Current Stern Sophomore: Ask Me

Colleges and Universities A-Z New York University
241

<p>It’s definitely hard to adjust. I did miserably my whole first year. I didn’t have particularly hard classes, I just struggled to adjust to a completely different academic, social, and intellectual milieu.</p>

<p>Don’t put pressure on him. I’m sure he’s a good student, you have to be to get into Stern. Just not everyone adapts immediately, and once he clears that hurdle, he’ll probably enjoy himself a lot more as a person along with performing better academically.</p>

<p>Help him (and you) realize that there’s always going to be room for improvement and you don’t have to take giant steps all at once. Work on the building blocks: try and see if changing study habits, extracurricular involvement, or maybe even housing arrangements will help boost his productivity. You’d be surprised how some of the most basic things in our lives we take for granted end up hindering how well you can perform.</p>

<p>Support him and encourage him, see if he’s able to identify career interests at this point; help him identify some quantifiable goal, i.e. a certain GPA or internship, and then establish some concrete way to work toward it.</p>

<p>He’s only a freshman, it isn’t the end of the world by any means yet.</p>

242

<p>Two questions:</p>

<p>1) Is a management concentration a must-have for prospective consultants?</p>

<p>2) Okay, since I’ve been perusing collegeacb and various review sites, many people seem very unhappy with NYU. Is unhappiness a general trend at Stern/NYU in general? Are you personally happy with your experience so far?</p>

243

<p>@justspice</p>

<p>I’m not at NYU, but I wouldn’t think thats the general trend. I don’t think people who were truly happy with their experience would go on the Internet to write about. They’d be too busy living it. </p>

<p>But those who are unhappy, and want to transfer, are more likely to be spending time on website such as collegeacb and CC as they’d be looking for potential transfer schools, etc. Just my two cents.</p>

244

<p>Do you think it is possible to enroll into the College of Nursing to earn a B.S. in Nursing in 4 years after spending 2 years in the Liberal Studies Program?</p>

245

<p>thank You!!
Cannot appreciate you enough of your encouraging words…
Continue to do good work!</p>

246

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I’m an international student who just got accepted into Stern through EDII. Applied for a gap year as I’m currently serving National Service (compulsory military service). Thing is, I completed my A Levels last year so I have all my results etc. including final HS transcript. Common App clearly displays that my final HS transcript has been downloaded by the college months ago (sometime in Jan when all the school forms were downloaded), but Albert suggests otherwise. I understand that Final School Reports aren’t due till July, but should I email NYU to clarify on that point, or should I wait and see how it goes? </p>

<p>Appreciate your help!</p>

247

<p>lmaoo sgang1 singaporean huh whats goodd.</p>

248

<p>Hey hellodocks,</p>

<p>Whats the writing course requirements for stern</p>

249

<p>How do students performing academically in the bottom half of the stern class get along in terms of recruitment and the like? I’m facing the decision of whether I should jump into stern and quite likely be a B ish student or go to fordham and have a better chance of sticking out in that pool of students.</p>

250

<p>Hey hellodocks,</p>

<p>I wanna apply as a sophomore transfer to Stern; I’m in the process of completing the required courses. However, i’m taking writing seminar this semester, and I honestly cannot stand the course and the teacher. She’s completely horrible, and is dishing out B’s and C’s to me. I was contemplating withdrawing from this class, then i suddenly remembered stern has the writing requirement for transfer applicants. What do you think? My gpa’s a 3.8+, and should be higher this semester (much higher if i withdraw from the stupid writing class). </p>

<p>My sats are pretty good: 790 crit and 770 reading.</p>

<p>I have no idea what to do now. Continuing this class would only be a waste of my time (i’m not learning anything at all), and withdrawing would raise my gpa by so much.</p>

<p>thank you so much.</p>

251

<p>@justspice
You always have complicated, personal questions haha.

