<p>Thanks for bearing with me here. My name is Akshay and Im currently a freshmen here at NYU. Ive come to the conclusion that NYU really isnt for me. I came here to learn mathematically intensive theoretical Economics, but this school is so obsessed with polishing its undergraduate gem, The Stern School of Business. Its to a point where its rather absurd that many of the great theoretical minds here at NYU(Paul Romer, Michael Spence, Thomas Sargent) are all now in Stern teaching business economics. The student body here is also immensely pre-professional, nobody just cares about learning anymore. Our resources are being spread out way too thin with 52k students a 2.7 Billion dollar endowment. There are NO research opportunities for undergrads due to the sheer size of the Graduate program(from Marc Lieberman himself). I need to get to a place with a campus, much more academically driven students, and a sense of school unity. I know I have immense potential as a student, but Ive had been stupidly slacking off during my senior year so that screwed me over. Im willing to/currently working my butt off here at NYU.</p>
<p>My Stats:</p>
<p>GPA: I had a 3.8 UW and 4.1 W in High School.</p>
<p>College GPA: Im pretty certain I can achieve something in the range of a 3.9 if I continue to work hard.</p>
<p>ACT: 31 (Im really considering retaking this one, Ive been able to score around a 33 on practice tests).</p>
<p>ECs: Crew Team, Washington Square News(staff writer), Mathematics Society, and Speaker Curation team at TEDxNYU.</p>
<p>I would really love to attend Columbia because New York City itself is fantastic. Yet, being more realistic Id consider schools like Penn, Rice, Cornell, UChicago, and Northwestern.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that econ and math double major is theory track and harder than any major you can take at Stern. Also you know you can take Stern classes… right? You should speak with an adviser first if that’s the major reason you’re changing schools. I’m guessing from your name that you’re Indian, which is probably why you didn’t get into other top schools you might have applied to. That may still be the case with transferring, so be mindful of that. Cross-post this to the Transfer Students forum.</p>
<p>You’ve been at NYU for two weeks… If that. And somehow, with so little experience, you’ve decided you already know all about NYU and what it’s like to be a student there?</p>
<p>Even with such little experience, I can tell. These are things I can’t change, whether it be the quality of the student body or the fact that our Economics department is split up into two. Lullinatalk, it doesn’t matter if I’m allowed to take Stern classes if the professors there teach business economics rather than economic theory.</p>
<p>It’s the trademark NYU experience I’ve come to dislike, NYU2013. I’ve realized I want a much more traditional, smaller college experience. One filled with school pride, a sense of unity, and an unquenchable thirst for academic growth. Everyone here seems to be more concerned about where their next internship is going to come from.</p>
<p>What makes you think Penn is more realistic than Columbia? The research opportunities are there, it’s just that they’re overflowed b/c NYU has too many kids vying for each professor. </p>
<p>It’s not absurd that all those guys are teaching at Stern. It’s a premier business school. The only guy CAS has is Marc Lieberman. The quality of teachers in CAS does suck though. Too many professors and TA’s with accents, poor speaking skills, and the innate ability to just ramble on for the full 1 hr 15 min. It’s hard to find too many decent professors in CAS. I’d say that’s more because NYU and John Sexton are concerned about lining their pockets. Of course, there’s way more options than that Fresh Of the Boat (FOB) Chinese Ph.D student who’s accent is unbearable. But it costs less. That kind of thing is annoying.</p>
<p>You summed that up quite well. The problem is that Stern teaches business economics. Most people forget that the fundamental economic theories that lie at the foundations of our policies are mathematical in nature. It’s a numbers game. Economics is nothing more than an extension of Mathematics, but of course business economics doesn’t embrace this approach. It’s concerned with scenario-specific education. That’s why transferring to stern would not solve my problem.</p>
<p>I meant realistic as in Penn’s transfer acceptance rate is around twice that of Columbia’s. I’ve also heard that Columbia is rather charitable in the sense that it will accept you as a transfer if you’ve shown academic prowess and an extreme genuine interest in the school rather than just being a genius.</p>
<p>All I hear about at NYU is that there is no cohesive campus and the student body is really split and stuff. I know its a large student body… but arent there partys? Arent there any unifying factors. I really want to go to Stern because of the academics, but having fun and finding friends are really important to me. Should I still apply? I really have no grasp about what it might be like to go there…</p>