Any comments or suggestions based on what you heard or personal experience? I’m accepted into this program instead of CAS. Would like to prepare for it. Thanks in advance!
To my knowledge, all it really means is that you’ll be taking core classes the first two years at NYU. You then can transfer to CAS (maybe other schools? I’m not sure) for your junior year and pursue a major.
My roommate is in LSP and I think that she’s having a pretty good time in the program. However, if you’re really eager to jump into courses for a major, it may not be the program for you.
Thanks a lot! That’s helpful. I would love to explore more before make a decision on major, so that’s not a problem. Do you know if I am allowed to take courses out of the program, say “normal” NYU courses?
@Frances007 I think so–the LSP website implies so
Thanks !
@Frances007 Have you made your decision yet? are you looking at a study abroad site? My daughter just finished her first semester in Paris, they really didn’t have a choice of classes. I agree, the website implies it, but that was not the case.
Currently a freshman in LSP: this will be a long post, but I don’t really have much else to do in my hometown 3k miles away from NYU on a month-long winter break. Hopefully you’re still reading this thread; if not, then other LS acceptees can benefit. Here goes.
Comments/personal opinion/rant:
One of the frustrating things about Liberal Studies is that it has a lingering reputation as the “easy school” of NYU, and from judging its student body, I can’t deny that. A lot of the kids here aren’t exactly motivated; there were several students in one of my classes who failed their midterm (less than 50%) and just shrugged it off, probably because they were more interested in looking up BBC soccer updates on their laptops than the class material. Another kid literally begged me for help to come up with ideas for her final essay with no inclination to do it by herself, and another skipped classes for a full two months to “have fun and not do work” - the fact that they got into and go to NYU left somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth. I’m pretty sure this happens at every college regardless of selectivity, and I know that my experiences are all anecdotal, but coming face-to-face with it leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth.
Anyways, on to credits. First of all, if you took a lot of APs in high school, Liberal Studies won’t count them. Only life/physical sciences (physics, bio, chem, or environ science) and math (calc AB or BC) will shave off LSP requirements. AP Literature, World History, etc. - none of them count for LSP classes. The situation might be different for CAS, but I don’t know too much about that. A lot of my friends are pissed about this, because we expected to graduate early or at least save money for our parents - that’s one of the biggest reasons for taking AP classes, no? 10 qualifying AP scores gets you out of college a year early MINIMUM in a college like UC Berkeley and saves you thousands of dollars. That’s a big fat nope for NYU LSP.
On a tangent: there are six required classes for freshman year (3 per semester) and two in sophomore year (1 per semester. In freshman year, you get a total of two electives to take outside of liberal studies in an NYU college of your choice (1 per semester), and in sophomore year, you get six classes of electives. You CANNOT skip these classes with AP’s or SAT subject test scores, so in this regard, LSP is pretty restrictive. There are three semesters of Cultural Foundations I/II and Social Foundations I/II (art history/literature and philosophy/religion, respectively) and two semesters of Writing I/II. If you’re a History or English major, you’re good to go, because some of these classes count towards your major. If you’re undecided about your future or your major, the two years you spend in LSP give you time to think about whether you like the humanities, and it does well at formulating interest in a humanities-related major (maybe you really like art history after going to the MET museum for a class assignment, or you really like creative writing after reading some of the same in Writing).
However, if you’re none of the above and are like me, who wanted to double major in philosophy and physics (or graduate early with just philosophy) since I was a junior in high school, well, congrats, you just wasted upwards of a hundred thousand dollars on a general education you could’ve gotten at a community college or a state school. LSP is not for those who are committed to a major that doesn’t coincide with LS classes - right now, I’m making almost no progress towards my major’s requirements because 3 of my 4 classes are taken up by LS-required classes.
Having ranted about all that, a positive point is the faculty. LSP professors are actually quite good. They’re easy to approach and are great at giving feedback and actually teaching - they’re passionate about their subject material. One published papers as part of an academic fellowship on the philosophy of science and one’s a writer who just published a play. Since I’m assuming you’re committed to going (“would like to prepare for it”), the most important advice I can give you is to go to office hours and try to connect with them. I stayed in my SFI professor’s office for 2 hours just talking about random academic interests, and my writing professor recommended me some high fantasy novels to read. It isn’t like high school (at least for me it wasn’t), where your relationships with your teachers are more unequal (they’re adults, you’re not).
Anyways, I’m too exhausted now to write more, but reply here/send a pm if you have questions.
