Housing Question

Colleges and Universities A-Z New York University
1

I’m going to be a freshman at NYU this coming fall as a member of the class of 2022, and have recently completed my freshman housing application. While going through the application, I expected there to be a question regarding what specific type of room you preferred, as there are different kinds of rooms available in each residence hall, but I did not find one. I thought this was odd and a bit unfair as some rooms cost more money, and some students may not be willing to pay an extra $2,000 for a room that they did not want.

I’m posting this question here just to see if anyone can let me know if we are assigned a room type randomly, or if we are asked what type of room we prefer at a later time. As for myself, I would prefer a double in a four-person suite or a single in a suite, and would be very annoyed if I was stuck in a triple studio without ever being asked what my preference was.

2

I’m a junior at NYU right now and I remember there being a question about room type preferences at some point in the application. Did you answer any other questions about dorm preferences? If not, I’m guessing you submitted the deposit and not the full application, and you’d have the chance to show your preferences later.

That said, from my experience NYU isn’t always able to accommodate exact room choices for freshmen. Singles are especially rare throughout NYU housing–I’m not telling you this out of cynicism, just out of a hope for managing your expectations. I don’t think there are any triple studios in NYU housing, and I’m guess you will end up in a double in a suite for what that’s worth. The triples in suites are also larger than the doubles and I was in one my freshman year and it wasn’t bad.

Next spring you will be able to choose a specific room in a specific residence, so even if you don’t get exactly what you want this year, you’ll have another shot then. Hope this helps!

3

Thanks for the reply. This was my official housing application though (unless there’s some sort of second application I don’t know about), and I went through it two times to check if I was missing something. The only question about specific room choices I found was if I’d like to opt into low-cost housing (which I did not). There were questions about which residence halls I’d prefer and if I wanted to be on a themed floor, but I saw nothing about actual room types.

I’ve just went through the application again just in case, and I still don’t see any questions about specific rooms. Is it possible that these questions don’t come out until a later time? It’s still pretty early and RD admits still don’t even know if they’ve been accepted yet.

Side note though: Lipton is my top choice (I mean, isn’t it everyone’s top choice though), and from what I’ve seen from the NYU website Lipton has double bedroom suites, single bedroom suites, and triple studios, and that’s why I mentioned them. The triple bedroom suites seem nice, but I heard they’re only at Third North (or maybe one other freshman residence hall too), and I don’t think I’d want to live there as I’ve heard it’s kinda far from classes. However, from everything else I’ve heard it is a very social residence hall and that’s something that interests me very much, I just don’t know if it’s worth the farther commute, so if that’s the residence hall you were in could you tell me if the distance was that big of a problem?

4

It’s possible they’ve changed it since I applied, or that I’m misremembering (though I think I doubt it, but who knows), in which case sorry for the misinformation. If you’ve picked your preferred halls, then odds are good that is the only choice you’ll be getting, or at least the only choice until the RD people get their say.

I lived in Lipton when I was a freshman (though it was called Hayden back then) and it was really nice! I was actually in a suite with a triple and a double (I was in the triple) and a bathroom and the rooms were pretty big. Now that I think of it, one of my close friends was in a triple without another bedroom attached in Lipton as well, though hers was a bit smaller than mine–maybe it was low cost? I don’t know if I would call it a studio though–there wasn’t really a kitchen, just an attached bathroom.

Have you taken a look at the residence hall floorpans yet? They might help you get a sense of the size of the halls and what the rooms are like: https://www.nyu.edu/students/student-information-and-resources/housing-and-dining/on-campus-living/residence-halls/floor-plans.html

One of my close friends lived in Third North and I think she enjoyed it. Third North is a bit more of a trek, but you get a kitchen because it is apartment style and I think that makes it worth it. My sophomore and junior years I lived in Lafayette and Greenwich which are some of the most distant dorms from the main campus (or at least, from the Tisch building where I spent most of my time). They were both something like a 20 or 25 minute brisk walk from class, but I figured out from that experience that while it seems pretty far from the classes, you get used to that really quickly. I actually enjoyed those walks because it gave me a chance to wake up before class or unwind after class and it made me feel better about never really exercising. It also depends on where your classes are–as I was mostly walking to the Tisch building (number 48 on this map: https://www.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu/advertisePublications/documents/nyu-downloadable-campus-map.pdf), the walk from Lipton was probably almost as long as the walk from Third North, just a bit more direct with less stop lights. If I were walking to GCastle (73 on the map) that would be another story.

Also, NYU has a really good free bus system, so if you don’t want to walk all the time, that’s fine too. I took the bus a lot from Lafayette if it was really cold and it worked pretty well.

The social aspect of the residence halls is kind of what you make of it. Its easy to make friends in the first few weeks in by sitting with new people in the dining halls, even if your floor isn’t the most social. If you are looking for a really social vibe, I’d really recommend applying for a themed floor as they’ll have planned group activities, which is also a good way to meet people. I was on the NYU Show floor in Lipton and while I definitely didn’t go to all of the activities, the ones I went to were really fun and a good way to hang out with people from my floor. Your RA will also work to make sure you are meeting new people and that the floor gets together a lot, especially in the first few weeks.

I hope this helps, and let me know if you have any more questions!