Negative Things About NYU

<p>Hello!</p>

<p>I wanted to start this thread to find out about some of the less-favorable things about NYU. Nothing incriminating, I'm just wondering about what you dislike about it? NYU is actually my top-choice university, but before making a decision I want to be aware that my vision of college life there isn't a painted image that I've gotten from visiting the site and talking to admissions ambassadors. I think that getting to know some of the more negative aspects as an NYU student (besides the egregious financial aid issues) will help me (and others, as well) make a more informed decision about where to go for college.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Their athletic teams are called the Fighting Violets. I kind of like that but some people might view it as a negative.</p>

<p>red tape administration
Professors/TAs that don't speak english well (math and science)
no house parties = ton of $ for alcohol</p>

<p>no campus community
no grass, besides the few pieces mixed with the dirt in washington square.
clubs that rarely have meetings
stupid MAP courses
expensive- doesnt seem like there is much here for our almost 48 thousand a year
the school doesnt plan as many activites as some other schools- i guess cause the adminstration figures that nyu students will go out and entertain themselves without the schools help</p>

<p>i have to disagree about the event- unless it's different if you don't live in the dorms. I get 5 e-mails/day from my dorm (hayden) aobut events theyre putting on/places theyre going on (usually free and if not it's less than $5)</p>

<p>The distance between dorms definitely becomes a draw back after freshmen year. You become close to people, and then they are 45 minutes away. </p>

<p>As the above poster said going out is ridiculously expensive. Even with pregaming, expect to spend about $30 a night at bars, $50+ if you like clubs. </p>

<p>The financial aid becomes a big issue for some people....ALOT of people feel their level of education does not match their tuition. </p>

<p>Alot of the students are annoying when it comes to political issues...i.e. "find the illegal immigrant" and the democrats response of "we won't hold a debate with them on the issue because they said mean things" were equally lame this year. </p>

<p>The Stern curve is tough. Careernet isn't very well at all, at least for sophomores in finance. Every job gets over 100 applications, its obscene.</p>

<p>There are alot of people who are just unhappy with the atmosphere, I don't know how to really explain it since I don't hold this view. I guess they are overwhelmed and/or had overzealous ideas about what the city is</p>

<p>As many have said, college is what you make it though. You can definitely make alot of cool, close friends and go out every night and have hella fun, and many people do. However, it seems this does not happen for a substantial number of people for one reason or another.</p>

<p>I take issue with some of the things said.</p>

<p>Sure, we don't all get together once a year and sing kumbaya around a bonfire in Washington Square Park, but people here don't hang out together just 'cause they're in NYU. I find that people tend to group themselves by interests. I have my friends in Chinese class, where we all roll our eyes and stifle snickers when the teacher launches off on another "In Red China, life was so much better because..." tirade. I have my friends on my department, who I've come up with during the last four years by struggling through homework, studying for exams, and sweating/swearing our way through labs. I have my friends who I met as roommates - we eat together, complain about our research, and chat about the latest episode of "House" or whatever. You can see NYU as one giant community, but it's a lot easier to deal with all the smaller communities that comprise the school.</p>

<p>The MAP courses are stupid to a certain extent. (Since I'm a chem major, I didn't have to take math or the science components.) I didn't get one useful thing out of Writing the Essay, but I still think about things I learned/read in my Con. West, World Cultures, Expressive Cultures, and Societies and the Social Sciences courses. You get what you put into those classes - if you think understanding the foundations of Western culture or the basics of science are stupid, I weep for the future, because the last thing we need is more ignorant yokels who think global warming is a sham or don't know how Christianity underlies much of modern American culture.</p>

<p>If you think there are few activities on campus, you either never check your email, never leave your dorm room, or are a commuter who ignores all the commuter resources. There are a crapload of activities offered, whether that's seminars/talks held by the academic departments, events from the offices under the Student Life umbrella, or the social or cultural programming done by the residence halls. If you're a commuter, there are special spaces and events reserved only for them. In short, there's no reason to complain about a lack of activities sponsored by the university.</p>

<p>As for the red tape administration, I find that it varies. When I was trying to get my paperwork together for Study Abroad, I didn't know when this form was due, so I called the office three times, talked to three different people, and got three different answers. Sometimes people are so obtuse when you speak with them that it becomes excruciating to sort out what exactly it is you need to do to solve whatever problem. However, when I petitioned CAS to allow to me raise my outside-CAS- credit limit to 18, it was an absolute breeze. In general, the admin here is a crapshoot, but if you're polite and do as much research as you can before you start asking questions, then your results generally are a lot better.</p>

