<p>I am wondering if anyone knows anyone who is in this program and has any feedback on how it's going? My daughter is very interested in it, and we are planning to attend the open house in a couple of weeks. It's a difficult decision, though, because the program is fairly small and, from what I understand, if an applicant is not chosent for the GLS program, NYU does not consider the applicant for either the CAS or the Liberal Studies program. So, we want to be sure this is really what she wants to do. Any feedback, hearsay or otherwise, would be greatly appreciated. (As has been pointed out in other threads, this is not the Liberal Studies program--I am asking about the Global Liberal Studies Program.) Thanks.</p>
<p>My son is a current freshman in GLS. He loves the program. GLS is very small and my answers may compromise his identity, so please pm me if you have specific questions.</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore transferring out of GLS. No one seems to know what courses will be offered in the junior year abroad. The first two years are basically identical to the Liberal Studies program. My boyfriend transferred out last year because he thought the GLS program would be like an IR degree. It isn’t. Most of the classes are humanities-type classes. Many of us are worried that graduate schools will not accept us for not completing a major. The academic counselors say that GLS is our major, but really it’s a major of no major. One administrator who always wears polyester mini-skirts (OMG! eek) told me that junior year students will have to take a “tele-conference seminar” with a teacher back home in New York. Like we’ll want to be up at 4 in the morning? She also made fun of the teachers, calling them stupid for not using her blog. I was shocked to hear this. I think almost all of my teachers have been awesome, but there is just a feeling that the administration is making up the upper-division courses as they go along. It’s very frustrating, and many of us worry that graduate schools will not want to accept us unless we complete remedial coursework for a major. The students who are happy like the idea of having an easy junior year of traveling, without having to work that hard on any one thing. </p>
<p>Global Leisure Studies</p>
<p>Save your $$$$ for graduate school</p>
<p>I disagree with LucyTechtalk (who’s been reposting her comments everywhere) for numerous reasons,</p>
<p>1.) You can double major (I’m double majoring in GLS + East Asian Studies w/ a minor in Public Policy and Management) all you have to do is understand what is going on in the world? Read the website, talk to the advisers with a cohesive plan?</p>
<p>2.) The Junior year abroad courses are outlined on gls.nyu.edu and the respective abroad location’s page (ie: NYU Shanghai) and the classes offered there even have syllabi! Whoa!</p>
<p>3.) I know who LucyTechtalk is talking about, just ignore the one administrator that seems odd, the rest are awesome people especially the advisers who are really helpful.</p>
<p>4.) Most graduate schools are going to look at your GRE scores, your application essays, what you’ve done with your major, etc. It’s not like someone goes “THIS PERSON DID GLS THROW THEIR APPLICATION AWAY!!” If anything, the relative novelty of it would create a space for potential re-read or being added to the “good” stack of applications lol.</p>
<p>5.) LucyTechtalk said the professors are awesome, which the are.</p>
<p>6.) “The students who are happy like the idea of having an easy junior year of traveling, without having to work that hard on any one thing.” <—Gross generalization especially when you look into what you can do in addition to the major. </p>
<p>7.) “My boyfriend transferred out last year because he thought the GLS program would be like an IR degree. It isnt. Most of the classes are humanities-type classes.” <---- He could have minored in politics or a specific study of a region. IR has become the new “business” degree so I don’t know if you’d want it anyways. Especially since it somehow adds quantitative elements to decision making. Like game theory is interesting in a vacuum, but does it really account for the multitude of actors involved in international politics? I digress…</p>
<p>8.) Small classes anyone? Does anyone think that is valuable in and of itself? My friends at BU, Harvard, MIT, NYU CAS/Stern, all have huge classes of 50+. My biggest class maybe has 20ish kids in it? That’s the exception since the others have 15-17.</p>
<p>9.) You can do a 5 year BA/MA program through NYU with the GLS program. Meaning, you can get into NYU GSAS for a masters in Global affairs. Boom, problem solved.</p>
<p>Regardless of what you are looking for in a school, you should always do your own research and really think hard about what you want to do. That is common sense really (no offense to those who didn’t expect what GLS is, better luck next time?)</p>