NYU Essay Guide

 Part of  Upcoming College Essay Guides Series of Top 15 Popular Universities  

 New York University is an urban campus in New York City, located around the beautiful Washington Square Park. NYU is rather competitive. This year it is test optional, but in usual years the university has an average SAT score range of 1440, and average ACT score of 32, and a 15% acceptance rate. NYU is a very notable institution both for undergraduate and graduate studies, boasting amazing programs in the arts (Tisch and Steinhardt), business (Stern), and other areas of study. 

NYU does not have a defined campus, since it is more urban and its buildings are located amongst the other buildings of New York City, but many students view Washington Square Park as the school’s unofficial quad, and that is definitely a treat. Furthermore, being in a large city such as New York, students are constantly exposed to various opportunities, since New York City has job opportunities for almost any major, from Finance to Dance to Biochemistry.

NYU also has campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai, and a wide variety of study abroad options. NYU is perhaps most famous for its large amount of celebrity alumni produced by the Tisch School of the Arts, such as Adam Sandler, Idina Menzel, and Spike Lee, to name a few. It’s also no secret that NYU is also the college most represented on Broadway! However, if you are not looking at going into the performing arts, NYU is also renowned for its undergraduate business programs at the Stern School of Business. 

Being in Manhattan, students at NYU have access to a wide variety of activities available to them outside of classes, and also access to many jobs and internships during the school year that would not be available to them as easily if they were attending school in another city. Students can easily hop on a train and quickly see a show on Broadway on a Wednesday night (NYU students get a discount) or grab dinner on a Sunday in Chinatown. NYU students can potentially intern at an investment bank in the financial district during the academic year, whereas a student attending a school outside of New York City might not be able to do this. Students who apply Early Decision and do not get into NYU cannot apply Regular Decision.

The following image shows the demographics of NYU’s class of 2023, as provided by the university’s website. As shown above, NYU has a diverse student population, both in terms of race, ethnicity, and economic status. 

Student Demographics (Class of 2023)

Asian/Pacific Highlander : 19%

African American : 9%

Hispanic/Latino: 19%

White: 20%

International: 24%

Others: 9%

In order to apply to NYU as a first-year applicant, students must submit the Common Application, a $80.00 application fee (if the student does not have a fee waiver), standardized test scores, and an audition or portfolio if applying to a program that requests it. NYU has three different application deadlines with corresponding decision notification.

 1. Early Decision I :  This has a November 1st deadline and the student will be notified of their admission status on December 15th. 

2. Early Decision II : This has a January 1st deadline. The student will be notified the notified on February 16th. 

3. Regular Decision: This has January 5th deadline. The university will notify the student on April 1st.

Both Early Decisions are binding, meaning that if the student is accepted, he/she must withdraw all of applications to other schools and commit to attending NYU. Students should only apply Early Decision if and only if they are absolutely certain that NYU is their first choice and would attend if they were admitted.

General Advice:

• Make sure to research NYU and the programs of interest before writing the responses to the prompt. Do not write a response that can be easily substituted for another university; the response should show a demonstrated interest in the school, which is best shown in a well-researched response to the prompts.
• Make sure to answer the prompt. A response can be very well-written, but if it fails to answer the prompt, the admissions officer is likely to not be impressed.
• Make sure to have the essay proofread by someone that can help, whether it be a teacher, a parent, an older sibling or cousin, etc. This person should also be someone to discuss ideas with for the essay responses.
• Finally, make sure to schedule writing the response wisely, especially if applying to multiple schools. Make sure to write the responses before the deadlines, so there remains enough time to reread the responses and improve them. Applicants should not leave writing their responses until the last minute.

We would like to know more about your interest in NYU. We are particularly interested in knowing what motivated you to apply to NYU and more specifically, why you have applied or expressed interest in a particular campus, school, college, program, and/or area of study? If you have applied to more than one, please tell us why you are interested in each of the campuses, schools, colleges, or programs to which you have applied. We want to understand – Why NYU? (400 words)

Essay Example:

 From a young age, NYU has been a school that I knew I would apply to. I grew up hearing my mother speak fondly of her years at NYU as an undergraduate student and I have always loved New York City, since I spent a lot of time there growing up with my grandmother. Additionally, I have always enjoyed biology and music, and I feel that NYU can provide me with an environment in which I can fruitfully pursue both of my passions.

