<p>For students at NYU, do you believe that NYU truly has among the least happiest students? If so, why? What causes this?</p>
<p>I can’t speak for the student body, but I personally feel my life has been unhappier since I came to NYU. To clarify: I’m not blaming the university entirely for this; the truth is I’ve just had a lot of personal, family, and financial problems which have coincided with my first 2 years of college. I’m just sharing my personal experience and the reasons why I regret coming here:</p>
<p>Financial: I’m on a partial scholarship, but my financial situation has changed a lot in the past year - for example my mother died Soph year - and NYU didn’t help me. Tossing crazy loans at a student after a parent dies isn’t helping. The estimated COA for the 2010-2011 year is $56,000! Yes, I do frequent the FA office a lot. </p>
<p>Academic: I don’t think the quality of education I’ve received so far justifies NYU being the 1st or 2nd most expensive college in the country. The education isn’t bad, but imo doesn’t justify the price tag. But so far I’ve taken many large 500 student intro classes. Maybe Junior year I’ll find the quality improves in my smaller, more specialized classes. </p>
<p>Housing: Because I lived off-campus my 1st semester, I haven’t been able to get housing! I would love to live in a dorm to get that “college experience” but the only thing I can count on is a place on the Waitlist :/</p>
<p>Keep in mind this is just my personal experience. Most NYU students are happy here. I’ve also had a lot of personal issues I can’t talk about on CC which conflicted with college life.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-university/758598-princeton-reviews-opinion-nyu.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-university/758598-princeton-reviews-opinion-nyu.html</a></p>
<p>Someone asked the same question last year. To expand-</p>
<p>I agree that most students are happy here. </p>
<p>New York isn’t for everyone. Yeah, the city welcomes everyone and there is a lot of diversity here, but a LOT of students come here with some trumped up idea of what the city is. It isn’t all clubbing and bars and rooftop parties and bright lights. NYC is not Gossip Girl, is not Sex and the City, is not Friends, is not How I Met Your Mother, etc. So I think some students are disillusioned when it comes to the city, and since the city is so closely tied with the NYU experience. . .</p>
<p>I do believe finances and loans contribute to the unhappiness of some parts of the student body. I won’t deny that. But I sincerely doubt that NYU as a whole is as unhappy as PR makes us out to be.</p>
<p>You really have to love living in NYC to enjoy NYU. It is not the typical college experience.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who has answered. </p>
<p>I am wondering: do you think the specific college you attend correlates with your happiness either way? Like perhaps CAS students are less happier than Tisch students, etc.</p>
<p>I certainly know that my daughter at Tisch has had small classes, great friendships and loves NYU. Many students are not ready for how anonymous you can feel in NYC and the pressure to succeed is great.</p>
<p>Personally I’m from NY and had no disillusions about the city before coming to NYU - I love the city and would like to stay here after I graduate. I don’t think it makes sense to attribute a like or dislike of Manhattan to NYU, since they’re separate entities (although NYU’s biggest selling point is our location for most people). </p>
<p>I don’t think specific college makes much difference. One thing I’ve noticed is students in Tisch, Gallatin and Nursing seem to be more close-knit and stick together more often than other schools.</p>
<p>PR review also ranks NYU as the 2nd most expensive college in the country, #1 for Worst Financial Aid in the country, and #1 for Dream School. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Maybe a lot of people come here looking for their “Dream experience” with really high expectations, is all. Like Missamericanpie pointed out, it’s not Gossip Girl or Sex in the City or whatever. People expecting that need to be realistic.</p>
<p>My personal opinion is the following:</p>
<p>Tisch kids are the happiest. This is there mecca-they constantly go to shows, audition, perform, and master their craft. Also, they seem to dig the quirky happenings all around.</p>
<p>Most other people have these fabulous preconceived notions about Manhattan. The thing is, Manhattan CAN indeed live up to it, but you need two things:time and money, both of which are stripped away from you if you attend here. Everyone is a ball of stress, juggling a bunch of things, and happen to have no free time, between taking a full load, interning, and any other commitments. We don’t live the lives of typical college students. Also, everyone runs out of money.</p>
<p>I am going to get a lot of crap for this, but it is true: Rich LSP kids also have the best time at NYU. They have more free time, and have the money to really utilize their free time in the most lavish ways. This is not meant to be scientific, but from personal experiences.</p>