  1. I’d imagine so. Like I said before, pedigree is huge for consultancy, so if you aren’t coming from that pedigreed a name (Ivy or top LAC, SLAC), what better way to signal to potential employers an interest of yours by declaring it as a concentration? Besides, you can triple-concentrate now that Stern moved from majors to concentrations, you have no idea how jealous of that I am. I have a double major and one minor and that’s the most I can do. Three concentrations is like three majors, that’s an unparalleled opportunity. You can literally get a degree in something just because you’re interested in it and have no interest in a career in it.</p>

<ol>
<li>Unhappiness is a general trend native not only to NYU. I’d say it’s at all top-tier schools. You have a whole bunch of kids who are incredibly intelligent, motivated, hard-working, and fun-loving and struggling to balance all that in a pretty emotionally and mentally demanding social environment, whether that’s at Harvard, Brown, Penn, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Wake Forest, WashU, UC Berkeley, or MIT. Half of them are (not always very) secretly miserable that they didn’t get into a place ranked higher or more prestigious, and it all feeds into this cyclical ‘grass is greener’ discourse.</li>
</ol>

<p>People struggle to balance career aspirations and academic expectations and a social life. It’s the story of college, regardless where you go. I’d say it’s particularly intense here for a couple reasons: location (there’s no other city where you feel as pressured to be successful, rich, or famous and it’s a daily struggle to get where you want to be from where you are now), disappointment (read above, many wanted Ivy acceptance), lack of school spirit/identity, incredibly hard coursework (pre-med and Stern specifically).</p>

<p>As I’ve said before in this thread, my first year was God-awful miserable. I changed that 100% this past year though, and apart from the absurd financial burden, there’s nothing I’m unhappy with where I am in life now.</p>

<p>@gotocollege
Sorry, I have minimal exposure to the School of Nursing. I don’t know much about it, how it works, or who’s in it. I’d imagine you may run into some real trouble because of how specific their academic requirements are, because if you’re in LSP you’re spending 2 years doing gen-ed and I know Nursing has far less gen-ed than other schools.</p>

<p>@niceparent
Thank you!! I’m glad you found it encouraging, I hope it all works out for him. Do you know what cohort he’s in? Maybe I can meet him next year, help him out a bit.</p>

<p>@sgang
Just email the undergrad advising office in Stern. You’re accepted so at this point you’re a priority for them, explain the situation a bit and stay in touch, they ought to be pretty helpful in working things out.</p>

<p>@relish
If you have a 750+ on SAT Writing, you get to skip WTE and take Commerce and Culture, a similarly structured writing course focused more on business issues than hypersubjective writing for writing’s sake. That’s first semester, second semester you take BIP and there’s no exemptions, period. If you’re <750, you take WTE and then BIP after it.</p>

<p>@Sean
Depends on what you want to do. If you’re trying to go into high finance, Fordham will not do a damn thing for you. I’m not sure what your interests are, but Fordham is an extreme non-target whereas Stern has access to every single BB firm, boutiques all throughout the city, and even some buy-side firms. In terms of GPA I was well below 3.5 after freshman year but I still pulled better offers than Harvard, Wharton, Princeton, and Ross kids as a first-semester sophomore. It more matters who you are and how you capitalize on the opportunities in front of you, and to be frank, Fordham won’t afford you much in that regard, whereas at Stern you’ll hardly have time to do half of what you want to because it’s so rich in that area.</p>

<p>@relish
Quite simply, it’s a requirement. If you don’t have it, you can’t apply. It’s like wanting to apply to Wharton without having done calc, it just won’t happen. Sit down with your professor, explain how well your academic performance has been up to this point, how much you care about school, the effort you’re willing to put in, and try to get a sense of her expectations. Profs care more about students who are sincere and make an effort to get to know them. It’s a fact. If you want to transfer, you need the class. If you want to keep the GPA, you need to reach out to the prof. Don’t stress too much though, if you do get into Stern they won’t factor your former GPA, you’ll graduate only with whatever you earn at Stern.</p>

252

<p>Hey Hellodocks,</p>

<p>Haha, thanks for your reply. The Writing Seminar i’m taking right now is not in any way related to business writing at all; its ‘Women in Work’. I also have that 770 Writing score for my SAT. When you mentioned Stern’s business writing class (BIP?), I feel as though I would have to take it anyway if i were to transfer as a sophomore.</p>

<p>I have tried meeting up with her at numerous instances, asking her whats wrong with my paper. I have been sincere and tactful and honest. Quite simply, I dont see how this could work out. I am unable to grasp what she is looking for, which is basic simple argumentative on topics like ‘my best job’, argumentatives about short story’s character’s decisions; its ridiculous, and i’ve been putting in sufficient effort in writing those papers. Its a basic writing class for heaven’s sake, its supposed to be the easiest class any freshman can take in my college.</p>

<p>I am also definitely applying to wharton for transfer as well, and I meet their course requirements. I took 19 credits (6 classes) last semester, and another 19 (6 classes) this semester if that matters at all.</p>

<p>thank you for your help, really appreciate it.</p>

253

<p>Hey hellodocks!
I became STERN freshman and I have several questions about the changed curriculum for the class of 2015.

