<p>My friend is staying in the city for the summer, and is working in research at Columbia. She is from abroad, so she’s excited to spend an extended period of time in the US. I’m going up to visit her soon, and I’d like to help her plan some trips around NYC and get situated. </p>
<p>We want to visit some museums together, too. She has a Columbia ID as part of her research job. I was looking on the website and it says that in order to gain free admission to museums the ID has to say “student” on the back and have a validation sticker from the current semester. Her ID has neither of these things; it only says “University Affiliate” on the back. </p>
<p>Can she still use this ID for free admission to any museums? Are museums strict about looking for those two things?</p>
<p>in my experience, you often do need the sticker, specifically the correct sticker for the current semester. at least 60% of the time I’ve gone to museums they’ve checked.</p>
<p>yeah correct sticker that says like Fall '10. though i’ve noticed the biggest sticklers are the Met and the MoMA. i’ve gotten in with others before.</p>
<p>also all you need to do is go into hartley to get the sticker. if you’re a sweet talker, you don’t even have to be a student.</p>
<p>^According to the Met, it does. The person at the ticket booth said that the sticker needs to have the year on it, but I don’t think summer stickers have that (at least, not the one I got last summer). But she let me in anyway, even though I only had a summer sticker from last year.</p>
<p>The Met is free. It’s an optional donation. I’ve been 10+ times and never paid a dime. Just tell them you don’t want to donate anything and they give you the button. Same thing at the Cloisters, etc. I’ve paid more than my share of NYC/NY State taxes.</p>
<p>hey c02, what are the other ‘donate’ museums? i thnk the museum of television is, museum of folk art for sure (but its not that great), natural history museum? i can’t remember them all, though unlike your luck, i went onetime and was hassled and asked if i could give at least a quarter. so yeah the only time i’ve not been hassled is when i had the columbia sticker.</p>