New York University

Date: Dec 27 2019
Major: Mechanical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
I am not pleased with NYU, in specific NYU Tandon. If for whatever reason you're considering it, maybe for the allure of the city, maybe for the NYU name, DON'T! I know at least a dozen other freshmen considering transferring in my program or the Civil Engineering program. Tandon is NOT as advertised, not even close. Being in Brooklyn, you're really not too close to the opportunities or fun of the main campus, and you will be stuck with a lot of the same people all day. Tandon itself consists of basically just one building on Metrotech: this lack of campus, resources, or much diversity in routine makes it that there is no community. The only way I think you can enjoy most of what the school has to offer is if you either have a big checkbook or just really love New York (and I mean really!).

The shuttle which the school offers is pretty piss-poor, any day I have tried to ride it, it was late, and it took a long time to get to main campus. This makes getting a subway pass a must, but that starts adding up pretty quick, especially if you end up getting involved with anything on the main campus.

At NYU, I just feel like a number. I have been helped out by some people from various offices (Student Affairs, Involvement) but I still just feel lost and lonely in the school. All of the events either require money or some form of transportation pass, this sucks when you want to get to a museum from Brooklyn to Midtown or if you want to attend an event at the main university. Anyway, more about lost. Tandon has a weird atmosphere, it isn't really cut-throat or competitive in a traditional sense, everybody there just is very focused on what they're doing and will rarely branch out to make friends. With the international students (which make up a pretty big portion of Tandon's student body), they'll mostly stick among themselves. Very few people there are involved in clubs, especially since EVERY SINGLE CLUB which Tandon offers at there location is STEM related and academic/professional in nature. IT sucks because if you want to join a non-STEM club at all you'll have to go to main campus, which as I've been over, is hard to do.

Let's talk about housing. I was paired with roommates nothing like myself despite being made to take a roommate survey thing. I put on it that I really needed to be in a room with only one other person at most due to a medical condition, that this space would need to be clean, and that I medically require a roommate who stays quiet after 12 as I need to go to sleep at 12. Enter a triple dorm, with two other roomates not even remotely like the type the survey suggested, infested with mold, neither of which would go to sleep at 12. I only got this fixed right before leaving for Winter break, this honestly did not help with the problems I was already having there nor did it help with me feeling just uncared-for and lost amongst thousands.

Honestly, with what the school's tuition is and the ranking of their engineering program, it just really is not worth it to go. If you graduate with the NYU name on your diploma, that's great I guess, but not a whole lot of employers will turn you down just because of the name on your diploma. As well as that there are so many other public and private universities which much better engineering schools/programs which cost so much less. For what I paid in tuition I'll tell you what I got: a spot in a school, no community, no events to enjoy, etc… I also couldn't take the amount of classes tuition paid for due to availability and free space issues, and no accommodations, leniency, or alternatives could be made. My moldy room was extra (if you do decide going don't do Clark Hall as a freshman and definitely don't choose low-cost).

Anybody who says

NYU is a party school

is kind of right, just not Tandon. And that is not because of the rigorous academia, it is just because nobody there really cares to do parties (besides a few dozen) and really don't care about socializing at all. Honestly, when you're stuck in such a big city with nothing to do, nowhere to go (besides one building), and nobody to talk to, it really sucks.

If I could choose all over again, I would save my parents the year of tuition payments and just go to an in-state or any other school instead. Looking at New York for Engineering? Choose anything but Tandon. In no way could I see it as worth it unless you got a really massive scholarship.