<p>I can't really talk about Careernet, since I never used it, but based on the experience of my Sternie roommates, the fact that every job gets a bazillion apps is not a problem of Careernet. Employers post jobs and internships on there, and if they don't want to take sophomores or post more positions for people to apply for, tough luck. Also, everyone applies to like 30+ jobs each, so of course there are a lot of applicants for each one. Business is competitive - if you can't handle it now, the real world's even harsher.</p>

<p>A lot is written as two separate words...always</p>

<p>-no school spirit.
-walking through the "campus" you wont recognize faces
-very impersonal administration
-lack of community
-nobody cares about sports teams
-campus plays a very minimal role
-extremely expensive, and new york is one of the most expensive cities in the world
-lots of TAs</p>

<p>-people who criticize spelling in non-essay settings.</p>

<p>Shades,
I'm planning on going to NYU as a chem major. Someone earlier said that professors and TAs were hard to understand/ didn't speak English. Did you find this to be true? Also how often are classes taught by a TA and how often are they taught by a professor?</p>

<ul>
<li>I wish there'd been more traditions to look forward to. NYU is very modern, which I generally like, but sometimes you just want something like a 'midnight scream' where almost everyone in the school turns out to do something. Unfortunately, the school is just too large and made out of too many very different groups to have that happen :(</li>
</ul>

<p>+/- People care about their appearances more. It's nice because you can dress well and not feel weird (which I do back home because everyone's in tshirt and jeans and a dress will look out of place), but you also don't feel like you can get away with crappy outfits.</p>

<p>It seems to be a fairly superficial point, but it's a big part of why some of my friends don't like it here. New York is a harsh mistress. There are a lot of opportunities to do almost anything you want in NY, but the flip side is that you feel much more pressure to participate in the rat race. </p>

<p>I agree with mattistotle - for some reason, there's a vocal minority of kids at NYU who have a very negative attitude towards the university & the city, so you can get a distorted impression of the school. Why they don't transfer, I have no idea.</p>

<p>Negatives? Hmm.</p>

<p>Music scene is pure schlock.
Minor inconveniences related to dorm functions, i.e: elevators, vending machines, water/ac, etc.</p>

<p>I don't know about you youkosiren, but I sure as hell am not aware of this "appearance" thing. I've worn a band shirt and jeans literally every day here. Minus suits when I go to work.</p>

<p>I didn't mean each NYU student cares more about their appearances... it's more a general NYC thing. To be really nerdy, I'd say the level of fashionability/trendiness in dress at home has a normal distribution; in NY, it's totally skewed so that more people here dress better.</p>

<p>Maybe it's different for guys, but as a girl, I would feel out of place wearing, say, sweatpants in the city.</p>

<p>Anyway, it's just part of the whole 'rat race' feeling, which gets especially strong around interview season :&lt;/p>

<p>Yeah I think it's a girl thing. Jeans and a t-shirt are accepted pretty well.</p>

<ul>
<li>The very essence of a campus life is missing</li>
<li>Students are more interested in exploring the NYC life</li>
<li>One is very much on his own - the faculty student interaction is limited</li>
<li>Class sizes are pretty big</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>The positive attributes are:</p>

<ul>
<li>The quality of the teaching faculty is superb</li>
<li>Curriculum geared to changing needs</li>
<li>Opportunity to get internship/job is relatively easy</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>In my personal opinion, the experience of a college life is very important, which one may find missing!</p>

<p>Not a traditional college experience - campus, school spirit, etc
(although that's not a negative for me)
Extremely busy & tiring schedule as a theatre major
Very expensive to go there & to live in the city
Can be lonely if you don't find a group of friends
Very easy to get distracted
Very easy to become a huge procrastinator/insomniac
Can be noisy depending where your room is located
You are seen as just a number in a system</p>

<p>All that said, I love it.</p>

<p>Hahahahahaha. That noise thing is so true. facking Hayden, I swear.</p>

<p>firewalker----how is the music scene bad? lol im doing music business at nyu and i hope thats not the case</p>

<p>man i really wanted a campus at college...but idk if i should turn my back on nyu to go to northeastern just b/c the campus life is missing...anyone have any feedback?</p>