<p>I can guarantee that NYU accepts many, many students who are not in the top 50% of their classes . . . but they do probably come from schools that don’t give out an official class rank, not from large publics.</p>
<p>I suspect that the OP has a real problem at NYU. Luckily, NYU is not the only college left on Earth. It IS rather cool, or its location is, but it doesn’t offer up any secret knowledge unavailable to people who study elsewhere. The OP should recognize that if NYU isn’t willing to give his or her application a serious read – and I’m not saying I know they won’t, only that it’s possible – then despite its attractions it isn’t really the kind of institution that reflects his or her values, and other colleges are probably better choices in the end.</p>