Hello all.
I’m currently serving overseas in the Navy. I’ve got about a year left, and my hope is to apply for NYU in fall of 2016. Unfortunately, before my service, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and so didn’t take the 2 years I spent at the university very seriously. I did okay, but thanks to a particularly evil professor who failed me for ludicrous reasons, my cumulative GPA was just over 2.5. Now my hope is to restart with NYU, but I’m unsure of my chances. I’ve been told that simply being a veteran will help, but I’m not going to rely solely on that as I’m not sure it’s true. What else can I do? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Update: Won’t let me edit this, so I’ll fix it here. Realized it mistakenly sounded like I went to NYU before the military and am trying to restart. I went to MSU in Texas, just to clarify.
Hi there! I’m an active duty Sailor overseas right now too (also from Texas!) and I just got accepted about a week ago into NYU where I’ll be attending Tisch in the Fall! (I’m already routing a request chit to be separated 90 days early for school) I’m not sure how much I can help since I haven’t actually gone to the school yet and I’ve only met one other vet who is an alumni but I’ll try to answer some of your questions.
I absolutely believe that being a veteran was a huge part of the reason I was accepted (I joined the Navy right out of high school) but more than that, the character of what I actually did during the 5 years I was in and how it strengthened me as a potential student. Of course, you’ll be able to pay about half of the tuition for NYU (the GI Bill has a price cap for private schools, if you didn’t already know) so that helps. But I was also awarded a scholarship from NYU that more than covers the other half. Here are the reasons I think contributed to that:
-I am a Mass Communications Specialist who did mostly video work during my time (I’m in the Film and TV program)
-Before becoming an MC, I came in as an Arabic linguist
-I had an EXCELLENT recommendation letter from my DIVO
-I put my heart and soul into my essays
-And not only have I traveled to many countries but I was able to quantify my leadership abilities and work ethic that I developed during that time.
I’m guessing you’re an MA from your username. Have you gained any experience in what you plan on studying? Which school are you planning on applying to? Take that more into consideration than NYU as a whole.
I seriously never thought that I would actually get into this school. And I spent a solid 7 months on my application (which included raising my ACT score. Which was actually just below the NYU average). Start right now on everything!
If you really want NYU, take it step by step and do all the research you can.
And I’ll tell you what the best advice I got through this entire process was “NYU is looking for the next great generation. Be your greatest self and don’t make any assumptions.”
Haha, wow. Of course it would be a fellow Texan and sailor who would help me out. Thank you, this does help some. What I want to do is apply for the International Relations honors program, so I can major in it as an undergrad, with a minor in a foreign language.
You’re right, I am an MA, and I’ve only been living in Japan, but I plan to travel a little in my last year. I took the SAT’s, but that was 6 years ago. My score was 1970 I believe, so I’ll work on improving that and taking it again. I’ve always been pretty good with essays so I feel confident about that.
They have a few schools on base like UMUC and Troy, and one of them has an intro to International Relations I’m gonna take soon, as well as anything related to inter. politics or political science.
What kind of scholarship did you get and how did you go about getting it?
Thank you much btw. I appreciate it.
I’ll pay you back with coffee in NYC someday.
Of course! The whole thing was a crazy experience so I’m more than happy to help you out 
Japan was actually my last duty station while I was on the George Washington. Such a small Navy.
You sound like you’re on a great path right now too!
I wish I could answer your question about how I got my scholarship haha. When I went into my financial aid webpage it just said that I was granted a yearly Tisch Scholarship along with the few other loans they offered. From what I’ve read, they grant scholarships based on merit AND financial need and each school has a certain amount they can give out. I have no idea if that means they like me a lot or they saw that the Navy doesn’t pay us jack and they think I’m poor lol. All it said was that I have to make sure to redo my FAFSA every January and I should have it through my whole 4 years. But there are scholarships that you can out right apply for too.
But just make sure that you complete your FAFSA almost as soon as you turn in your application! And please let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help! I’m gonna hold you to that cup of coffee