Calling All NYU Stern Fall 2011 Applicants

You guys are overthinking this. There are LOTS of people in both the MBA1 and MBA2 classes who visited NYU Stern for the first time on the day of their admissions interview(s). Actually visiting the school is by no means a prerequisite for admission!

Hi everyone, I visited campus this past weekend. 'Campus' actually isn't the right word as the school blends into downtown. You could walk past Stern without even noticing it. I see this as a positive, because I love downtown New York. I found the Stern personnel I spoke with to be very friendly and laid-back, which fits their image of the 'collaborative' business school. I wasn't able to visit any classes, they encourage me to come back in either November or February, sounds like December and January are slow for classes. The biggest takeaway was that Stern is the 'EQ plus IQ' school, and that I think you need to really communicate that you are aware of their culture and that you are the right 'fit' for this environment. To me, it seems Stern is positioning itself as the polar opposite of the other NYC b-school- Columbia. Both are great schools, top ten...but the culture of each school could not be more different.

Thanks for the debrief! +1!! Very helpful for us non-visitor applicants!

Can you throw a little more light on how you think the Columbia and NYU cultures are different? Did you find anything unique about NYU's culture in particular?

I would love to know as well, it's quite difficult to get a good read on these two schools. The poets and quants website did a head to head comparison, but it left me without much to sink my teeth into.

https://poetsandquants.com/2010/08/16/ne ... ss-school/

Keep in mind I was only at Stern for about 4 hours, but I got a real sense that the 'collaborative' spirit is alive and well here. What this means is that Stern is all about your ability to work in a team. Yes, I know pretty much every business school pays lots of lip service to this, but it seemed to me that Stern ACTUALLY cares. There was lots of talk also of the strong alumni network. In other words, I think Stern prides itself on fostering a community ethos that extends well past graduation. I also really noticed that the atmosphere was much more relaxed than some of the other schools I had been to. The students seemed to converse with each other more than other schools. It felt more like a group than a collection of individuals. As an antitode, one of the Stern adcom told me that students are known to help each other even during the interview process for full time offers by sharing questions asked by recruiters. This is pretty indicative of how strong the team ethos is.

As an aside, I personally highly recommend visiting the school. I think this is viewed in a highly positive light by the adcom. Just my 2 cents.

NYU has a 50% yield, which is extremely low. Not sure if any other schools are lower. Accordingly, essays #2 and #3 are in part designed to have you show the effort you've gone through to be accepted -- presumably those who work harder do not see NYU as a safety school. Visiting campus will help illustrate this, obviously, but it doesn't necessarily mean one will attend if accepted. You have to create a mosiac of little things to show that you really want to go to NYU and you are going to bump their yield up.

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Question about essay 2.
Since it has a 500 word limit. How much should I devote to talking about how I will contribute to Stern and the impact I should make.

Thanks!

Probably not the answer you want to hear, but: it depends. It all depends on how much time you spend on other parts of your essays talking about your impact to Stern, and also how much time you spend talking about the other parts of essay #2 in your other essays. If you touch on your impact and other things in essay #3, then you can probably back off in #2. Try to think of your entire application as one big package and if you speak on a certain topic more in one area, back off of it in others and try to include more novel aspects of your story.

Stern's yield is actually slightly higher than 60% and almost exactly the same as that of schools like Booth and Kellogg.

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Hmm it appears that you are correct!

I read the 50% number on a blog and just took it at face value, but after recalculating the number myself I must agree! Well done, sir.

Its been a while since I contributed here, so I thought I would offer some help.
If any of you are not going to be able to make it to campus before you submit your application, but would like to still show strong interest in the school, I would be happy to chat with you. You could then mentioned that you reached out to a student to find out what the culture was like.

PM me if you are interested in chatting (things are a little hectic, so give me some time to respond)

Tell me that isn't a clear example of how collaborative and helpful Stern students are.

I also want to throw in some feedback on Stern and Columbia. After visiting both schools (among others) I noticed that Stern has a lot more security. Being in downtown Manhattan (is that the proper terminology?) I expected there to be security. It was a little bit different from other schools. You could not get into many of the buildings without an NYU ID as there were guards and gates at every entrance. Visitors had to sign in at the security desk or be brought in as a guest. This could be a plus or a minus for people.

plus: you are more safe, no crazy's from the street (or just solicitors)... or
minus: hassle to check in guests when they visit, the area might actually be less safe.

At Columbia (and other schools I visited), I was able to roam pretty freely around campus walking into the different academic buildings, libraries, etc with ease. I still felt safe at Columbia, but it was during the day. Not sure at night though as it is right next to Harlem.

I still like NYU and didn't find it to be a hassle or to be less safe. Just something that was dramatically different and stood out for me.

Anyone else notice this?

Can I use the names of students I have written to? Or is it 'President of Club A' and so on?

I haven't seen anybody ask this question yet, but for the formatting for essay 1, do they want us to break the essay up into subheadings for each question (i.e. like Yale's short answer section)? Or do we write it as a single cohesive essay and just talk about each of the bullet points?

My biased two cents:
The area around NYU is very safe. There are numerous bars/restaurants/nightlife in the area so there are always people around at all hours. In NYC, people mean safety. The village in general is one of the nicer areas in the city. I live a few blocks from school and have walked home at all hours, never feeling unsafe at all. As far as the building security, I dont think its that big of a deal. How often do you plan on checking guests into school? There isnt housing at school. The areas immediately around Columbia are safe, but you are a stones throw from Harlem. Not the best of areas. On other metrics, there are pluses and minuses to the schools, but on location and safety, NYU is where you want to be.

Hi everyone, haven't exactly gone through this entire thread yet so apologies if I'm asking a question that's already been answered. I'm also looking to submit for Stern R1 but I'm an international student way down in the Philippines. From what I've read and so far, interviews are mostly (if not only) on-campus and this seems to me a deterrent for international applicants. Would there be any flexibility around this or would I really have to consider flying to NYC? Thanks!