I will get straight to the point. I was born and raised in NYC. I am a big city girl. I applied to many colleges. Was accepted to almost all. Like Syracuse and Bing. NYU was the most pressuring one. They offered to pay my entire tuition (full scholarship), dorm, meal plans, 2k refund every semester, and study abroad for all 4 years. They also gave me a deadline. They said I would not be able to be offered this financial aid again if I was to say NO and if I was to transfer out. I thought of how amazing their name brand is, their education is, their study abroad sites are, their diversity statistics are, and their seemingly “lit” social scene. So I accepted. And I was happy. That is, until the first week of school. Right now, I am finishing up my first week of school here. I am happy with the quality of education (it is difficult but it is what I signed up for in most of my colleges). But I couldn’t be more disappointed with the social scene. There is barely anything here…in the sense that there is nothing new for me to see and that there aren’t as many parties as I was expecting. Not really anything new for me to experience since I’ve been here before. On top of that, there aren’t even many to any real college parties (thus far). I know it has been just a week but I have seen many Syracuse and Binghamton friends having the time of their lives in this mere one week on snapchat. Hence, I am disappointed. I am super discouraged. I am saddened that it is less than I expected and that I am not having fun. I had such high hopes. And to be completely honest, I feel deeply that I am constantly feeling disappointed and discouraged because I always wanted that typical college experience. The real campus, you know, the ones with grass and hills and fields and open spaces and football games and dorms that look like houses…not buildings. I always wanted the frat parties and sorority parties and house parties but there are no houses to do that here and only 7% Greek life. Instead, we have to go to clubs nearby to party to super annoying house music and for that we need an ID or a fake. On top that, we also need the money to pay for the drinks which is like triple the amount I would need to get liquor in a house party in a college upstate. Annoying. Onto another thing: NYU students don’t often move out into apartments near the campus their junior year as college kids often do because they are too expensive. While in Syracuse and Bing, I could get a bigger house or apartment for way cheaper. Sighs I just find so many reasons… My heart wants me to follow my gut but my mind knows better. I know NYU has a better name (and this shouldn’t matter but it does) and I know it is only the first week (yet many people are having fun already in those colleges I mentioned). So I feel torn. I feel deeply about the college experience that I yearn for but taken back to Earth by NYU’s high name and harsh policies. I don’t know what to do. I tell myself to suck if up and complete the 4 years for the basically free degree. But is that really what you should tell yourself? I just worry that if I transfer and find the social life to be too “white people jumping to house music only” for my hispanic taste then I’m going to want to transfer (back but I can’t). Or if I find the immense cold horrible (as I do already), or the grass fields become boring, or if I cannot find that mix of colored folk that I am of to hang with… Then I don’t know. Then I’d feel better about being back here, back home. It’s just my biggest concern: that at the end of the 4 years, I’ll regret staying. I’ll regret that I didn’t have the college experience that we only get once. And I deeply do not want that to be me.
You have a full ride at a school that many students seem to desire and is notorious (from what I have read on this website) for financial support that is less than generous, think long and hard about giving that up for some fantasy version of the party scene elsewhere after one week of being at school. College is first and foremost about education, and to be able to do that for free in this day and age is a gift.
I can see why NYU was keen to recruit you. You really add diversity of perspective…
You are comparing a tv, film & snapchat image to a daily reality: in that scenario, reality will always lose. Right now CC is full of posters whose dream of college has just collided with reality, and they, like you, are wondering if they have made a huge mistake. Possibly some of them have, and maybe you are one of them.
But the thing is, there is simply no way for you to know that yet. You have had no time to grow into a life at NYU, no time to make more than the most superficial of acquaintances. You may not appreciate the analogy, but this is the kid arriving at school for the first time and wanting to turn around and leave.
NYU’s policy isn’t “harsh”, it is business like: they have something that they know is very valuable, they have a lot of people who want it and if you don’t want it then they are going to give it to somebody who does.
More importantly, it is a false dichotomy to see your choices as being either going to a beautiful college with students sitting around with on the quad in autumn leaves, before going to a great party in a big white antebellum frat house, and then on to an even better party in a senior’s massive off-campus apartment and “sucking it up for 4 years”.
Look beyond the snapchats and college brochures and great parties that you think you are missing to the reality of student life anywhere: the dailyness of schoolwork, professors, and dining halls; of interactions with your fellow students and exams, of finding your path towards what work interests you for your adult life. Look at the quality of the course options, the learning opportunities through internships / research / whatever, the international learning experiences, the diversity of people for you to get to know at NYU.
It is pretty extraordinary for NYU to give the sort of scholarship you have- it puts you in a very elite group. Not to mention that for many of your new classmates, you are the cool kid- the one who knows New York 
NYU might not turn out to be right for you, but a shortage of drunken parties and leafy green spaces is not the basis for deciding that. And you are clearly smart enough to understand that- or you wouldn’t be having this conversation in the first place!
Seriously: give it a chance. A week is the blink of an eye. Don’t expect to be blissful all in one go- see if each time you go back after a break feels a little better. Binghampton & Syracuse will be there, and you will have no trouble transferring at any point, so give NYU a seriously good effort for a year and see how you feel then.
You’re very luck to have a full ride at NYU; don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The first weeks as a freshman were awkward for me too. I imagine there are suboptimal aspects for nearly every freshman.
If you want a near-guarantee of social doors being opened to you, take part in rush. Here’s a link with some info:
This cannot be an actual, earnest poster. It’s got to be a hoax or bait.
