writing the essay nyu tisch

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

How to Write the NYU Essays 2023-2024

NYU has just one supplemental prompt this year, which allows you to choose from six different options. Although this prompt is technically optional, NYU’s prime location in the heart of downtown New York City, campuses all across the globe, and affiliation with excellent graduate schools in a range of subjects make it highly competitive to gain admission. So, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to share something new about yourself with admissions officers.

Read these examples of past NYU essays about diversity and “Why NYU?” to inspire your writing.

NYU Supplemental Essay Prompts

Prompt: We are looking for peacemakers, changemakers, global citizens, boundary breakers, creatives and innovators – Choose one quote from the following and let us know why it inspires you; or share a short quote and person not on our list who inspires you, and include why. (250 words, optional)

• Option A: “We’re used to people telling us there are no solutions, and then creating our own. So we did what we do best. We reached out to each other, and to our allies, and we mobilized across communities to make change, to benefit and include everyone in society.” Judith Heuman, 2022 NYU Commencement Address
• Option B: “I encourage your discomfort, that you must contribute, that you must make your voice heard. That is the essence of good citizenship.” Sherilynn Ifill, 2015 NYU Commencement Address
• Option C: “If you know how to fly but you never knew how to walk, wouldn’t that be sad?” Lang Lang, 2015 NYU Honorary Degree Recipient
• Option D: “You have the right to want things and to want things to change.” Sanna Marin, Former Prime Minister of Finland, 2023 NYU Commencement Address
• Option E: “It’s hard to fight when the fight ain’t fair.” Taylor Swift, Change, Released 2008, 2022 NYU Commencement Speaker
• Option F: Share a short quote and person not on this list, and why the quote inspires you.

“We’re used to people telling us there are no solutions, and then creating our own. So we did what we do best. We reached out to each other, and to our allies, and we mobilized across communities to make change, to benefit and include everyone in society.” Judith Heuman, 2022 NYU Commencement Address (250 words)

Brainstorming Your Topic

Although the framing is a little more particular, this prompt has similarities to two supplemental prompt archetypes: the  “Global Issues” essay and the “Community Service” essay. Basically, you want to show NYU that you’re able to not just identify a problem in the world around you, but actively work towards solving it.

That second piece, of showing that you’re someone who acts when you see injustice, rather than merely observing, is crucial. So, you should have a personal connection to the issue you write about, as the point of your essay ultimately isn’t to teach admissions officers about a particular issue, but rather show them what your passion for that issue says about your potential as an NYU student.

So, don’t write about how aboriginal people in Australia struggled during the 2020 wildfires if you don’t know anyone in that community and have never been to Australia, as your essay will likely end up sounding overly factual and academic. Instead, think about issues that have directly impacted your own life. 

Maybe that’s a social media campaign you spearheaded to help abandoned animals get adopted when the shelter was overcrowded. Or working with your friends from Spanish class to ensure the local soup kitchen always had a Spanish speaker working, to make the environment more welcoming to immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries.

Keep in mind that the story you tell should have some component of “reach[ing] out to others,” as this quote highlights the importance of collaboration when solving big issues. So, while creating a statistical model on your own to show the viability of solar polar is certainly something to be proud of, it may not be the best anecdote to write about for this prompt. If you then hosted webinars sharing the model with local business owners and answering their questions, however, that could be an effective way of aligning the story with the spirit of the prompt.

Tips for Writing Your Essay

Like any good college essay, your response should show, rather than tell, your readers what you did. What that means is to use descriptive writing, with strong sensory details, to paint NYU admissions officers a picture, rather than just saying “I did x, y, and z, and learned a, b, and c.” The more detail you can include, the more immersive your story will be, which will make your essay both more engaging and more fun to read.

The other key to a strong response is having takeaways that are both clear and personal. You don’t want your essay to feel like a Hallmark card, so avoid clichés like “This experience showed me the power of diversity” or “I realized that deep down, we’re all the same.” The point of the college essay is to distinguish yourself from other applicants, and relying on generic tropes won’t accomplish that.

Instead, think about how you can take one of these overused ideas and creatively reframe it through the lens of your story in particular. For example, if you write about the soup kitchen example above, you could talk about how you bonded with one person who attended frequently because you discovered you both enjoyed crocheting, and how that taught you to look for shared experiences even with people who may outwardly seem quite different from you. 

The general idea of diversity as a unifying, rather than divisive, force is the same, but by connecting that idea to something specific that happened to you, you’ll give NYU admissions officers of how that idea tangibly impacts your day-to-day life. Ultimately, they’re trying to figure out how you would fit into their classrooms, clubs, dorms, dining halls, and so on, and specificity gives them a much clearer idea of that than just big-picture ideas.

Mistakes to Avoid

There isn’t really any major pitfall to keep an eye out for here. Just make sure you’re conscientious of how you frame your issue. Even though NYU, like most colleges, is much more liberal than society as a whole, you still want to use discretion when discussing politics in a college essay, as you have no way of knowing exactly what context your readers are coming from.

So, if you’re writing about a fundraiser you and your friends organized after the overturning of Roe v. Wade to help women from red states afford travel to states where abortion would remain legal, keep the focus on your efforts and what this experience taught you. Don’t talk about your feeling that anyone who opposes abortion is a misogynist, as, for all you know, the person reading your essay may have a loved one who is pro life, or they may even be themselves. 

You can talk about controversial topics in this essay, but do so in a way that’s introspective and acknowledges the complexity of the issue, rather than in a way that celebrates your own moral superiority.