<p>As everyone else has said, it all comes down to expectations. I’d guess that most people not from NYC have this fantasy that it’s going to be as glamorous as it appears on TV. NYC forces people to grow up and some people might not be ready for that or even expecting how big of a change it is. As with all colleges, the level of enjoyment ties into what your willing to make of your college experience.</p>
<p>I notice people on this board try to explain students disliking NYU by saying they dislike NYC or urban life. But in my experience, that’s not true. Most people I met who transferred out of NYU or dislike it here feel that way because they dislike NYU itself - not the city. </p>
<p>There are a lot of students who dislike NYU but will openly admit they chose to come here or stay here for NYC.</p>
<p>What part about NYU do people dislike?</p>
<p>
Well, except Muslims, apparently.</p>
<p>From what I gather, a lot of people are unhappy because of poor financial aid. However, everyone I know who went to NYU loved the experience and were happy. I was also surprised by NYU’s low (/high) ranking in that category.</p>
<p>billy, that was inappropriate. The OP was asking about something completely unrelated, and littering it with political nonsense is not going to help anyone out.<br>
Liberals always feel like they are being oppressed, and NYC is home of millions of Limousine Liberals. If anything, people on the right end of the political spectrum are the ones that are constantly being attacked and antagonized at NYC and NYU especially, for merely expressing their opinions and wanting to convene together. Ask anyone that is part of the NYU College Republicans-they can tell you some true horror stories. One guy told me someone spit on his McCain shirt back in '08, and others cheered him on." What if someone spit on someone wearing one of those American Apparel “Legalize Gay” shirts?<br>
That might add onto why NYU is pretty unhappy.</p>
<p>
'twas a joke. But please, read your comment again, then continue to read the rest of your post. This quoted comment perfectly describes the rest of your post. After my four word joke, I moved on to addressing the question at hand. Your post was just a rant of political catch phrases and cries of political oppression.</p>
<p>@Woody - BillyMc only said “Muslims” and you started talking about whiny Limo Liberals and college Republicans - what does that have to do with anything? Are Muslims are synonymous with “liberals” in your head? Because their religion is very socially Conservative and many American muslims are fiscally Conservative as well. Anyway I’m sorry to hear about the McCain t-shirt incident. The college Repubs did catch a lot of flack for the “Catch an Illegal Immigrant” game in '07.
Ehh I doubt it, because we have like 20,000 undergrads and let’s be honest, maybe 12 are in the Republican club (not saying there aren’t more conservatives, but that club is pretty small).</p>
<p>not all conservatives, or even somewhat right winged people are part of NYUCR, nor do they like to say what they really believe at politics, due to the fact that it is such an unwelcoming atmosphere here. That does, in fact, add to some people’s reasons for being unhappy-the fact that they have to hide what they believe, akin to gays having to hide being gay in other, conservative schools. The Muslim comment that billy made was referring to the Mosque being built by ground zero, and the right winged effort to stop it from being built. I do not associate all Muslims as being liberal, that is just silly (although my roommate for next year is a liberal muslim, lol). Yea, I am sorry Billy, it was really hypocritical of me. But it does indeed add to the sense of unhappiness felt with a solid chunk of students.</p>
<p>Just my two cents…</p>
<p>I personally love being at NYU. I don’t have alot of money. I have FA. You can have fun and still be somewhat frugal. An occasional splurge is all I get. I am in Stern and we do get discount tickets to events which I take advantage of whenever I can.</p>
<p>I would suspect there are also a lot of “unhappy” kids at any large institution. Probably smaller schools as well. Sometimes your preconceived notion of what school would be like falls short, you get homesick or you find it’s harder to come out of your comfort zone to make new friends than you thought.</p>
<p>In some cases it might be best to transfer; in others things finally come together.</p>
<p>For most people headed to top schools like NYU, their preconceived notions of the upcoming experience are always bloated. </p>
<p>The fact that naive 17 year-olds tend to glamorize NYC thanks to the media, combined the fact that NYU’s Financial Aid is horrific, exacerbates the disappointment that SOME, but not most, NYU freshman have. The City can be a cold, uninviting place and is not for the faint of heart; but any incoming student should know this already… Most people are actually quite happy here, despite what CC and PR purport. Our programs are excellent, professors are renowned, and we’re in a great location.</p>