  1. Does the changed curriculum mean that Class of 2015 will have much easier school life than classes before? If yes, why???
  2. Will there be a huge difference of work load between having 3 concentration and 2 concentration?
  3. Can I use my AP credits?
  4. Is it possible for Sternies to graduate in 3 years or in 3.5 years?</p>

<p>I am excited and also worried about becoming a university student… So curious!!
Thanks for your help :)</p>

254

<p>@Hellodocks,</p>

<p>Hello. I’m a high school senior from India, and a regular decision applicant to Stern. I have a few questions-</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I have a 590 in CR, but 770 in SAT Math and 800 in the Math II Subject Test. Will the two math scores make up for the below par CR score?</p></li>
<li><p>I’m attracted to working with a hedge fund after college. I know these jobs are few for people right out of college but they do exist. What would you recommend for this path- a BS in Finance from Stern, or Math/Applied Math/Computer Science from Courant? or Both?</p></li>
<li><p>Exactly what does the S&T division in an IBank do?</p></li>
<li><p>How different are these investment bank S&T jobs from those in hedge funds?</p></li>
<li><p>Does the New Stern Curriculum make it any easier/tougher to pursue another major in CAS?</p></li>
<li><p>Since I’m an international and have not taken any APs, I will be going to college with no credits/placements whatsoever. Will it be possible for me to complete one Stern concentration along with a major at CAS/Courant?</p></li>
<li><p>How do employers- especially the bulge bracket ones look at extra curricular activities like debating, Model UN and quizzing?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks in advance! And good luck to you for your time in Florence.</p>

255

<p>@relish
I’m sorry you’re having so much trouble, that doesn’t sound like fun. You’re correct about BIP, it’s something every single Stern freshman takes in the spring. It’s three parts: plenary, inquiry, and discourse. Each Monday night all ~500 students get stuck in Paulson Auditorium to listen to a prominent guest lecturer on some topic of business, society, and/or ethics. Tuesday you’ll have Inquiry, where an upper-level faculty member will lead a small-group discussion (class size is capped at 18 or 14) related to the plenary topic and contrast it with the speaker’s presentation. Thursday is Discourse, where your writing prof will break down the previous two into writing-related prompts. It’s an amazing class, although the speakers can be a bit dry. Some speakers were phenomenal though, absolutely amazing.</p>

<p>Good luck with Wharton and Stern. </p>

<p>@david

  1. I don’t think it will be any easier at all. It’s the same content, simply rearranged a bit in terms of titles. Instead of a “major” you now have a “concentration,” it’s the same thing with a different title. You now get to declare more concentrations than before, because each one requires less credits than the majors used to.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Nope. Because you still need the same number of credits to graduate, the only difference is that with 2 you have more space for electives, with 3 you’re going to be taking classes pretty much only for your gen-ed requirements and then your concentrations. That might be fine if you declare concentrations that you love and you’re happy studying. It would make declaring a minor outside of Stern virtually impossible though.</p></li>
<li><p>Talk to the Office of Undergraduate Advising, they have a policy for which APs they accept and don’t accept and I don’t know it off the top of my head.</p></li>
<li><p>Nope. Never heard of it happening in 3 years, 3.5 is rare and in those cases they typically come in with tons of APs, take max credits each semester, and finish with something simple like one major, one major + one minor, or two majors (rarest).</p></li>
</ol>

<p>@chau

  1. No idea, it depends on the rest of your application: strength of writing submissions, recommendations, extracurriculars, leadership, volunteering, hooks, all of it. <650 isn’t good, <600 seems dangerous</p>

