Academics at the New York City site of NYU is as vast a subject as the campus itself. This analogy works both in the positive and the negative: they are both massive but are not impossible to navigate. Moreover, both are relatively stable have possibilities for change. Just as Google Maps andHopStop help students maneuver the city, resources on campus aid students in their academic pursuits. Getting Around CampusMost of NYU’s campus lies between Washington Square Park and Union Square, and the Polytechnic Institute of NYU (Poly) is based in Brooklyn (a different borough, which, in this case, is another island). It takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to walk from Washington Square to Union Square, so the 15 minute transition between classes is enough, but the trek leaves students a bit breathless. Steinhardt, the Education Building, the Stern School of Business, Bobst Library, the Kimmel Center for University Life, and the Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life (GCASL) are all within three blocks of each other on the same street. The College of Arts and Sciences and the Academic Resource Center aredirectly across from each other. If you are worried about getting from one class to another on time, make sure to express your concerns with your professor: most will be understanding. Generally though, getting from one class to another within Washington Square is not too much of a problem. For students who commute between the Washington Square campus and the Brooklyn campus, NYU provides shuttles, free of charge. The shuttle runs about every 90 minutes and leaves from Broadway (in front of the Tisch building) and goes directly to Poly. While the shuttle is slower than the subway (the trip is about 20 minutes on the subway, while the shuttle takes 30 to 45 minutes), the subway will cost five dollars round-trip, which is about the cost of a meal from a halal cart. Shuttles also run to some of NYU’s further-flung residence halls, such as Palladium and Gramercy Green. Should students need to take the subway to and from campus, the N/Q/R (yellow) line stops at NYU. The 2/3 (red) will be particularly useful for students living in Brooklyn, and the 4/5/6 (green) line is a great way to get from Gramercy Green to Brooklyn quickly. Academic SupportThe most important thing to remember about academic support at NYU is that the professors are here to help. Some are harsher than others, but at the end of the day none of them want to see their students fail. In case students need assistance outside of a professor’s office hours, the Writing Center, the Academic Resource Center (ARC), and the University Learning Center all provide tutoring. These resources are available regardless of whether a student attends class in Poly or in Washington Square, and in many cases there are satellite versions of these programs in Poly itself. TheWriting Center provides services similar to those provided by the writing Global Academic Fellows at NYU Shanghai; students schedule appointments (or use walk-in hours, when writing consultants are available), bring copies of their essays, and discuss their project with the writing consultant. TheUniversity Learning Center provides free, course-specific peer-tutoring sessions, typically for groups. TheAcademic Resource Center is the catch-all academic space that houses one of the University Learning Centers. It provides tutoring for all subjects as well as study space, with the added bonus of a café attached to the building. The freshness of the atmosphere and the variety of instructors provides a pleasant alternative to the study spaces in the Bobst Library. Bobst, however, is a phenomenal place to get research done. The building is 16 stories (including the lower level) of books, study space, and friendly librarians. At the reference desk on the first floor, there is a bookmark-style directory of librarians categorized by their areas of expertise and a list of the library’s sections, labeled by floor. Students can find virtually anything in Bobst, and if a resource is not physically available in the library, it is most likely available online. The library staff also helps students request books from other campuses and from cooperating libraries within the city. While Bobst is the primary library, students at Poly can go to the Dibner Library.For students taking language courses and want to practice their language skills or for others who are interested in learning another language, NYU hosts “Speaking Freely” courses. The courses are free of charge and do not assign homework, which makes them less of a burden and more of a wonderful opportunity. Classes are available for the language of every country in which NYU has a campus, as well as for other popular world languages such as Hindi and Korean. Student-Teacher Relationships Class size varies wildly at NYU, but a large class should not discourage students from reaching out to their professors and teaching assistants (TAs). Music and language classes are kept small by necessity, while more popular math and business courses tend to be fairly large. Most professors have office hours, and those that do not are typically available by appointment. Professors at New York University (all of the campuses) are extremely cultivated, and building a positive relationship with them will undoubtedly prove to be beneficial. Ronak Trivedi, a junior majoring in neuroscience from NYU Shanghai who is currently studying away at NYUNY, landed a job in a new dumpling restaurant after talking with his Chinese professor. It is not uncommon for students to find jobs, internships, and research opportunities through their professors. A Quick Look into My Personal Academic Life and an Important Note about Chinese Classes in NYCI am taking five classes totaling 17 credits: Piano, Ear Training for Audio Engineers, Conversation and Conversation (French), Introduction to Web Development, and Advanced Chinese II. The piano course is a one-on-one lesson, the web development class is in Brooklyn, and the audio engineering course is meant for graduate students. My schedule is just as intense as it sounds. My favorite course is the piano course and while I do not have a least favorite, the class I struggle with the most is Introduction to Web Development, simply because there is so much information to absorb. All of my classes are relatively small (no class is larger than 20 students), so there is a lot of student-professor interaction. If I could change anything, however, I would rearrange my entire schedule. I have class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, which means I miss out on the bulk of extra-curricular activities. Because my weekdays are jam-packed,I use my weekends as rest days, which means I often do not get any homework done and the struggle cycle continues. While I do not want to discourage anyone against taking two language courses at the same time, I would definitely like to emphasize how challenging it is. Language classes meet more often than other classes and typically have a bit more homework, so at times it feels like I am not working on anything but French and Chinese. I interviewed Ronak about his Chinese course as well. He took the 2-credit Elementary I FOS Chinese course freshman year, but stopped taking Chinese to focus on his other coursework. While he said he wished he were able to start studying Chinese earlier, he is glad to be learning it and does not see much of a difference in the curriculum he studies in Shanghai versus the one in New York. From my own experience I can say that the same is true for the Advanced Chinese course. My class is continuing with the same book I used in Shanghai. According to Ronak, the advantage of postponing Chinese, for science students, at least, is avoiding the credit overload and being able to focus more fully on Chinese while in New York. The disadvantages are not being able to fully communicate in Shanghai and having to search for more opportunities to practice Chinese in New York (people in Chinatown tend to speak Cantonese, though there are pockets of people who speak Taiwanese or Mandarin). Ronak also mentioned that the language clinic is “not as robust” as it is in Shanghai, and it is not mandatory. Still, both he and I are improving our Chinese, and I urge students who are unable to take Chinese right away to not be too concerned, although they should make sure to leave room to take it in their schedules. All in all, as long as students maintain communication with their academic advisors and professors, navigating the academic situation at New York University can be a breeze. Remember, students are here for the academics as well as the experience: be careful not to let the opportunity slip away. This article was written by Sarabi Eventide. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: NYU Website