Hi
my S25 just got accepted to CAS and although he’s reasonably outgoing, I am a little concerned about the social life or lack of due to the the non traditional campus. FWIW, we are deciding between UCSB which probably couldn’t be any more different geographically and culturally. Can anyone share their thoughts? No need to comment on how much more expensive NYU is and whether or not it’s worth it. Our decision will be made independently of the money aspect.
My (NorCal) D19 went to NYU and made a lot of friends. Freshmen dorms put on a huge amount of scheduling and there are many options to meet people. D also met friends through classes and, later, work, as many part time jobs in the village hire NYU students. I’d note this all despite COVID putting a kaibosh in normal social situations for about a year while she was there. She didn’t join any clubs but that would be another way to meet people. It’s not really something I’d worry about as long as he engages with people and goes to at least some of the social programming the dorms do.
FWIW she has a number of friends who went to UCSB (and SBCC to TAG to UCSB) and she said their feedback was: the great thing about SB is you can go to the beach after class. The not so great thing is that there’s a not a lot to do other than go to the beach. Of course that must be an exaggeration but it does speak to very different places to hang out. If he’s more beachy then UCSB might be better. If he is into urban and all that offers ( NYU students get free entry to most of the museums in the city, reduced price show tickets etc; while good weather days on weekends are often spent in the parks including Central Park.) he might prefer that. I know NYU doesn’t really have a “campus” but they own a large chunk of Greenwich village and it kind of does feel like there are always nyu kids around you. Are you going to admitted student days at both?
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yup, going to NYU on 4/5-7, UCI on 4/9 and UCSB on 4/11-12 but we’re really only considering NYU or UCSB. UCI is close so we figured we’d just take a look for the sake of comparison.
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Great that they are so close together so he can get a good feel for comparing the two. I don’t think you can go wrong academically at either so it’s really going to be what he feels more comfortable with. I’m assuming at both he will also meet a bunch of prospective classmates. Would be interested in your feedback after!