Perhaps the 2K refund each semester is intended to offset the cost of the expensive booze.
First, give it more than a week. Each school has its own way of partying, and NYU is no doubt very unique. But no matter how attractive getting drunk on the cheap and hitting all the Greek houses seems now, for the vast majority of students it gets old fast and the only reason they keep doing it is that there is little else to do in these very rural locations. You have NYC at your feet, which for you is nothing new I realize but still. NYC doesn’t have to be expensive. Get creative. Think longer term. I usually recommend people go to new environments for school for partly this reason, but if you really got a scholarship that amazing at a school as highly thought of as NYU, it would be very hard to turn down. You need to see that from the proper perspective.
About that scholarship, what is it named? Most of us are unfamiliar with such a generous scholarship at NYU. It would be good to know for advising other students.
Thank you for your response. I also encourage people to try new environments but yeah… I did feel I couldn’t let this offer down even though I wanted to try a new environment. I sacrificed that. But I’ll let the year take its course. I hope it all gets better.
The scholarship is called Albert O. Eve HEOP.
@NorthernMom61
I know this is a gift. I am super grateful for this gift. I just believe things should have a balance.
College is first about education but a balance probably even comes before that. It is important to have a balance of time, clubs, rest, activity, workload, etc. it is especially important to have a balance in academics and social/party life. I have always thought this way, in high school for instance. People need release, people need relaxation. Especially these students in high-end schools and high stress. A party is just one of the many ways to do it (that I and many enjoy). I have come so far (and I think I have done a pretty good job if I am in NYU on a full scholarship), I am academically healthy, mentally healthy, socially healthy, have plenty of friends (acquaintances and close ones), can say I have attended great parties, can say I have truly loved my high school years, etc. And it is sad that many students cannot say the same. And I’d attribute that to a lack of balance. Either too tight or too loose of an education or upbringing, too little group of friends, too little outing, too little social life, too little truly exciting or moving social experiences, and so on…
Maybe I am generalizing it too much. Maybe I have messed up in an idea I wanted to convey, all with good intentions however. I just know that you need to make a great experience for YOURSELF overall. For your taste and your liking and your heart and your soul and your mind. As you mentioned, education should come first (and it should) but solelyyyyy education probably won’t give the latter to you…
@GMTplus7
I don’t know if your comment was sarcastic or not. I do not write sarcastically as I prefer writing straight to the point and I hold people to the same standard. If my comment on that has offended you in any way, that was not my intention. And if your comment was to offend me in any way, the insult has been brushed off.
Everyone’s taste and preference is unique. Being Hispanic in NYC, I have been raised with African American friends, Caucasian friends, “Brown” friends, Bengali friends, Guyanese friends, Filipino friends, Korean friends, Ghanian friends, Nigerian friends, Italian friends, etc. So I know which general kind of scene(s) I feel most comfortable and most myself in. It happens to be that NYU is in a very Caucasian environment and they are the majority. Hence the parties and clubs and music usually pertains to them. I just happen to not like their music or dancing. Nothing wrong with that.
I suspect you will find that to be the dominant case in the Bing & Syracuse.
@collegemom3717
Yes, that’s actually something I thought of before. I know there will be even more white folk up there and therefore even more of their party scenes. So I have thought maybe it’s not the campus, maybe it’s the PEOPLE I surround myself with that will make all the difference. That I know.
But here even with the colored people I have met (and the close high school friends I had that also came to NYU with me), we still have nothing to do. And the upperclassmen tell us that there isn’t much in fact. Even with the right people, won’t have that campus house party life.
Whilst at least up there, even if the white environment is what I would find, I know I’ll be able to find some colored folk group and even some white folk who like our rhythm to do those things with. And have house parties and the campus life with them. Here, that latter option isn’t really given.
But I am easing into accepting things as they are.
Can you find that classic college quad feel at one of the NYU study abroad (or maybe D.C. or domestic exchanges, this they have these)? Or, go to summer school at one of these desired colleges, like Harvard Summer School, etc. If you’ve saved a bundle on NYU, find funds to take a class, live in a dorm, and spend the balance checking out the college-kid scene in Boston or at Northwestern in summers. Or try a winter/January interim in D.C. with some other school. Thoughts?
@ys1210 Lots of great advice here. Sounds like you are going to give NYU a chance, and that seems wise as you are likely to be an excellent transfer candidate if it comes to that. Congratulations for such an amazing scholarship opportunity–make sure the financial trade offs that go with a transfer are worth it to you and your family. Best of luck.
I was also going to suggest study abroad or a domestic exchange if you want a change of pace from NYC. I would also give it some time. I am originally from NJ. I ended up going to my state university. It was within biking distance of my home. It was not my first choice and at the time New Brunswick was a pit. But it didn’t cost me a cent and I ended up having a great time with friendships that are still going strong after 30 years. I also got an excellent education that got me into top flight graduate programs, also fully funded.
Maybe you should try to seek out some folks who are different than yourself - perhaps some international students or somebody from a different part of the US.
I also think you should listen to that little voice that wonders if a postcard-cute campus will be a bastion of white privilege where you will feel alienated and will be paying a lot more.
Give it time - if you are still feeling disgruntled by the end of the year, then look into a transfer.
NYU has an *Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program,*but I think it’s for low income students. If your family is low income, you should be aware that transfer students don’t get much aid. If you leave NYU, how are you going to pay for another school?