“I encourage your discomfort, that you must contribute, that you must make your voice heard. That is the essence of good citizenship.” Sherilynn Ifill, 2015 NYU Commencement Address (250 words)

Like Option A, this prompt has elements of both the “Global Issues” essay and the “Community Service” essay. However, the scope here is a little broader, as you’re being asked to talk about a time when you made “your voice heard,” rather than one when you were an active part of helping solve a particular problem. That means you have a little more flexibility in what you write about.

For example, you could describe the time when a conversation with a Jewish friend of yours made you realize Christmas-centric your school’s holiday decorations were, and how that motivated you to accompany her to talk to the principal about it, as she felt uncomfortable going alone. You could also take a similar angle as the one described above, with Option A, and talk about service work, like advocating for preserving wildlife habitat over expanding the boat launch at a nearby lake, or something else on a slightly larger scale that you spoke up about. 

However, don’t talk yourself out of writing about a more personal story like the Christmas example. Although this approach may seem less “impressive,” in reality talking about that kind of smaller moment in daily life can do a lot to show admissions officers what you’re like when nobody’s watching. Just about everyone applying to NYU will have an impressive resume, so you can really distinguish yourself by telling them a story that you’re still kind, altruistic, and thoughtful even outside the context of a particular project or organization.

That being said, both approaches can work incredibly well, so long as they honestly reflect your desire to speak up about the things that matter to you.

Once you’ve picked a particular moment to focus on, you want to think about what lessons you took away from that experience. NYU admissions officers care about who you’re going to be for the next four years, not who you were in the past, so they want to get a sense of how this experience is going to impact your contributions to their community.

There’s no one right way to do this, so if you immediately see a way to tell your story in a reflective, informative way, go for it! If you’re having writer’s block, though, one reliable approach would be to explain what happened, what you learned, and then include a second, much briefer anecdote that shows how you’ve utilized what you learned in the time since. 

For the Christmas example, after you finish describing the principal’s willingness to include menorahs and dreidels alongside the Santas and Christmas trees, you talk about how this experience showed you most people do want to be inclusive, they just might not know exactly how, so we all have a responsibility to speak up when we see a way to be better. You could then talk about how this realization then motivated you to talk to your manager at your part-time job about adjusting shift start times to align with the bus schedule, as she didn’t know that some employees didn’t have their own car.

250 words isn’t a lot, so depending on how much space you need to describe the original anecdote, you may not have space for the second one. That’s completely fine–as long as your takeaways are framed in a personal way that directly connects to the story you have just told, your readers will understand the significance of this experience to who you are today.

Letting your main anecdote breathe is the most important thing, as if you rush through things, your reader might not have enough details to properly anchor your eventual takeaways, which could make your essay feel impersonal or generic. 

For a somewhat extreme example of this, say you wrote about the day you noticed your school had changed their holiday decorations, and how happy that made you, but totally glossed over your own involvement in driving that change. Having a takeaway about the importance of standing up for what you believe in would then make no sense. So, make sure the details you include at each point in the essay work together to create a single, cohesive unit.

“If you know how to fly but you never knew how to walk, wouldn’t that be sad?” Lang Lang, 2015 NYU Honorary Degree Recipient (250 words)

This prompt may come across as overly philosophical at first, but before you rule it out, take a second to think about what it’s actually saying. Flying is more glamorous, exciting, and magical than walking, but walking is what we all do every single day to move around the world. While practicality never makes any headlines, daily life wouldn’t work without walking. 

Connecting that idea, about the value of practicality, to NYU’s focus on difference-makers means that you’ll want to discuss the importance of small, seemingly insignificant actions to driving broader change. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day: for every figurehead of a major, earth-shattering movement, there are thousands or even millions of people who spent years paving the road so that the leader could one day walk down it. These people rarely get fame or recognition, but the movement never would have succeeded without them.

Of course, to write a strong, engaging response here, you don’t want to write about a huge historical movement that happened generations before you were even born. Instead, apply the same general idea to your own life. Think about what you do, or observe, on a daily basis that shows you the value of sometimes just taking things one step at a time. If there’s something you’ve been passionate about for a long time, that can be a great starting point, as you’ve probably made many small contributions over the years, compared to something where you were just involved in one, big, “flying” project.

For example, maybe you’ve always loved animals, and as a child you used to talk to your mom about flying around the world and rescuing all the endangered species. Once you got older, you realized you couldn’t do that, but what you could do was start a blog featuring a different endangered species every month, along with nonprofits dedicated to helping that species survive. You’ve even established partnerships with some of these groups, and helped organize fundraisers such as bake sales and 5Ks.

As this example shows, ideally you want to show how you’re finding a way to contribute to a much bigger cause. NYU wants to accept difference-makers, and although most of us aren’t able to donate millions of dollars or spearhead new technological initiatives, you can still show that you’re dedicated to finding ways to help however you can. 

Remember, as we noted in Option B, describing your grassroots efforts can in some ways demonstrate your dedication to a cause more than a high-level accomplishment or accolade, because that kind of work truly shows who you are on a day-to-day basis. So, if something comes to mind, don’t sell yourself short by saying “Oh, but they won’t care about that.” If whatever it is was meaningful to you, we promise they will 🙂

This is the kind of prompt where the brainstorming, if you do it well, is 90% of the work. Since the prompt is more abstract, you’re going to have to spend more time up front thinking about exactly what you want to say, or else you may end up sitting down to write and realizing you have no idea where you want to go. So, if you find yourself staring at a blank page, we would suggest rewinding, and spending a little more time brainstorming.

