Chance me- NYU & Stony

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello everyone,
I’d like to know everyone’s opinion on my chances of getting into NYU and SUNY Stony Brook

Currently a high school junior- first-gen Indian male who will be the first person in my immediate family to go to college

Stats:
GPA: 3.8 UW 4.0 W (4.33 is the highest possible in my school)
AP’s: taken/taking AP World History, American History, Physics, English Language, Psychology. Planning to take AP biology, chemistry, Spanish language, microeconomics, macroeconomics, statistics next year. Scored a 4 or 5 on all AP’s

Tests:
32 ACT not super scored (32 all 4 sections)

Execs:
-160 volunteer hours at hospital (leadership w/ patients)
-spent 2 months in a research lab at a hospital (can’t specify for privacy reasons but it’s a top hospital in America)
-model un club
-spent a few months at my local library as an assistant
-tutoring

I live in New York and would apply as a biology major. NYU is about 40-60 minutes away from me.

2

You have a decent shot at both schools.

Stony is pretty affordable for NY state residents.

Are you full pay, or do you intend to apply for fin aid?

If you’re applying for fin aid, please be aware that NYU is notoriously stingy with financial aid.

NYU clearly states that it is NOT a meets need school.:

“…the primary responsibility for meeting college costs rests with the student and the family…”

“…NYU is not able to meet the full need …”

The surprise is when they meet need, not when they don’t.

Both from the main NYU Fin Aid page at https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/financial-aid-and-scholarships.html

Multiple posts every year from kids and families who were accepted to NYU and then deeply regret applying when they get insufficient aid.

3

Thanks for your reply. I doubt I’ll qualify for financial aid because my parents combined income is probably too high (not to brag or anything). I’m not too sure though because I haven’t started applying for it yet since I’m only a junior. Thanks for your advice!

4

Unless your family has about $300K saved for your education, I would replace NYU with Macaulay Honors College at Hunter or Brooklyn. It’s a full ride with perks and a semester abroad, so you can save up for graduate or medical school. Stony Brook, which is a good match for your stats, is a feeder for the NY medical schools and so are some of the CUNYs, despite lacking national prestige. Incidentally, one of my close friends was a pre-med at NYU and regretted it profoundly, wishing she had gone to a CUNY instead (despite having full financial support from her family) as a less stressful path. I personally find NYU to be vastly overrated, and none of my friends with degrees from there seem to have done any better professionally in any field (mostly the opposite) than friends with degrees from local publics (we are all middle-aged adults now). Seriously, save your money.

5

There are three main reasons why I like NYU despite its expensive costs

  1. It’s not too far from where I live which lets me save a lot of money on dorm
  2. NYU has its own hospitals (NYU Langone) and when it comes to residency after med school, they give preference to students who did med school and/or undergrad at NYU. It’ll make it easier for me to get into a residency program.
  3. I’m Indian, we are big savers (lol). My parents and I have been saving for a very long time. I’m not saying that I have enough to pay for full tuition, but it wouldn’t be a huge burden on us.
6

NYU does not have its own hospitals. It does not even have a medical school. NYU Langone, a huge non-profit corporation chaired by the Home Depot guy, owns and operates the two medical schools as well as 5 hospitals and hundreds of outpatient clinics. Its affiliation with NYU is simply a branding partnership and their admissions are completely separate from NYU admissions. You are more likely to get a hook by working as a medical assistant at Langone than by getting great recommendations from NYU professors. With admission rates below 1%, especially now that they are tuition-free, and no actual advantage from being an NYU graduate, investing that much money into a ridiculously expensive college is a gamble. NYUL loves local kids since they have a vested interest in retaining the top med school graduates as employees, so both med schools admit a relatively high number of CUNY and SUNY grads. Basically, if you are hoping for NYU med school, being a New Yorker will give you a slight edge regardless of undergrad alma mater but your chances are very slim.

I get that perceived prestige means a lot at your age, but as someone working in the healthcare industry for decades, I can confirm that nobody ever knows or cares where a doctor, dentist, or a PT/OT did their undergrad. Graduating from the honors college of a respectable public school has never held anyone down, and a free ride would mean money for med school or whatever you end up doing after college. I know successful surgeons in their 50s, making a ton of money, and still saddled by med school bills. Debt is no joke.