New York University Top Questions

Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?

Alex

Stereotypes are always somewhat accurate. The Tisch students are very creative and will no doubt go on to be successful in life. Stern students are geniuses and surprisingly pretty nice. But they are a bit too exclusive for everyone's liking. Why do they have their own Wi-fi network that only they can access? CAS students come in a variety of flavors and you never know what to expect. Steinhardt students are pretty laid back for the most part. And LSP students are most definitely not stupid. Although they are made to feel that way by others. The classes they take are no different from the classes of other NYU schools. The school is completely unnecessary.

Jordan

No. NYU attracts people from all walks of life. the student body represents people from all different countries, socioeconomic groups, and races. There are nerds, finance people, party animals, snobs, and socialights

Thomas

Yes and no. A lot of people here are extremely rich, and it's clear that they have full access to daddy's credit card (and they aren't ashamed to flaunt it). This school also has a ton of hipsters and faux hipsters, though I suppose I fall into that category myself (hey, at least I own up to it), so I can't really shit on that too much. There are also lots of Asians and Jewish students (NYU is often called NYJew), and yes a lot of my friends are from NJ, PA, or other surrounding states. NYU is also fairly antisocial. You have been warned.

Jim

I would say half of the stereotypes are true. Not all the kids that come to NYU are wealthy. In fact, it is quite often you hear of the struggles that one must go through to come to this school. It seems NYU's reputation as the worst school to give financial aid is a universal truth. Other than that, yes, there are tons of gays, tons of hipsters or people who dress like hipsters, and there are some people who tend to have their noses stuck up in the air. However, there are most certainly the opposite at this school as well. It's just a matter of where you meet those people.

Catherine

There are way too many people for stereotypes to matter all that much. There are all kinds of people, but there do seem to be a disproportionate number of upper-middle class kids from the tri-state area. Also the smoking thing is pretty accurate.

Mike

Yes, they tend to be, except for open-mindedness. NYU mistreats and degrades conservative students in many ways. It seems NYU's vastly liberal student body and staff are open to all ideas - except any conservative thinking, regarding it as blatantly wrong. It is highly hypocritical that a school that claims such open-mindedness and characterizes conservatives as close-minded takes such a blatantly close-minded approach. It's commonly said that coming out as gay at NYU is easier than coming out as conservative.

Monica

Sometimes

Alex

sometimes

Harper

sometimes

Devin

yes

Elizabeth

Sometimes

kristen

somewhat

Dylan

there definitely are a lot of people that fit into these stereotypes, but the school is big enough and diverse enough that you can always find your niche.

Max

For the most part I haven't really met any pretentious NYU students and while a lot of them are rich, most of the people I've met are not.

MJ

Those types of people do go to NYU, but those types of people go to a lot of schools. There are all kinds of people here, most of which don't fit into any stereotype other than "accomplished, motivated college-student".

Emily

A lot of people see NYU as a hipster, cool, artsy school, but thats actually New School, NYU isn't really that different than a lot of other colleges, kids walking around in sweats. There are a lot of hipsters, but a lot of them are also fake, like they only wear urban and american apparel, and dont actually own anything vintage. There are also a lot of rich kids who have unlimited access to their parents credit cards. And yeah there are smart kids but i think they are better described as school obsessed. Like people stay in sometimes on saturdays to do homework, or spend spring break holed up in Bobst. And NYU does have a campus from Houston to 14th, you could not leave that area the entire time you are at NYU and everyone always talks about going to campus. Yeah there are other people around who arent neccesarily part of NYU but almost every campus has that.

Anna

Turns out lots of the student body don't listen to Tapes n' Tapes, wear super skinny jeans and drink PBR.

Andy

People here are often smart and rich. The city was unbelievable at first, but when you don't live so close to campus, when you're really living among normal New Yorkers and not in the lap of luxury, it just becomes ordinary. As far as the education I'm getting, I just think there's a lot of bs involved.

Angela

Well... yes. Not 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}, obviously, but let's be real; we all know stereotypes exist for a reason.

Sarah

For the most part, yes. The thing with the NYU student in general is that they were all drawn to the city for some reason, and people who are drawn to the center of everything that is going on must have something cool about them going on. This is not true. Everyone looks as if they'd be really interesting, but they are all so busy trying to create this idea of being interesting that they are really all exactly the same. NYU students are all trying to be something other than themselves.

Olivia

actually, for the most part, yes.

Sarah

In general out of the students I have come across: Rich- not all but a lot, smart- most, highly competative- most, artsy- yes, but mostly in Tisch School of the arts (duh), gay- more than in other schools, Jewish- yes, large Jewish community, diverse- very but few African Americans, stuck up- not the majority

Parker

I think you could find at least a handful of kids who fit these descriptions no matter where you go to school. At NYU, for every 'artsy' student there's a non-artsy student, for every pretentious person a non-pretentious person, etc. I do think it is accurate to say, however, that most of us are pretty independent. If we weren't already (which I think most of us were), living in the city and adjusting to NYU's dynamic inevitably forces students to develop a significant deal of independence.

Andy

Not by any means! Sure, many of us did well in high school, but "smart" is not the term I would use to describe us. More accurately, I would say that we are all driven by some sort of passion in a specific area. I wasn't a 4.0 student, but I worked really hard to do well in History, English, and Politics, because that is what I am passionate about. And even though my roommate is a theater major, she isn't overdramatic- she doesn't wear black all the time, or wear barets, or recite Shakespeare all the time. In fact, you wouldn't even know she was in the drama school unless you asked her. And as for being rich-- hahaha! What a joke. NYU is very expensive and everyone I know is working at least one job, or always on the hunt for scholarships.