Once you have a clear sense of the story you want to tell, all you really need to do is actually put the words on the page. As you do that, remember that you want to include strong sensory details, to make your essay as immersive and engaging as possible. Focus less on what you did, and more on how you felt and what you learned from the experience. You may or may not do something similar to, for example, raising awareness for endangered species during your time at NYU, but you want to show admissions officers that, whatever you get involved with, you’re going to bring a thoughtful, dedicated perspective to your work.

For example, rather than saying just “My post on the work done to get manatees from ‘endangered’ to ‘threatened’ got 5,000 views, from places as far away as Italy, Kenya, and New Zealand,” take the next step, and describe how that success made you feel. That might look something like: 

“When I saw the number, I went back to the first post I ever did, on the African Bay owl. That post didn’t get a single view from someone who wasn’t related to me. But as I flipped back to the manatee post, I realized that we’re all related to each other in ways other than blood, as we all share this planet, and reminding people of that can be as simple as putting up a blog post and letting them come find it.”

NYU would be impressed by your outreach alone, but what will truly take your essay to the next level is including this next layer of reflection, and showing them the broader lessons you learned from this experience. That will prove to them that you’re not just talented and motivated, but also that your values align with theirs.

We noted at the beginning of this prompt breakdown that you shouldn’t get scared off just because it’s a little more philosophical than some of the others, and we stand by that. However, its more abstract nature will likely make the brainstorming process take longer, and it’s possible you do end up just feeling stuck. 

If you don’t think you have the time right now to give this prompt the attention it needs, that’s completely fine! The advantage of option prompts is that you have, well, options. Even if you’re initially drawn to this prompt, if you find yourself beating your head against the wall and not getting anywhere, don’t be stubborn–just pivot to one of the others.

“You have the right to want things and to want things to change.” Sanna Marin, Former Prime Minister of Finland, 2023 NYU Commencement Address (250 words)

Like Options A and B, this prompt is, roughly, a version of the “Global Issues” essay. That means you should have two main goals here. First, identify an issue that matters to you. Second, explain what your interest in that issue says about you as a person. 

Note that, unlike the first two options, the problem you choose doesn’t have to be one you’ve taken a lot of tangible action towards resolving. Obviously, you should have some level of personal investment in your issue, as otherwise your essay could come across as disingenuous. But if you have a cause you’re passionate about, but for whatever reason haven’t been able to get involved in directly, that would still be fair game here.

For example, maybe you’d like to increase access to healthy food options, as you live in a remote area and grow a lot of your own food with your family, so you know what a difference high-quality produce makes, but you also know how frustrating it can be to simply not have access to certain things, as your supermarket’s stock is limited. Because you don’t live in a city, you haven’t had the chance to get involved in any volunteer work related to this issue, so instead you’ve done your very best to learn everything possible about the process of growing your own food, so that you’ll have a wealth of hands-on experience to draw on when you are eventually in a situation where you can discuss theoretical, bigger picture solutions to this issue.

This hypothetical student hasn’t been able to take much concrete action towards addressing food inequality. However, they’re still demonstrating a genuine desire to help fix this issue, as well as forethought and motivation, by explaining how they’re finding a way to build up their skill set now, so that when the time comes, they are prepared to create tangible change. Any NYU admissions officer would feel confident about this student’s potential to become a difference-maker.

Of course, you are also more than welcome to write about an issue you have already done some work to help solve. We only want to highlight that already contributing to the solution isn’t a prerequisite for this prompt, so you can cast your net a little wider in your brainstorming than you would for Option A or B.

Once you sit down to actually start writing, the key is to make sure you aren’t just discussing your personal connection to this particular issue, but also highlighting admirable personality traits that will serve you in any of your future endeavors, whether related to the same issue or not. To see what we mean here, look back at the example we gave above. That student shows several traits admissions officers will find attractive, including:

• They are able to extrapolate from their own lived experiences to better understand a broader, societal issue
• They can appreciate the nuance of a big-picture issue
• They can critically evaluate their own skill set and determine the best way for them to contribute to a resolution

These qualities come across because of the (hypothetical) level of detail the student provides. If they were to instead just give a general sketch of the situation, along the lines of “I care about food inequality, and although I haven’t yet been able to combat this issue, hopefully I will one day,”  then admissions officers have a lot of blanks to fill in. 

Instead, you should do the work for them: build a concrete connection between this issue you care about and certain, broader attributes that are fundamental to who you are. That will show them not just that you’re passionate about this one issue, but that you’re an overall thoughtful, mature person who’s ready to take advantage of all NYU has to offer.

If you choose to write about an issue that you haven’t taken much concrete action on yet, just be careful that your essay doesn’t become more about the issue, and your interest in it on a theoretical level, than about your own personality. In the context of the example given above, that might look like a bunch of statistics showing how lack of access to healthy food disproportionately impacts lower income people. 

While that is certainly informative, remember that this isn’t an academic essay. It’s a personal reflection, so even if you’re still figuring out how you can best contribute to tangible change, you still want to highlight specific experiences or moments that showcase the strengths you will eventually use to make a real difference. Otherwise, NYU admissions officers may come away from your essay knowing more about the issue you’re highlighting, but not much about what you’d bring to their community, which is ultimately the question they’re trying to answer.

“It’s hard to fight when the fight ain’t fair.” Taylor Swift, Change, Released 2008, 2022 NYU Commencement Speaker (250 words)

Like the previous prompt, this quote wants you to discuss a cause you are currently fighting for, or would like to fight for during your time in college and beyond. But the angle is a little bit different, as this quote is centered around the challenges of fighting for something in unfair circumstances.

If you choose this prompt, you’ll want to talk about an obstacle you’ve overcome, or are in the process of overcoming, in your effort to make your communities a little more just. This doesn’t have to be anything intense, like facing harassment or threats after a talk you gave at a school assembly about your experiences with racism. Of course, you are welcome to discuss this kind of extreme hardship if you are comfortable doing so. 

