Getting into NYU: Stern

Applying to College
1

<p>Ever since going to a college fair this past September I have been extremely interested in NYU. After doing lots of research on the school I decided to pursue NYU Stern, their business school. My problem is the internet has told me all kinds of contradicting things about getting into Stern, and the NYU website doesn't help much either.</p>

<p>I am aware that the Stern MBA program is very hard to get into. What I don't know is that if Stern is equally as hard to get into for the undergrad school. The NYU website only has information on what it took the average student to get accepted, but nothing about the individual schools. It does at one point say "Admission to the undergraduate schools at NYU is highly selective. Though there are many similarities, the application process differs slightly from school to school." but that doesn't help me much.</p>

<p>I have found all sorts of things about NYU on the internet such as it's easy to get in, it's hard to get in, stern is close to impossible to get in, you can only get in if you don't need financial aid, you have a better chance if you don't live in New York, you have a better chance if you do live in New York, and all sorts of other things.</p>

<p>What I need to know is if I have what it takes or even close to what it takes to get into Stern, and if not if another NYU school is possible (You can only apply to one of their schools). My college counselor says that she thinks I can get, but she has only sent one person to NYU so I'm not sure she knows 100% about what she is talking about.</p>

<p>My GPA is going to be around 3.7 (Unweigthed) Most B's from freshman year
I took the SAT yesterday but on the PSAT I got around
Math: 65
Reading: 61
Writing: 59</p>

<p>As far as classes I go to a college prep high school, and all of our classes are considered Honors, but these are the APs im taking/have taken:
AP Euro
AP US History
AP English Lang
AP English Lit
AP Calc AB
AP Stats
AP Chem
AP Studio (Photography)</p>

<p>Although my GPA isn't a 4.0 I have an A in all the AP classes I have taken or that I am taking.</p>

<p>Other things that I am guessing would show up on the application:
4 years of art
Month of community service
Swim team (3 Years)
Golf team (1 Year)
Drama class/club + productions
Working for my dad over the summers
Spanish club</p>

<p>Other things to consider:
-I'm from the state of Georgia
-I go to a Private, non-religious, School (On their site it says about 15% of their students come from private schools)
-I've shown demonstrated interest since sophomore year
-If getting in is possible I plan to fly up and visit the campus
-After taking the SAT yesterday I feel confident on math. Even if writing doesn't go up that much I plan on getting math well into the 700s
-I havent taken the ACT yet (Might do better than the SAT)
-I've met the Georgia admissions rep or atleast one of them
-I already have a somewhat liberal and controversial essay planned out
-I plan on taking a Microeconomics class at Emory this summer and possibly some other classes
-My grades have improved each year, and each year I took a bit of leap on class difficulty. </p>

<p>Any advice is appreciated. If you know anything about NYU: Stern or NYU in general please feel free to respond. Let me know if you think I can or can't get in, or have another recommended college for me (not in the state of Georgia or Alabama haha). Really anything constructive will help. Any and all knowledge gives me an edge.</p>

2

<p>There was a study a couple years ago that showed an abnormally strong correlation between high SAT scores and chance of acceptance. Yes, you’ll be more likely to get accepted anywhere with higher SAT scores, but the study (purely statistical, so no consideration of ECs, recs, etc) showed that it was even more apparent in NYU admissions in general–not specifically Stern.</p>

<p>Your first priority should be raising those SAT scores. With an upward grade trend (considering that your B’s came mostly from freshman year) and strong SAT scores (ideally, your scores are at the 75th percentile of accepted students–this number can be found on CB), you will be a very solid applicant for Stern. </p>

<p>Also, have you taken the Math II subject test? Your math scores should be competitive, as Stern is primarily a finance school.</p>

3

<p>Can your family afford NYU?</p>

4

<p>^ Anyone can afford NYU.</p>

<p>Many people are very much stuck in the “must graduate in four years without interruption mindset no matter how many loans I accumulate” that our society seems to promote a lot nowadays. You can take time off and find jobs to work during the summer and during the school year that will lessen your loan burden, and likely you can scrape out enough aid from NYU (a few thousand per year) to help out too making it affordable enough if you major in something useful - like most majors in Stern.</p>

<p>You just have to be mature and disciplined. Extremely hard things to do, but it’s something you’ll eventually have to do anyway. </p>

<p>If you get into Stern, DO IT.</p>

5

<p>Thank you elaine. I probably should have mentioned that I plan to major in Economics, and no I haven’t taken any subject tests yet. I took the SAT for the first time yesterday I want to take it about 4 times or so then take my subject tests senior year. I do plan on taking them though.</p>

<p>Slumom I’m not 100% sure at the moment. My dad has a job where his income flucuates, and living in NYC is very expensive. The high school I’m at now costs 15k a year, NYU costs 60k (Tuition, Room and Board all that). I’ll have to talk to my dad, but I highly doubt he has that kind of money laying around. So I’m going to go with no, we can’t afford it.</p>

6

<p>MonkeyKing1 that is very true. I was planning on applying for financial aid, and there are lots of things I won’t need in NYC such as my vehicle (That’s almost a years tuition alone). The average salary of stern grads is huge. I wouldn’t recommend paying 60k for one of NYU’s art schools unless you really want to live in nyc, but stern should give a good return for the money.</p>

<p>What I believe SLUMOM was about to get at is NYU’s reputation for being much less selective towards applicants that can pay in full. That is only a rumor one of the many I found online, but one that I saw a lot. NYU is a large, expensive school I won’t be surprized if it’s more difficult for me to get in because I check that I need financial aid.</p>

7

<p>Another typical inflated gpa…srry if i come across as rude, but i scored 199 in PSAT last year (70/69/61) and got a 2210 on SAT (740/740/730) and a superscored SAT of 2280 (740/800/740). Yet my GPA is like a 3.5 or something, idk. And I’ve only taken 3 APs. It just feels unfair to have such ridiculously hard coursework (my teachers grade by the reality scale…most C’s, few B’s and D’s, very few A’s and F’s) yet low rewards. Just my two cents. </p>

<p>As for your admission chances, get your SAT up big time. I scored at your level for SAT’s like in 7th grade. Get those up and you should be fine.</p>

8

<p>Something says you could be going to my school but you probably don’t since no one takes AP art at my school. Have you checked out the [New</a> York University - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-university/]New”>New York University - College Confidential Forums) forum and the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-university/1088215-nyu-official-class-2015-decisions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-university/1088215-nyu-official-class-2015-decisions.html&lt;/a&gt; threads?</p>