@SomedayIwill The moral of the story seems to be to do your homework in terms of researching the university you plan on attending! Advanced standing policies are published on NYU’s website. It’s also increasingly common for universities to refuse credit for APs. Chicago, Dartmouth, Columbia, the Claremont Colleges etc., are just a few that only offer credit for certain APs or don’t offer credit at all.
I recommend that rather than rant on CC, you explore transfer options and this time do your homework. And while I agree that NYU is astonishingly expensive, that certainly isn’t a secret!
@exlibris97 Definitely. I acknowledge what you’re saying, but NYU was a much better choice for philosophy than the other colleges that I got into by a long shot. My parents were also dead set on NYU over the other universities I got into (perception of rankings and whatnot), and there weren’t exactly gains to be had in refusing their financial aid.
To cut a long story short, my attendance was based on a lot of hard and soft factors - not what you assume and suggest it to be, a rash decision with little forethought or planning. The AP credits situation is an unfortunate add-on, discovered afterwards, that can’t be avoided in my situation. While the advice on university policies is always welcome, your ending comment is a bit unnecessary and patronizing, don’t you think?
The original intent of my post was to give possible prospective students reading this thread a (one of many) perspective of someone who actually attends NYU’s LSP. College Confidential has an enormous high school student population, and if some are able to realize the requirements of a college they want to go to and gauge its fit by reading this thread, then I think my rant is by all means warranted. The more information, the better.
is nyu lsp easier to get into?
Sorry that I have not read CC for a while and thanks for your advises. I’ve decided to take the offer as I do want to attend NYU, NY campus. Hope things are better there than Paris.
Thanks a lot for this clear analysis and frank points of view! It’s so helpful! Fortunately, my intended major is art history and I did not take many APs in high school so LSP seems a good fit for me. Sorry that I have been off CC for a while so respond so late. Here is a big late-thank- you!
@SomedayIwill Is it possible to take 18 credits in a semester, rather than 16? I was thinking about taking 3 required courses and 2 required electives for a few semesters, in order to possibly finish all of the LSP requirements a little early and start fulfilling my major requirements.
@Frances007 good luck to you!
@tazozentea It is possible to take 18 credits in a semester. However, you have to see how many credits each class is worth. For example, my daughter took 3 four-credit classes and 1 six-credit class. 4 classes = 18 credits.
You can check the NYU website, but I believe to be considered a full-time student, the minimum number of credits required per semester is 12 and maximum is 18. (recommended is 16)
@ssophieexc LSP is less stringent in terms of academic rigor than CAS as to who they let in. Right now, NYU stands at a record-low 19% acceptance rate, so I’m figuring that most departments dropped by at least 5-10%. LSP used to be around a low 40-something, and it should be more selective now, but if you have a 1440+SAT/3.7+GPA (the college-wide median), you should be guaranteed acceptance.
@Frances007 No problem. Also, about the credits rant; NYU does actually count most of your APs, up to a maximum of 8 qualifying AP scores for 32 credits - a year early, total.
@tazozentea I can confirm what @Fishnlines29 said. However, most electives are 4-6 credits (with 4 being the most common), not 2; bear that in mind. I would contact LSP’s office directly if you want a concrete answer.
@SomedayIwill (and @ssophieexc) I see this discussion was from a while ago, but I’m not sure how you can say LSP is less stringent regarding admissions - do you have facts to back that up or just ‘word of mouth’? I don’t see stats broken out by CAS versus LSP.
Also, I would be mindful of telling anyone they should be “guaranteed acceptance” since you have no way of knowing the stats or qualities of the applicants and what the admissions officers might be considering. Of course, a person with 1440SAT 3.7gpa would have a good shot but no one is guaranteed anything!
@Fishnlines29 You make a valid point; I was exaggerating. Of course, at no university is a combination of a test score and GPA guaranteed, but I intended to say that it was very probable that NYU LSP admit you based on those stats. Also, I believe that there’s data on admission by school, but I do think it’s more word of mouth than data. As a current student, though, the academics of CAS is definitely more rigorous than LSP, having taken classes in both and seen the quality of the student body.
The professors for LSP are also sometimes less “qualified,” if you take qualified to mean eminent in their field. Some are teaching fellows - that is to say, having just gotten a PhD degree. One of my professors is in his late 20s. Now, while this does not say anything about their ability to teach, NYU is after all a large research university, with RESEARCH as its primary goal, and luring top professors from other colleges for CAS is much, much harder than recruiting for LSP positions. That’s my two cents.