<p>I found some perspectives on NYU and NYC that are worth reading.</p>
<p>"Being in NYC should be the main reason you come here, living here when you’re young, struggling to make ends meet in your ****ty LES/Harlem/Crown Heights apartment, it’s almost a rite of passage. And you make friendships that are really important and last, and become part of the fabric of new york. It’s really freaking hard to build a network and get to intimately know the city when you’re working 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week. It’s when you have nothing to your name and large blocks of unregulated time that you can experience the underground scene in Bushwick, sneak into subway tunnels, tag the Williamsburg Bridge, go gallery hopping in Chelsea, and get tunnel vision at crazy ecstasy fueled parties in the East village. It’s only when you are young, malleable, and open to discover yourself that you spend all day smoking weed in central park with your friends, walk the entirety of the MET, and find yourself in some billionaire’s daughter’s loft in Tribeca. And only when you are struggling, lonely, and confused in New York, will you be waiting for the L at 4am in Union Square, exhausted after a month long bender in the library, find that you had it in you to be a stoic, to mature at twice the rate of your high school friends.</p>
<p>I see so many grads come to the city clutching offer letters, ready to become New Yorkers. I sit in a office with many of them, yelping the “hip” restaurants in Midtown, going shopping in Soho, and hanging out in Meatpacking with their overpriced boutique dresses and blazers draped over them. But honestly, with boyfriends/girlfriends, careers, student loans, and responsibilities, the only real scene left open to you in New York, is the consumerist culture.</p>
<p>NYU sucked for me often, I was depressed, constantly anxious, and really had to work my ass off. But also it was an amazing time, I have had a life time of experiences in what seems like 4 very long (and short) years, and it’s made me who I am. Do I regret going to NYU? Sure, I have often, but mostly for reasons that would have only made me more comfortable.</p>
<p>And most importantly of all, I know that at the end of the day, none of my colleagues will ever know the city, like I know this city, and most NYU student will tell you, NYU is ok, but I love this city."</p>
<p>This is from a different poster in response to the first post:</p>
<p>"I wanted to expand on this because I feel it is absolutely correct. I think there is something to be said about higher education as a whole. I’m not sure you’re necessarily getting a better education at NYU than any other school. That makes the price tag a difficult thing to swallow. However, you can view it this way, college is a time to learn a different set of skills than purely academic ones. In that light, NYU is one of the best options for undergraduate education. As was mentioned above, being able to have so much free time on your hands in one of the most incredible places on Earth really cannot be downplayed. I would like to posit an alternative benefit to NYU. Starting mainly sophomore year and maybe earlier, you have responsibilities that most other college students do not. Sure we all have to do laundry individually, but NYU across the board has kitchens in their sophomore, junior, senior housing. The meal plan is also pretty pricey. Almost everyone I know starts to do their own cooking. This also leads to grocery shopping. It is here that I personally learned the true value of a dollar once on a budget. Many juniors leave housing altogether. I can say from first-hand experience that there are little things as frustrating as having to navigate the most aggressive real-estate market in the US. Definitely a learning experience. And then the bills start coming in. You run your AC too much during the summer and ConEd ****s you. You learn to furnish a place. You learn to clean and establish a living environment. What’s more, NYU students are heavily involved in internships. Now you are working a job on top of these things. At first, this is a lot of responsibility while some of your high school friends are just living at the frat house, but I guarantee you when the time comes and they have to move to the city for a job, you will already have mastered these things while they are forced to do them all at once. This is the benefit of attending NYU.</p>
<p>The only other thing I can vouch for is diversity in interests. I have met people that are passionate about a million different things and that has spurred me to try out things that would always be considered out of my comfort zone. I have learned more about myself and about life than I ever could have hoped for. When I compare myself to my high school friends it is amazing how they seem to have lagged in some of their development. Even their “war stories” just pale to the life you can live in New York City. In stead of getting drunk and running around Walmart you, literally, have the world at your fingertips and that is awesome.</p>
<p>In conclusion, you have to take the cons with the pros. The school itself is very easy and I did not learn much to anything academically. Most of the classroom will be ******** that you never use again. I am unsure, though, that it would be any different anywhere else. Even when you hate NYU, you are still getting some pretty damn good things out of it.</p>
<p>Edit: Sorry I failed to mention, but I do think it takes a certain personality to thrive in NYC. You need to be independent."</p>