Maggie

To a T. These are the people you notice first, and they are ubiquitous. However, lurking like the fat chick at prom beneath the glamorous surface of NYU's debutante ball is a collection of genuinely interesting people. These two groups are like oil and water, though, so once you've found a social group to your liking, you'll likely never have to make awkward small talk with a vacuous party-girl again.

Rachael

These stereotypes are somewhat accurate, but there is no typical student at NYU. it's such a large school, you'll find every type of person.

Samantha

Sure, for the most part, yes. Although stern isn't just asian nation, it's brown, yellow and russian. Not many white people though. And I'm not sure if the thing about communication majors is a stereotype. It might be more of an observation.

Dylan

-NYU does have a higher population of LGBT students than many other universities, which helps diversify the student population. -Many NYU students had done theatre in highschool, and while the Tisch School of the Arts has a large population of students

Cody

I think NYU is basically what you make of it, and it can be everything you want it to be, including if you want it to fit into all of the stereotypes. Yes it is a difficult school, and sure, it does seem like every guy you like ends up liking the guy down the hall, but the classes are manageable if you put in the effort, and as for men, well that?s why God invented bars (and there are plenty around campus). The administration can seem insensitive, but they aren?t unreachable, so students with a real bone to pick are always welcome to talk to someone. Also, if you don?t want to be a part of the party crowd, there are alternatives, and if you really can?t bear housing, well there are alternatives there too. In the end, again, the school is what the students decide to let it be, although I will say, it is pretty liberal?

Andy

To an extent they're accurate, but of course like all stereotypes, it's horrible to generalize over an entire population.

Jane

I'd say for the most part, but of course it doesn't apply to everyone and every sport.

Victor

For the most part, no. Though every stereotype spawns from some truth.

Alex

They only apply to a small percentage of NYU students. Alot of people I know that went to NYU did not do drugs and were not rich. Instead, the other schools at NYU had a larger student body with diverse majors and backgrounds.

Madeleine

NYU is so diverse that it is impossible to generalize about what an NYU students is. You will find gay people and Jewish people and pretentious people, but you will also find down to earth people, hard working students and athletes. There is a niche for anyone and everyone.

Tate

-yes -yes -yes

Harper

You bet. NYU is one of the most gay-friendly schools in the country, which is awesome yet impossible not to notice. As a result, the line in Clueless that Cher says to Josh about how 'NYU girls aren't at all particular,' is completely true.

Ash

No

Sara

Most of the business school students wear suits to class. For the most part, the rest of them are accurate, except for knowing the Olsen twins.

Adrienne

They can be but mostly not.

White

I guess so.

Amy

Every type of person exists at NYU-but that's what makes it an interesting place to attend school. I have friends that are film geeks, pre-meds, artists, business students-Because of the wide range of programs that NYU offers, there are a wide range of of students that are attracted to it. School spirit exists but not in the traditional sense of rooting for sports teams. Sports aren't big, but people love and are proud of NYU.

Andy

like any other school there were friendly people and not so friendly people. there was definitely a mode is social/economic class among students that I met. A bit more diversity would benefit the school. There was a very strong sense of competition and it did affect the interaction and ability to learn from each other. But, it also encouraged me to work my hardest for fear of being left in the dust. The amount of work was a bit extreme is some areas and lacking in others.

Kaitlin

Hell ya! But there's also alot of other positive qualities in addition to these stereotypes. Everyone who goes to NYU is still a person, regardless of which school they go to, and worth getting to know. NYU is an incredibly diverse school in an awesome location.

Ash

A little. Compared to other schools, students who to go NYU, like NYers as a whole, rarely leave the house wearing sweatpants (unless we're on our way to the gym). We are immersed in the culture of the city, as we are a school of the city, so our love of art, and eclectic music, fashion, and social interactions are all more intensified than if we were at a campus school. But there are students of all varieties besides theater majors or cultural brown-nosers. And while we dont live on campus or go to frat parties (there are frat parties on campus, but most of them are in bars rather than "houses" which have capacity restrictions for security reasons) but our school spirit is heavily invested in the fact that we have no spirit. You will never find another group of students as proud to be known as the "fighting violets" (the scariest mascot around!)

Jeff

Somewhat

Caitlin

Not completely. There are some in every crowd, of course, but there are so many different types of people everywhere, it's hard to pigeonhole anybody.

Tate

Not really. While there are more girls than boys, and there are a lot of gay boys, there are plenty of straight guys at NYU. I know a lot of girls who complain about not getting any dick, but thats only because deep down they're afraid of it.

Lauren

Not everyone is from Jersey but A LOT are! There is a big gap in the financial standings of students here- either you have money or you don't and are paying for college yourself on loans. People here tend to be creative and extremely independent.

Michelle

To an extent, these stereotypes are accurate. These stereotypes are very prevalent, but there are also very "normal" people here. However, what passes for normal here would not be considered normal elsewhere. New York, especially the downtown area in which NYU is located, is a quirky and interesting area, and it shows in the students' personalities and appearances.

Jerry

Stereotypes always do seem to have a little truth in them, but what I've come to see is the diversity within NYU. Of course it still attracts the rich and the artistic, but NYU is also greatly known for its business school and has so many different divisions that I've never heard of, such as the schools of social work and nursing. It has students from every economic status who work hard to be there and remain there. As for being unfriendly, at NYU you have to be independent. Don't expect for offices to contact you, you have to go there and speak with them, sometimes many times.