NYU has a strong biology and medical program, which I intend to take advantage of as an undergraduate student who hopes to attend medical school following graduation. I appreciate that NYU allows students to minor in genetics, which is a field that really interests me and an area of study I have not seen many schools offer at the undergraduate level. Furthermore, I hope

to partake in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program at NYU Langone, which includes research opportunities for many areas that I am interested in, such as stem cell biology.

On the other hand, I also have a high appreciation for NYU’s programs in the arts. From a young age, I have had a love of the arts, and highly value how NYU allows students in other majors take classes or minor in programs at Tisch or Steinhardt, such as being able to minor in Performance Studies at Tisch while being a biology major at the College of Arts and Sciences.

Furthermore, I hope to study abroad in college, and NYU offers many programs that catch my interest, such as the opportunity to study biology in Tel Aviv. I appreciate how NYU offers programs suitable for students intending to major in STEM fields, as I have often heard that it is harder to study abroad as a STEM major due to requirements and time constraints. Studying abroad is meaningful to me because my father studied abroad in Florence as an undergraduate and always speaks highly of his time abroad and encourages me to study abroad as well while I am in college.

Analysis:

• Right off the bat, the essay needs to say at the beginning what it is going to say in the rest of the response. The readers in admissions have thousands of applications to go through, and in order to make reding the response easier, the response should establish its premises at the beginning to make their reading easier. Furthermore, this will hopefully encourage the reader in admissions to continue reading, since they will want to see the writer’s response in more detail than what is in the introduction.
•  The writer answers the prompt fully and concisely (this response is only 346 words). The writer answers why they are interested in the New York City campus, the schools and areas of study they are interested in, and the things they are excited for that NYU has to offer. This goes back to the very important piece of advice- answer the prompt!
• The writer has very clearly done their research into the school, which establishes a high level of demonstrated interest, which is something the admissions officers like to see. Make sure to take a page out of this writer’s book and name-drop specific opportunities and programs of interest when applying, since that will show a that research has been done and the applicant is interested in the school.
• Finally, the writer was very specific in their response, which goes back to the name-dropping, and this is something that prevents the response from sounding generic or cookie-cutter. An admissions officer could remove all mentions of NYU and still know the applicant is discussing NYU, and that is what an applicant should do when writing an effective essay. The essay should not be something that can be copied and pasted to another school’s application with the school name changed; this should be unique to NYU.

Analysis:

• This is a chance for the applicant to demonstrate their writing skills and their creative side. While the prompt is broad, which can be a bit overwhelming, do not stress too much; go back to the first bits of advice, and find someone to bounce ideas off of or just make a list of topics that fit into answering this prompt.
• Do not choose something to write just because it seems “better” or more “mature” or “academic”. This is an opportunity to write about an area that the applicant is passionate about, and it will show if that applicant is just writing something because they think it will make them look better, and not because they are passionate about it; this will most likely harm the applicant since it will make them seem unauthentic and lacking passion.

Analysis:

• Once again, be sure to fully respond to the prompt. The prompt is asking the applicant to respond to all of the following questions, so all the questions need to be thoroughly responded to.
• Furthermore, this is not a trick question! If the applicant has not taken any cinema-related classes, it is not the end of the world, since the people in admissions understand that everyone has different backgrounds and access to different opportunities. Do NOT make something up, because the truth will come out sooner or later.
• As previously mentioned, make sure the response demonstrates the true passions and aspirations of the applicant, rather than just being what they think the admissions officer want to read. Writing the response will come easier and most likely be better if the applicant actually feels a connection with and passion for what they are writing about.

Again, make sure to be creative, memorable, and express who you really are. Feel free to have a parent, teacher, or friend read over your essays when you finish. Extra eyes can catch typos and offer great advice. Most of all, stay true to yourself and what you will add to the Stanford community. You’ve got this, and PathIvy is always here to help. 

Good luck! 

Written by PathIvy Content Team