<ol>
<li><p>They are few for good reason. You typically do best with sell-side experience out of undergrad, that’s why everyone does it. Good funds don’t take undergrads except in the rarest of situations, and the thing about buy-side is that you typically get stuck in a niche fairly quickly, meaning that once you’re with a firm, you’re with that firm or you’re doing the same role at another firm. If you come out of undergrad, there aren’t great buy-side jobs available. If you take one of the less-than-great ones, you’re stuck there, which wasn’t as smart as taking BB IBD or S&T, rolling over to buy-side from there or taking an MBA and then going buy-side. Regardless of what you want to do, major in finance at Stern and either minor in CompSci in Courant or Information Systems in Stern. One of my really good friends starting working in hedge as a freshman (so, so, so rare) and is doing double majors in finance/applied math, will graduate in 4.5 years).</p></li>
<li><p>It’s called ‘market making,’ there’s a broad range of services. They don’t create products, they either push them (sales) to institutional clients or make trades (trading) on behalf of the bank (proprietary trading) or on behalf of their institutional clients. For example: [Morgan</a> Stanley - Sales and Trading](<a href=“Sales and Trading”>Sales and Trading)</p></li>
<li><p>Huge question, because hedge strategies vary so, so broadly. Not that many funds employ actual traders because most of their work is research and analytics that turn into investment ideas that are then decided on by the PMs who then either pick up the phone to their contacts in sales at a bank’s S&T or pass it off to the fund’s traders (if they have them) who make contact with a bank’s S&T.</p></li>
<li><p>This is the first year it’s in play, the class of '15 will see how it turns out I guess. Advisers would be able to give you some clues though.</p></li>
<li><p>Majoring outside of Stern is typically very hard, because a Sternie has to do the MAP requirements (gen-ed every NYU kid takes), the Stern core (the basic courses in all business disciplines each Sternie is required for his B.S.), and then the classes for his major/concentration. That leaves very little credit flexibility for a major in another school like CAS where they require you to have a large number of credits devoted to that major. Most Sternies will do a major or two in Stern and a minor outside.</p></li>
<li><p>Extracurriculars are meant to demonstrate two things: your breadth of interest and your leadership potential. What you do is not so important as the role you can get in the group, so while (hypothetically) you may be less interested in something like the Stern Professional Development Society compared to Model UN, if you can get Vice President or some other e-board position in SPDS easier than an e-board position in MUN (which is true), having the title on your resume will help you more. My extracurriculars are a mix of my passions/interests and groups related to my studies that I could pull leadership positions in.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>God, these responses are getting long haha. I have midterms this week too and then 10 days of travel for spring break, sorry if I don’t respond as quickly this month.</p>

256

<p>More about your 4th question:</p>

<p>"In general terms, the research team comes up with the idea, the PM decides on the allocation and then instructs the trader to buy/sell x amount of shares. A variety of factors play into the level of execution aggression, ranging from a conservative VWAP algo to buy/sell the entire allocation at market.</p>

<p>The prime broker will usually provide a trading platform (picture an advanced etrade) with execution algos, or the order can be farmed out manually to sell-side traders."</p>

257

<p>@ hellodocks</p>

<p>Yeah what you described sounds interesting. My writing seminar course has zero correlation to business, do you think I would have to take a business writing class even if i transfer into Stern as a sophomore?</p>

258

<p>BIP is mandatory for freshmen. For transfers, there is a business writing requirement. If your writing course right now cannot count towards your business requirement at your current school, chances are it won’t here.</p>

<p>Email the Office of Undergrad Advising. They will give you a definitive answer based on the title of your class/your current university.</p>

259

<p>@hellodocks</p>

<p>1) I heard that NYU never gives financial aid to International students.
Then are there any external financial aids possible for Int. Sternies??
Or any kind of money that big companies provide conditionally?</p>

<p>2) I am now concerned about the courses of stern cuz EVERY single person emphasizes that stern’s grading system is hell to students. Can you specifically tell me why is it so demanding and inform me any courses that are particularly hard? Please advise me things to prepare before I get into Stern!</p>

<p>3) Lastly, I’d like to ask you about the new ‘concentration’ system of Stern. On the web, it says students are required to take 30 credits of business core courses and,
“Students will choose four of the following six classes which provide a foundation for exploring a wide range of business areas, enabling you to make an informed decision about which Stern concentration (12 credits) to pursue:
Managerial Accounting
Foundations of Financial Markets
Information Technology in Business & Society
Introduction to Marketing
Management & Organizational Analysis
Competitive Advantage from Operations”</p>

<p>I’m not sure how I can pick 1~3 concentrations by listening to these business core courses. Hope you could help me with these…</p>

260

<p>@hellodocks</p>

<p>oh, and would you tell me exactly how much does Stern cost? based on your experience?
I saw on the web that approx $40,000 tuition and $16,000 dorm would be needed.
I’m afraid that I need any more money than that…</p>