New York University is in the middle of everything Greenwich Village, Union Square and SOHO; Washington Square Park, Broadway, hip hop performance art, street vendors, the coolest of the cool stores and restaurants, and a wide array of people – 8 million. Step off the R Train at 8^th Street or the A, C, B, D at West 4^th and WHAM you are in the heart of gritty Gotham. Nestled amongst all that grit is NYU. When you start to look carefully you see that many of the buildings hoist the purple flags of NYU. The NYU Welcome Center is a building on the southeast corner of Washington Square Park. You have to register online to book a spot and the seats fill quickly. Once you sign in and get your name tag you join 120 or so students and families (maybe some school counselors) in an auditorium. Two LCD screens straddle the podium, the admissions office introduces themselves, the lights dim and a sophisticated film featuring four NYU students begins. Each featured student speaks of his or her experience at NYU with volunteerism, science research, film studies, or HIV/AIDS activism in Ghana. The theme is resources. What is made clear is that the resources made available to NYU undergrads are vast; sky is the limit.

NYU is a large, highly selective university. 90% of admitted students carry a 3.7 GPA and gain combined SAT (CR & Math) of 1400 and SAT II around 600. Two recommendations are required; one recommendation from a school counselor and one from an academic teacher. The admissions counselor made it clear if you submit a ton of recommendations, they are only going to read two! Basically, she said that the admissions process is looking for students who are taking advantage of what is offered at their high school. So, enrolling every AP offered is not necessary, but challenging yourself wisely and being involved in your school community is a plus.

Financial Aid is available. Tuition is over $50,000 dollars. The FAFSA is due on February 15^th.

There are over 21,000 undergraduate students (17,000 men and 25,000 women, when you include the grad students). Students are from all 50 states and 140 nations. Obviously there is tons of diversity and lots of ways to measure it; there are 5% African-American students and 6% Hispanic. There are 1,000 or students who are admitted into the college of Arts and Sciences. Some students may not be admitted to the school of his or her choice but gain a spot in the Liberal Studies program (study at one of the other NYU campuses and guaranteed admission to the school they’d originally applied to in a year).  Engineering students gain a dual degree in a 3+2 year program with NY Polytechnic. There is support for students interested in medicine or law, but no “pre” programs and a high rate of acceptance into graduate schools. Other schools students can apply to are The Tisch School of Drama, Stern School of Business, Nursing school (within liberal arts curriculum). There are general education requirements and all freshmen must take an expository writing course.

At the end of the information session four tour guides fanned up to the front of the group and introduced themselves. We broke into smaller groups and I picked up with Oren, who remembered I was a school counselor (seems college admission folks love school counselors because we ask questions…). No photos or video. Oh, well (I took pictures of buildings afterwards…). The tour group headed to the library, which is huge and has millions of materials. The president lives on the uppermost floor. Housing for students ranges from traditional dorms that surround Washington Square Park to luxury apartments in Gramercy Park for upperclassmen. (I have to admit after having lived in NYC 12 years, it hadn’t really fully registered to me that there was a college right in the middle of The Village! I walked by some of these building everyday. What a wild college experience!). NYU makes itself smaller with a heavy duty residential system and by establishing learning communities. Oren described the school as having a large dose of academic support with opportunity programs for low-income students, a Campus Learning Center, Writing Center and office hours for professor and Teaching Assistants (TAs). We showed our id to the security officer (security is high on campus – swipe cards, safety boxes, and “green light” safe havens) in the Arts and Sciences building and went in a well-apportioned classroom that had any technology imaginable. Oren spoke of the majors, internships, Study Abroad and other academic opportunities available. One thing he said that stuck with is that rather than Googling Degas, students are told to get their subway pass and head to the Metropolitan Museum and look at the actual Degas! Oren actually gave us his email if we had further questions.

No interviews. I did learn that the admissions counselors for our area are Jonathan Beauford and Christopher Perlongo. I will send an email introducing The Springfield Renaissance School to both of them. I’m guessing they’ll visit the school in the fall.