<p>My mom is making me consider NYU, even though I don't want to because I live in Brooklyn and really don't want to live at home and commute everyday because I really want a "college experience". So if any of you are in a similar situation (you're an NYU commuter), how do you feel about this?</p>
<p>I’m sure you know NYU is very different from the traditional college experience - no football team, no grassy quads, no fenced in campus - but I understand you want a residential experience.</p>
<p>Why not dorm freshmen year? It’s a lot easier to make friends that way, plus it gives you a sense of community. 97% of freshmen dorm - after that, it’s common for upperclassmen to move off-campus to cheaper places like Brooklyn. Ask your parents if you can dorm freshmen year, and go back to living at home after that or split rent with some friends. If money is an issue, you can get a low-cost triple in Rubin (rooms are big there) which I believe is around $7k for the year.</p>
<p>I don’t live at home, but freshmen year I lived in an off-campus apartment (in the Village). I like living independently and my friends who dorm come over all the time. At NYU, the upperclassmen dorms get further away from campus so that whole “college experience” feeling isn’t too strong.</p>
<p>I’m from Queens but I’m dorming, so I’m not worried about not getting the most out of my college experience. Would your mom let you dorm? It’s not really college without it. </p>
<p>And the reason why the upperclassmen dorms get further away is because NYU wants you to be more independent as you grow up. Makes sense though right?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure it’s less that NYU wants kids to be independent and more that: a) they didn’t have the space/money to buy buildings around campus and; b) they hope that by moving the upperclassmen dorms farther away, those upperclassmen will just move off-campus, freeing up more buildings for freshmen and lower upperclassmen. It sounds underhanded, but the other solution would be to accept less students to alleviate the housing shortage, which is something NYU doesn’t seem to want to do.</p>
<p>Since it doesn’t seem like you even want to go to NYU, and to offset what the other two posters said, I’ll just give you some fodder to use against your mother’s idea of you commuting. I’m not originally from NYC, but I did commute from Queens (Long Island City) my senior year (I also lived off-campus junior year, but much, much closer), and I seriously wasn’t a fan of it. Though the independence was nice, I really hated being so incredibly far away from everything going on on campus. I noticed that my class attendance dropped, particularly during the winter. It’s not that I wasn’t used to long commutes–I had spent two summers commuting 4+ hours a day to an UNpaid internship–but that if I just didn’t feel like going to class, I would use the distance as an excuse to convince myself not to go. There was also the problem that, when I did go, I was often either late or completely missed the class because of the pervasive incompetence of the MTA. </p>
<p>Also, I didn’t have the motivation to be as involved in clubs as I previously was because it would have involved traveling back to Queens at 9 or 10 p.m. only to wake up for a 9:30 a.m. class the next day. Even though NYU doesn’t have a traditional “college experience,” it still does have things that approximate it, and I certainly felt like I was missing out on a lot, especially since events at NYU can also be completely spontaneous. </p>
<p>Most of all, though, I was just really tired. Attending class, working on a thesis, and holding down two jobs weren’t bad when I lived closer to campus, but when I added in fighting for a spot to at least stand in the train, being pushed around, and waiting for ridiculous amounts of time, it got to be too much. I’m sure it would have been different if I had my mom making my meals and doing my laundry, but the improvement would have been incremental at best. Of course, it’s still something you should factor in.</p>
<p>(And, before anyone asks, the reason I moved off-campus was because I couldn’t afford the dorms anymore. So, I was kind of stuck in my situation and made the best of it at that time, but during retrospection, I give myself permission to complain about it.)</p>
<p>Your experience sounds like my 1st semester at NYU, nyu_times. I live in Long Island, about 45-55mins away depending on what train I can catch, and I was miserable. Getting up at 6 AM for an 8 AM class, missing out on parties and fun stuff because I had to be home earlier, exhausted from classes, work, and commuting in general (had to deal with the suckiness of the LIRR + MTA). 2nd semester I moved to Greenwich Village, about a 20 min walk to Washington Square and 8 mins by subway, it’s great. I ended up not paying rent because of the circumstances, so it was free too. 