You don’t have to, however. There are a whole bunch of things that make advocacy work difficult, and many of them have nothing to do with physical violence. For example, you could talk about your attempts to research successful city planning projects that incorporate more green spaces, and your frustration upon realizing many of the articles you wanted to read were stuck behind paywalls.

Alternatively, you could talk about how you want to help increase access to affordable education in your city by tutoring, but not having a car makes it difficult for you to reach many of the people who seek out your help. No obstacle is too small–as we’ve highlighted in several of the previous breakdowns, contextualizing a societal issue within your own life is what NYU wants you to do with pretty much all of these prompts, so don’t feel like you need to dramatize anything. Just be honest about your efforts, and the things that have gotten in your way.

The key to writing a successful response is to not focus your entire essay on the challenge itself, as that will result in a rather defeatist tone. Rather, spend the first part of the essay explaining the difficulties you’ve faced in your efforts to resolve some societal issue, and spend the second half explaining what you’ve done to overcome them. That will result in a more positive overall vibe for your essay, which shows your ability to adapt and grow even in the face of challenges, a skill that will be vital to your success in college.

Like with the challenge itself, you don’t have to glamorize whatever it is you did to work around the obstacle you encountered. For example, don’t say you set up a consortium of high school students where everyone pitched in some money so that you could create shared accounts on all the sites you wanted to use, unless you actually did do that. 

It’s okay to say you asked your parents for their credit card, and that you agreed to take on extra chores around the house because being self-sufficient in your advocacy work is important to you. Or that saving up for your own car proved too difficult, so you’ve worked out a schedule with your elderly neighbor to use his car in the evening, since he goes to sleep early anyways, so long as you pick up his groceries on the way home. 

NYU isn’t going to judge you for the particulars of your situation. They just want to see that, when the fight isn’t fair, you still find a way to keep punching.

Taylor Swift may be the biggest pop star in the world right now, but this sadly isn’t an essay for you to talk about your fandom. Keep the focus on the challenges of tackling inequality, not on your Eras Tour outfit or opinions on which (Taylor’s Version) album has the best (From The Vault) tracks 😉

Share a short quote and person not on this list, and why the quote inspires you. (250 words)

While you may initially feel drawn to this option because of the freedom it affords you, we advise against defaulting to it if you don’t immediately feel a connection to one of the other prompts. The other options do have narrower focuses, but you have five to choose from, and all of the quotes are open-ended enough that you aren’t being forced into a box.

Because this prompt is already unusually flexible for a supplemental essay, you should have a good reason for creating your own option. Ideally you’ll already have a particular quote, or at least a particular person, in mind. If you’re just thinking “Oh, I’d like to write about [general topic],” the time you spend googling possibilities is time you could instead be spending on your actual response, so we’d encourage you to look back at the options already given to you and see if any of them could be an inroad to your desired topic.

Additionally, you may have noticed that, while the options NYU gives you all portray slightly different perspectives, and come from a wide range of speakers, they all have something to do with the theme of justice and equity. In the main prompt, NYU even says they’re looking for “peacemakers, changemakers, global citizens, boundary breakers, creatives and innovators,” so your quote should show your potential to become a difference-maker in the world. Avoid writing about, for example, Stephen Hawking’s thoughts on black holes, as that would be jarring for admissions officers.

Obviously, the exact structure of your essay will depend on which quote you select. But in general, many of the points we’ve made in our breakdowns of the other prompts will apply here too. The best advice we can give is:

• Use anecdotes, rather than speaking generally about whatever your topic is
• Make sure the essay doesn’t just focus on your topic, and instead teaches your reader about a few tangible personality traits that speak to your potential as an NYU student 
• Provide enough detail that your story feels personal, rather than like something any old applicant to NYU could have written.

With regards to this prompt specifically, since you’re taking this choose-your-own adventure path, don’t be afraid to be a little unconventional in how you do these three things. Maybe you share a quote of something meaningful your dad once said to you about having a responsibility to give back to others, and then you describe a few moments you have shared with him that exemplify how he embodies this ideal every day, and how you seek to do the same.

Alternatively, say you study Latin in school. Maybe you choose a quote from Ovid, your favorite Roman author, that relates to injustice, and explain how to you, this quote shows that, although it’s easy to get discouraged by all the doom and gloom on the news, humans have been trying to make the world a little bit better for as long as our species has existed.

These two examples both take advantage of the fact that you have a pre-existing personal connection to the actual person who said the quote, not just their words, as that’s something you probably don’t have with any of the options given to you (with the possible exception of Taylor Swift). As a result, NYU admissions officers get to see a level of depth and reflection in your response that they otherwise wouldn’t, which is the benefit of this option–you can pick both the framework and the content of your essay, rather than needing to fit what you want to say into a particular structure.

This isn’t a mistake, but just something to keep in mind if you’re seriously thinking about coming up with your own prompt: you still only have 250 words, and you’re going to have to spend probably about 20 of them just on your quote and the name of the person who said it. So, make sure your quote is relatively short (you can also use well-placed ellipses to save yourself room)–Option A, for example, would be much too long, as you’d be using over 20% of your space just on the quote itself.

Regardless of how short your quote is, however, you’re still going to have less space available than if you had chosen one of the options NYU provides, which is yet more reason you need to be 100% sure that this option will allow you to say something none of the others will. If you choose this option without already having some sense of what you’d like to say, having 20 fewer words may end up really biting you.

