a major financial commitment. Definitely do your research (but ignore Greek Rank) when seeing if Greek Life is for you. 

Finding my sense of community in Pi Beta Phi, CommClub and Lamplighters have by far the number one thing that saved my NYU experience and convinced me to stay at NYU. Community is so hard to find at such a large university, and I really want to emphasize that without it, I probably would not be at NYU sharing my wisdom with you all.

Media, Culture, and Communication Major (MCC)

This paragraph is definitely where I lose some of my audience, but I feel obligated to provide a comprehensive explanation of my experiences as an MCC major. Putting the “Comm” in Commclub, I am, in fact, an MCC major. Last year, I thought that that was a fate worse than death. I’m not kidding; I explored multiple different majors across multiple different schools within NYU to transfer to. I even submitted an application to do an internal transfer to the Vocal Performance Major. I hated MCC. The introductory classes were dull, dense, and over Zoom. Let me not forget to factor in that my freshman fall at NYU was in 2021 and half of my classes met over Zoom. My classes consisted of hundreds of black boxes all muted, probably not actually paying attention to the lecture. 

I took two classes my freshman year at NYU: Introduction to Media and History of Media. Even the advisors at NYU will tell you that they’re boring and require a lot of dense readings. Since that was my only exposure to MCC, my future in the major seemed pretty dismal. From the MCC freshmen I talked to, it appeared I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. From my New Student Seminar my Peer Mentor and Academic Advisor kept repeating the same thing: “It gets better.” That made me feel like MCC was a traumatic experience I would have to heal from. Definitely did not feel like a helpful thing to say to a classroom full of first semester MCC freshmen. 

You must be wondering why I stayed since the previous two paragraphs have definitely not painted the MCC major in the most positive light. I don’t know what other way to put it but to agree with my Academic Advisor and Peer Mentor: it got better. The major requires you to take Introduction to Media, History of Media, and Methods in Media Studies. Those three courses are definitely not the most enjoyable but provide you with the framework to take more advanced courses in the department. MCC requires you to choose two framework courses, four focus courses, and an inquiry seminar of your choosing. While the department offers you course pairing suggestions on their website, an MCC student can pretty much choose whatever classes they want. These classes range from analyzing race in media, discussing the history of film, to learning different ways of developing and analyzing digital media. Some classes I have taken include Screening History, Television: History/Form, Media and Music, and an Inquiry Seminar: Marriage. While there are a lot of reading and writing assignments, there are some thoroughly enjoyable courses in MCC just as long as you can make it past the required, denser courses. I will say this: MCC is a very theoretical major. The major is less skills oriented and more so theory and analysis based. This is definitely not for everyone and does not fade away after the first three required courses. 

The more prominent reason I stayed in MCC was that I realized that I was unsure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I knew I wanted to work in the entertainment industry and that was really it. What I realized about MCC at NYU is that, because the major is not super specific, I can choose to learn a little bit of everything and tailor my classes to my interests without limiting myself. MCC is also a very complementary major. Because MCC focuses so much on theory and analysis, choosing another major or minor that offers a more specific skill set pair is ideal. In Fall 2022, I declared the Tisch Producing minor. With this minor I also get to take classes with more of an emphasis on learning how to work in the entertainment industry. By pairing the MCC major with the Producing minor, I feel adequately prepared to tackle my casting internship this summer. 

MCC is not for everyone. That’s totally fair; I didn’t think it was for me for a while. It's such a unique major that you can really tailor to your preferences. For anyone interested in a career in the media or any related field, I encourage you to ask yourself if a theory-based major is for you and prepare yourself for some dense media coursework during your first year. 

Is NYU Worth It?

Yes, but it depends on what you’re looking for in your college experience. If you are interested in the “typical” college experience, maybe NYU is not for you. Going to college in a city like New York City is such a unique experience that appears to be an acquired taste. I know many people who realized it was not for them and transferred after their first year. Heck, I thought I was almost one of them. While you should do your research before attending any university, I really want to emphasize the importance of researching if NYU is the place for you. While I have learned to love the university, NYU is one of the most expensive institutions in the United States. Here a few aspects of NYU qualms with the university: 

Looking for a study spot in the library, an open treadmill in the gym, an open dorm room, or a seat in a dining hall? Keep looking. There are so many students at NYU but seemingly not enough space and facilities for them all. NYU recognized this and built the Paulson Center which, I will admit, definitely did help with some of the space and facility shortages at NYU. As a student, take the time to explore the campus and learn about its ins and outs. There are alternative study spots other than Bobst Library and the Kimmel Center for University Life. 

The untraditional campus thing seemed to bother me at first. So many students go to NYU and because NYU has facilities sprawled across lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, it can be very difficult to maintain friendships in such a bustling campus in a crowded city. It takes an extra amount of effort to stay connected with friends and peers, so a sense of community is hard to maintain at the university. 

NYU is a very expensive school and oftentimes the facilities leave you questioning the price tag. From mediocre dining experience to NYU shuttles simply not showing up sometimes to the occasional dorm break-in to not being able to find a seat in the library during midterms and finals, NYU will sometimes leave you frustrated, to say the least. 

This article is for any potential, incoming, or current students who are wondering if NYU is the place for them. In truth, it may not be and that's okay. If you are unhappy at NYU do not force it to be the right place for you. I was unhappy at this college for a long time. It took me getting extremely involved in club and Greek Life to find a sense of community and a home at the university. NYU can be a really special place filled with smart, determined students just wanting to find their own communities and while exploring and cultivating their niches. I have met some amazing people, been involved in some amazing programs with topnotch professors, and have access to an extensive alumni network. To anyone reading this article and wondering if NYU is the place for them, you are certainly not alone. College is often regarded as being the best four years of your life. Don’t agree with that statement? Consider changing your relationship to NYU and exploring your options.