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<p>My parents won’t pay for dorms since technically I could live at home, and they’re paying my tuition out of pocket already. I’m thinking of becoming an RA Junior year - I’ll have to quit my job, but it’s free room and board in a nice freshmen dorm close to campus. Do you think they would let me be an RA considering I’ve never dormed? I have a high GPA, am in several clubs, have leadership positions, have had a job for years, do research, etc. So I can prove i’m responsible but have no experience with dorms.</p>
<p>I’ve definitely heard of commuter students becoming RAs, but I’m honestly not sure how common it is. Also, I could be wrong, but I don’t think you’re limited only to freshman dorms, as every floor in every building has an RA.</p>
<p>Yeah I’m guessing they’ll prefer people with experience in a dorm setting, which I don’t have. But I’m definitely going to try for a freshmen dorm near campus. I’m moving to Morningside Heights this year and my motivations behind becoming an RA is really free room/board near campus.</p>
<p>I don’t know if their preference is for people who have experience in a dorm setting, as I never felt like any of my RAs really did anything that required them to have any inside information about the dorms. You go through a pretty rigorous training, so there’s that, too. If you really want to be an RA, why not work with lowerclassmen now? You can apply to be an admissions ambassador, volunteer as a tour guide for inner-city high school students, or help with open houses and admitted student days. That way, when you apply, you can say, “I know I’ve never lived in a dorm, but I have a lot of experience working with younger students in a mentoring or advisory capacity.”</p>
<p>this is the first time i’m logging onto CC in a while, but i just HAD to jump in and answer this.</p>
<p>ResEd will KNOW if the only motivation you have to be an RA is the free housing/free meal plan. the whole selection process to be an RA is really rigorous. it’s just like Admissions Ambassadors, where you go through a multiple-week training process just to try to get hired. i went through AA training and they watch everything that you do and take a ton of notes and they make you role-play situations that you might come across. since so many people apply, they’re very picky about who they take and who they don’t. </p>
<p>[NYU</a> > Residential Education > Staff > Student Staff Recruitment > RA Selection](<a href=“http://www.nyu.edu/residential.education/staff/ra_leadership.html]NYU”>On Campus Living) that’s the multi-week process you go through. this is after they review your application.</p>
<p>when i applied for AA, over 100 people went through the AAA (admissions ambassador academy) training, but they selected less than half of the applicants. i’m really passionate about NYU (as most of the regular posters here will tell you) and i was rejected as an Ambassador. </p>
<p>moral of the story: be unique and passionate and energetic, because NYU doesn’t take that many people for RA positions. it’s ultra-competitive. i think it’s more than being “well-rounded” or “responsible”, it’s showing NYU that you’re really dedicated to being part of ResEd and being an important part of NYU.</p>
<p>Ugh I know, i’ve heard it’s pretty rigorous! Hmm well I’m a Welcome Week leader so that shows i have “NYU spirit”, and I’m involved in a lot of on-campus activities…that might be a bad thing because they don’t want anyone who’s too busy, I’ve read. </p>
<p>It’s not that my only motivation to be an RA is free housing, but that’s the #1 motivation, and to be blunt, I think it’s the #1 reason for most RA’s - I don’t think many people would want it if there were no perks. Still, I’m passionate about NYU, pretty energetic and responsible, and I’m at least going to apply.</p>
<p>What worries me is they reccommend RA’s don’t do more than 16 credits per semester! I’m a Science major, I have multiple labs a semester, so I’ve always done 18 credits per semester and never can take any less. plus they know I’m pre-Med and need to take the MCAT Junior year and have a difficult major…yikes.</p>
<p>How easy is it to get into NYU overall?
I heard someone with a 2.8 got in? how is that possible?</p>