To summarize: if you’re feeling bold, and already have a clear sense of how you’re going to channel that boldness, this prompt is a great opportunity to truly set yourself apart from other applicants. But if you’re just choosing it because you can, and coming up with your own prompt sounds fun, we’d encourage you to give the pre-established options another look.

Where to Get Your NYU Essay Edited 

Do you want feedback on your NYU essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, writing the why nyu essay.

College Essays

If you're applying to New York University, you'll need to submit both the regular Common App materials as well as the NYU supplement, which includes a short essay. At its heart, the NYU essay prompt asks you to answer a single straightforward question: why do you want to go to NYU?

In this article, we'll fully analyze the "Why NYU?" essay prompt and what successful essays need to accomplish. We'll also go over potential topics to write about and look at the essay that got me into NYU's College of Arts and Science.

First, however, we'll begin with a quick discussion of why schools ask students to write "why this school?" essays

feature image credit: Sagie /Flickr

Why NYU Essay 2023 Update

NYU has discontinued the "Why NYU" for the 2022-2023 admissions cycle . That means there won't be an NYU-specific writing supplement provided as part of the Common Application process. 

However, students can submit an optional 250-word response as part of NYU's additional questions section. This response deals with students' perspectives on diversity. Here's the prompt for 2023-2024: 

We are looking for peacemakers, changemakers, global citizens, boundary breakers, creatives and innovators. Choose one quote from the following and let us know why it inspires you; or share a short quote and person not on our list who inspires you, and include why.

“We’re used to people telling us there are no solutions, and then creating our own. So we did what we do best. We reached out to each other, and to our allies, and we mobilized across communities to make change, to benefit and include everyone in society.” Judith Heuman, 2022 NYU Commencement Address

“I encourage your discomfort, that you must contribute, that you must make your voice heard. That is the essence of good citizenship.” Sherilynn Ifill, 2015 NYU Honorary Degree Recipient

“You have the right to want things and to want things to change.” Sanna Marin, Former Prime Minister of Finland, 2023 NYU Commencement Address “It’s hard to fight when the fight ain’t fair.” Taylor Swift, Change, Released 2008, 2022 NY Commencement Speaker

Share a short quote and person not on the list and why the quote inspires you.

What's the Point of "Why This School" Essays?

While the Common App essay gives students a chance to showcase something of who they are that might not be evident elsewhere in their application, the "why [school]?" essay allows students space to explicitly state why they are such a good match for the school.

Presumably, if you're applying to the school, your test scores, grades, course rigor and curriculum, extracurriculars, and volunteer experience all put you at least somewhat in line with other students at the school.

The "why this school?" essay is your opportunity to discuss not just why you could excel at the school, but why you are a good fit (and why you want to go there).

"Why this school" essays are also a useful way for schools to judge student interest in a school (which can indicate whether or not a student will attend if admitted). Based on students' "why this school?" essays, colleges can distinguish students who are specifically interested in attending that school from students who clearly applied just because of the school's location or ranking

Writing a strong "why [school]?" essay not only gives you another instance to showcase your writing and reasoning skills, but also tells the school that you care enough to invest time in researching what makes them special. It signifies that you have put in the time to realize whether or not you're a good fit. (And, it secondarily shows that having put in that time, you're more likely to attend if admitted than someone who just wrote some generic statements about why they want to attend college ).

For a more in-depth look at what schools hope to get out of your "Why [This School]?" essays, read this article .

Why NYU Essay Prompt, Analyzed

Here's the complete NYU supplement essay prompt for 2021:

We would like to know more about your interest in NYU. What motivated you to apply to NYU? 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 also tell us why you are interested in these additional areas of study or campuses. We want to understand - Why NYU? (400 word maximum)

Besides the standard "what motivated you to apply to [school]?" question that almost every "why this school" essay asks, the NYU prompt gives you one extra nudge for what to focus on in your essay.

Specifically, NYU wants you to talk about what's drawn you to "a particular campus, school, college, program, and/or area of study?" (or, if you're drawn to more than one, why you're drawn to each campus/school/college/program/area of study).

Keep in mind that you should be discussing all of this in the context of NYU . Obviously, if you're interested in NYU because of one of their 10 undergraduate schools, then that's particular to NYU, but the same goes for their campus locations, programs, and areas of study.

For instance, if you're passionate about studying theater, you wouldn't just write that you want to attend NYU because you love theater and NYU has a theater program and is in New York, a city that has theater; that description could apply to half a dozen schools. Instead, you'd go into the details of what attracts you about specific classes and professors at Tisch, or other opportunities that are unique to NYU (ability to do certain kinds of projects, the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration, etc).

This prompt also hints at a few different directions you can go with your "Why NYU" essay:

Why have you expressed interest in a particular campus, school, college, program, or area of study? If you have applied to more than one, please also tell us why you are interested in these additional areas of study or campuses.

If you're already certain of what you want to study in college or have a " spike ", you'll want to go the "particular" route in your essay . This means mentioning specific classes, professors, programs, or how you see NYU supporting your future career/academic plans.

On the other hand, perhaps you're not at all sure what you want to study in college (AKA me in high school). In that case, you'll shape your essay more around how you believe going to NYU will allow you to explore many different avenues to find your passion .

Finally, if you already know that you want to spend time abroad during college in a place where NYU has a campus, you can emphasize your interest in continuing to receive an NYU-level academic education while living in another country .

Potential "Why NYU?" Essay Topics

Earlier, we briefly touched upon some topics that you might write about in your essay, including specific courses/teachers/programs and study abroad opportunities.

We're now going to take those broad topic categories and go into a little more depth for how to write about them in your "Why NYU?" essay.

