New York University

Date: Oct 24 2002
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
I tried not to be too harsh in my grading, but I must say that NYU has been a big dissapointment. Really the only overarching positive about NYU is the name. When I tell people I am a double major at NYU it seems pretty impressive, it's no Harvard, but it does have a very well respected name around in most of the Northeast. Saying you go to NYU puts you in good circles and gets you at least some respect. With that said, NYU HAS BEEN A BIG DISSAPOINTMENT. I have never seen such callous disregard for students in my life. The student body is very intelligent (for the most part) yet most of the teachers and TA's treat us like nobodies. This is especially a problem for TA's in the less competitive department's like Politics, who came from some crappy undergrad school and are now grad students and TA's at a university where most of the undergrad's are far far smarter than they are. They seem to take out their frustrations on you both by not caring and by grading poorly. But for the most part the grading is very very fair. Some departments are more rigorous than others (Math, Econ, Stern, Computer Science), while some are a complete joke (Politics, History, English, Gallatin). Some majors require up to 14 courses, while others only require 8!! You can make NYU as difficult or as easy as you want. There tends to be a lot of grade inflation. For example, in one class 80% of the students get a B or higher. Since about 10% of any given class doesn't even show up for half the exams, you are virtually guaranteed a B if you just show up and take the tests. In some departments, like Econ or Finance, there will be a lot of smart students and even with grade inflated curves it might be very difficult to obtain a high grade. I tend to think that NYU likes to center its grades very well, making it unlikely you'll get a C but also unlikely you'll get an A. The bell curve distribution tends towards B's or B+'s. I think the biggest benefit of getting into and going to NYU is that they know you are a competitive student by virtue of getting in and they know you likely want to go to grad school so they are going to grade you accordingly. There are lots of honors programs and ways to beef up your resume/diploma/application for grad school. If you are serious about going to grad school straight out of undergrad, NYU definitely won't hurt your chances.