Colleges/Programs

NYU has the following 10 undergraduate schools, colleges, and programs:

• College of Arts & Sciences
• Gallatin School of Individualized Study
• Liberal Studies
• Meyers College of Nursing
• School of Professional Studies
• Silver School of Social Work
• Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
• Stern School of Business
• Tandon School of Engineering
• Tisch School of the Arts

Because there are so many different undergraduate programs within NYU, it's a good idea to identify which program(s) you're applying to and why in your NYU supplement essay.

Since you'll need to decide on a program before applying to NYU anyway, you might as well use the time you spend reading about each college to figure out if there are any programs within particular colleges that call out to you.

For instance, if you're interested in the intersection of different fields (like psychology and computer science, or biology and philosophy/ethics) and are self-motivated to create your own program of study, you should talk about that in your application to the Gallatin School of Individualized Study. If you've spent the last 12 years devoting all your extra time in and out of school to theatre and want to attend a conservatory with opportunities to go see live theatre, then write about that in your application to Tisch.

Courses/Professors

NYU is a world-renowned university for a reason, and it's not just because of its immense real estate holdings; it has a wide variety of courses and professors renowned in their fields. If one of the main reasons you're drawn to NYU is for its academics, then this is a good topic to get into in your supplemental essay.

Flip through the online course catalogs and read about professors in departments you're interested in. Are there any classes you really want to take (that seem particular to NYU)? Or any professors you absolutely have to study with?

You don't need to go so far as to read the professors' research or anything like that (unless you're super excited by it!), but doing even a little research into the courses and professors you'd be learning from and mentioning it in your "Why NYU?" essay will go a long way toward showing the admissions officers that you're serious enough about NYU to check out its specifics.

Extracurricular Opportunities and School Traditions

If there's an extracurricular at NYU that you've been particularly involved in during high school (or are excited to start getting involved in at college), you can write about it, as long as you're clear about why it's something unique to NYU.

In a similar vein, you can also try reading through some of the campus-wide events offered throughout the year and see if there's anything special about them that speaks to you.

NYU Essay: Topics to Avoid

The "Why NYU" essay prompt makes it pretty clear that you should focus your 400 words around a specific college/program/area of study.

What you absolutely should avoid is gushing about NYU's location (whether you're applying to the New York campus or not).

Back when I applied to NYU, the "why NYU?" essay prompt was even more blunt about not centering your essay around New York City:

"Many students decide to apply to NYU because of our New York City location. Apart from the New York City location, please tell us why you feel NYU will be a good match for you."

If New Yorkers have heard it all and seen it all before, NYU admissions officers have certainly read any and all paeans you could care to write to New York City.

It's fine to write about how being in New York gives you access to opportunities relevant to your course at NYU (e.g. you can get amazing internship opportunities for journalism and theatre there that you wouldn't be able to get anywhere else). However, you need to be clear to center your essay around the program at NYU, with the New York location (and its opportunities) being an added bonus.

Unless you have a unique take on why NYU's location is so important to you (e.g. your grandparents used to live in a building that was demolished to make way for Bobst law library and you were brought up on vengeance that has since turned to adoration), stay away from NYU's location in your explanation of why you want to go there.

Brainstorming for the Why NYU Essay

Before you start to narrow in on what angle you'll take in your "Why NYU?" essay, you should first examine your reasons for applying to NYU. By "examine," we don't just mean "list your reasons"—we mean you need to go a few levels deeper into each surface reason that occurs to you.

For example, this is the list of reasons I had for applying to NYU (roughly in order of importance):

• My test scores and grades/course rigor make it likely I'll get in
• NYU has lots of good schools and programs
• It's easy enough to get from NYU to my family, transportation-wise

On the face of it, none of these reasons are very compelling. If I'd just gone on to write my "Why NYU?" essay (or in those days, essays) with those three bullet points, I doubt I would have been accepted.

Instead, I went deeper with each reason to see if there was anything there I could mine for the NYU supplement essay.

Surface Reason 1 : My test scores and grades/course rigor make it likely I'll get in.

• One level deeper : I'm applying to NYU as a safety school, because I'm pretty sure I'll get in there, even if I don't get in anywhere else, and I'd want to go there if I got in.
• Should I write about this in my "why NYU" essay? Definitely not. No school wants to hear that it's a safety (even if it's a safety you would be fine with attending because it's still a good school).

Surface Reason 2 : NYU has lots of good schools and programs.

• One level deeper : I'm extremely undecided about what I want to study—I know that I'm interested in English (Creative Writing), Math, Neuroscience, Chinese, and Music, but I might end up deciding to study something entirely different in college. It's important to me that I go somewhere that I'll have the opportunity to explore all of my interests (and develop more), which I can do at NYU.
• Should I write about this in my "Why NYU" essay? This reason is definitely promising, although I'll need to do more research into the particular programs and courses at NYU so I can namedrop (and in the process, double-check that I'm right about being able to study all these things there!).

Surface Reason 3 : It's easy enough to get from NYU to my family, transportation-wise.

• One level deeper : My parents want there to be good transportation options for me visiting home (or them visiting me). NYU's location (New York City) definitely makes that possible (there's easy access to planes, trains, buses, rental cars, fixed-gear bikes…).
• Should I write about this in my "Why NYU" essay? Probably not. The prompt asks me about why I've expressed interest in a particular campus, school, college, program, and/or area of study, not a geographic area. Plus, it's not like there aren't plenty of other New York schools. I maybe could throw in this reason if I'm running short on things to say, but as it is, it looks like my second reason is going to be the best bet for the "Why NYU?" essay.

Why NYU Essay Sample

Below, I've created a "Why NYU?" essay example that draws verbatim from what I used in my (successful) NYU application. (The essay requirements were slightly different then, with different word counts, so I had to expand a little upon what I originally wrote.)

I feel NYU would be a good match for me because of the number and kinds of programs it has. I am very interested in a variety of subjects, and NYU seems to encompass everything. In fact, I'm applying to the College of Arts and Sciences because I can’t specify my interests any more than that at this time. I have so many things that I want to learn that I can’t imagine limiting myself before I even enter college.

Take Chinese, for example. I'm learning Mandarin now (and have been for the last five years), but I would also like to learn Cantonese. There are not many other schools that offer Cantonese classes that can boast trips into Chinatown as part of the curriculum! Furthermore, I am excited by the possibility of studying abroad at NYU Shanghai. I'd not only be able to go to China for a semester for a year and immerse myself in the language and culture, but I'd be able to do so with the continuity of being on an NYU campus, even halfway across the world.

The music theory program in the College of Arts and Sciences also really interests me. I've picked up some theory here and there, but I haven't had all that much formal training. I'm also really intrigued by NYU's early music ensemble and the chance to explore different modes and tunings. At the other end of the spectrum, while I've written a few pieces on my own and taught myself a little bit about MIDI, I have not really had a chance to experiment very much with computer/electronic composition, and would really like to use those Steinhardt facilities that would be available to me at NYU to help remedy this.

Finally, I cannot stress enough how important reading and creative writing are to me. Because of how much the two feed into one another, I'm excited by NYU's Reading Series and the potential to be able to attend organized events for interacting with other writers outside the classroom.

The opportunity to expand my Chinese language abilities beyond Mandarin (and have the chance for practical application) is what first intrigued me; the chance to explore computer music and get my hands on NYU's facilities was the next breadcrumb; but the breadth and depth of the courses for writing lure me in even more, until I can resist no further.

This essay isn't necessarily the best piece of writing I've ever done. However, it still effectively conveys my desire to attend NYU because I mention a few key reasons I want to attend NYU:

• The variety of courses available . I began by stating that I'm undecided and part of what attracts me to NYU is the opportunity to get to do lots of different things. I then go on to discuss several different examples.
• Specific NYU opportunities . I looked up various courses, events, and opportunities offered by different departments and mentioned a couple of them specifically (the Reading Studies program for creative writing, Cantonese classes, studying abroad in China).
• While I did mention a New York City thing (going into Chinatown), it was linked with something that's relatively NYU-specific (the opportunity to study Cantonese as well as Mandarin).

Tips for the Why NYU Essay

To wrap up, we've summarized our top four tips for writing the "Why NYU?" essay.

#1: Look over the descriptions of the different schools/programs. This will help you figure out both which one you want to apply to as well as what makes those schools interesting for you to apply to.

#2: Read through the course catalog and look up professors in departments you're interested in. As the NYU Admission blog states , you don't have to go overboard in stating exactly what course you want to take with what professor at what time, but you should demonstrate that you're aware of what kinds of things you will be able to do and learn while at NYU

#3: Look into whether there are any extracurricular activities or NYU traditions that particularly appeal to you--and explain why they matter specifically to you.

#4: Avoid writing odes to New York City. If there are particular opportunities you're interested in that are only available in New York (e.g. internships at the American Museum of Natural History, research into immigration history at Ellis Island) you can mention it, but don't lean too heavily on the location.

#5: Remember that while you should make it clear why you want to attend NYU with your essay, you don't need to agonize for hours over it. Ultimately, other parts of your application (including your test scores and grades/course rigor, letters of recommendation, and personal statement) are more important factors to your acceptance than your NYU supplement essay is. You just need to show that you've done at least a little research into NYU and why you want to apply there in particular.

And if along the way you find that you don't really have a super good reason that's getting you excited to apply to NYU? It might be worth reconsidering whether or not you should apply there.

What's Next?

Have a bunch more college-specific supplement essays to write? Be sure to check out our overview of the "why this college" essay .

Looking for application tips for other selective schools? Read our complete guides to the University of California system and to the Georgetown application .

Should you apply early or regular decision to college? Find out the pros and cons of early decision in this article . ( And read up on the distinctions between early decision, early action, and the different kinds of each here. )

Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Master's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel in high school.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

Improve With Our Famous Guides

• For All Students

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points

How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading

Score 800 on SAT Writing

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading

Score 600 on SAT Writing

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For?

15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points

How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

36 on ACT English

36 on ACT Math

36 on ACT Reading

36 on ACT Science

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

24 on ACT English

24 on ACT Math

24 on ACT Reading

24 on ACT Science

What ACT target score should you be aiming for?

ACT Vocabulary You Must Know

ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide

Should you retake your SAT or ACT?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Looking for Graduate School Test Prep?

Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here:

GRE Online Prep Blog

GMAT Online Prep Blog

TOEFL Online Prep Blog

Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

• Skip to Main
• Honors and Awards
• Faculty Bookshelf
• Program Leadership
• Administrative Staff
• First-Year Courses
• Elective Courses
• Writing the Essay
• International Writing Workshops
• Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
• Tandon School of Engineering
• Tisch School of the Arts
• Appointment Information
• Consulting and Tutoring Staff
• Peer-Tutoring Programs
• Workshops and Writing Groups
• Writing in the Disciplines
• Workshop Calendar
• EWP Statement on Academic Integrity
• Electronic Resources
• EWP Vocabulary for Writing
• EWP Pathways Symposium
• Between the Lines
• Mercer Street
• Transfer Student Information
• International Student Placement
• Faculty-Only

Located within the College of Arts and Sciences, the Expository Writing Program teaches first year-required composition courses to more than 5000 NYU students across six schools, including international students and other non-native writers of English.

Regardless of which school you’re in, students in all of our first-year classes will: 

• Develop their understanding of writing as a situated practice that takes on different forms in different disciplines by writing a range of texts, each with its own genre expectations, audience, and conventions. 

Identify key elements of the essay across different writing forms, developing skill in deploying these elements in their own writing.

Take responsibility for the academic integrity of their work by honing strategies to analyze evidence, accurately represent and cite others’ ideas, and make clear the relationship between their own thinking and others’. 

Expand their awareness of their own distinct writing voices in relationship to their classroom community of writers and more broadly, a range of discourse communities.

Practice an array of reading, research, critical thinking, and writing strategies that are useful across a range of university courses in the sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.

• Practice habits of perception, inquiry, and reflection that are essential to sustained intellectual and creative endeavors. 

What is EXPOS like?

Your EXPOS class will be small (12-16 students), and driven by a sense of writing community and collective inquiry. It will be taught by a full-time faculty member dedicated to innovative and responsive teaching, who has an advanced degree from one of a multitude of fields (from anthropology to dramaturgy, primate biology to poetry), and who has thought very carefully about how the content of their discipline connects to and is enlarged by fundamental questions about rhetoric and writing. 

Our class design echoes your writing process, which is one that allows for both inductive and deductive forms of reasoning. For most lessons, you’ll complete a writing or reading exercise, most likely related to that day’s class discussion. These exercises are scaffolded, building on one another, slowly moving you towards a set of drafts for a larger graded assignment. These exercises help you develop a repertoire of techniques, like a set of dance steps, or lab assays, which you can then combine and recombine to develop a remarkably complex argument. We call this writing process—from exercise to draft to graded assignment—a  progression. Each will emphasize different writing skills and techniques that occur in essay writing, but all will help you understand the fundamentals of academic argumentation: how to pose and inquire into a problem, research and analyze evidence, anticipate the reader’s needs, and develop an idea of one’s own that clarifies its debt to others. Though you will often be offered a set of readings by your professor, it’s up to you to identify and articulate the problem you want to explore, and so each student in your class will end up developing very different arguments. You won’t know what that argument is before writing; it will form as you read, write, research, draft, and evaluate your work with your classmates and professor, redraft, and then redraft again. 

This is heady, challenging, exhilarating work. If you’ve been taught before that the essay is simply a vehicle for pre-formed or pre-ordained ideas, then you might be surprised by the sensation of writing-to-think, rather than thinking-then-writing. Our classes invite you to reimagine for yourself some of the most fundamental processes involved in reading, thinking, and writing that structure our intellectual and creative development. Many students describe our classes as transformative.

By the end of the semester, you’ll be more comfortable writing your way through not-knowing and reading difficult or opaque texts, and more accustomed to understanding theory and research as useful tools to generate insights about the world around you. You’ll feel more confident explaining how your lived experience inevitably impacts your understanding of the abstract. You will have a dramatically broader and more complex understanding of key writing principles you need throughout your time at college, like “problem,” “argument,” or “evidence.” You will have developed an array of tools to diversify your research and writing processes, heightened your awareness of genre, and grown accustomed to working with a community of your peers on complex writing and thinking tasks, with an expanded appetite for giving and receiving detailed and thoughtful feedback. As these outcomes are vital for your college experience in general, your EXPOS class is a form of writing, reading, and thinking preparation that helps you adapt to  any  new learning environment you will encounter.

Expectations for Work Students Complete Outside of Class

EWP writing classes require consistent and timely completion of reading and writing assignments. In general, you should plan for 6-7 hours per week outside of class completing this work. This is an average, and it is a standard expectation for 4-credit classes at NYU. In your writing class, you may need to allot relatively more time when you are drafting and revising an essay and relatively less time at other points in the semester. If you are finding that it takes more than this estimate of time to complete out-of-class work, please speak with your instructor. 

Please refer to your syllabus or instructor for specific expectations for EXPOS-UA 3 and EXPOS-UA 18.

Dramatic Writing (BFA)

Program description.

The undergraduate program in Dramatic Writing, which leads to the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, is divided into three parts: dramatic writing courses, which include core writing, text analysis, and performance and production courses; general education courses; and electives. Students may enter the program either as freshmen or as transfer students. The curriculum as a whole enables them to analyze the dramatic text as it has developed since the time of the ancient Greeks, learn the rudiments of production techniques, explore the world of performance, and develop and refine their writing ability through a series of intensive workshops.

During the first two years of study, students acquire a strong liberal arts background while sharpening their writing skills. This grounding in the arts and humanities encourages the development of imagination and intellect—essential parts of a writer’s training.

Students who have completed one or two years of college are often ready to concentrate on a particular field of interest. For students in their final semesters, the major coursework in dramatic writing serves as pre-professional experience. Work is judged by eminent writers according to rigorous professional standards. Students also get a realistic view of the profession through meetings and discussions with producers, agents, and directors—the people with whom the dramatic writer works.

The undergraduate program is designed to be completed in four years of full-time study. By the senior year, each student is expected to have developed several full-length works for film, stage, or episodic media.

New York University's Office of Undergraduate Admissions supports the application process for all undergraduate programs at NYU.  For additional information about undergraduate admissions, including application requirements, see How to Apply . 

Program Requirements

The program requires the completion of 128 credits, comprised of the following:

Select a minimum of 23 credits of additional coursework from any division of NYU, excluding the School of Professional Studies (SPS).

Sample Plan of Study

Learning outcomes.

Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will have:

• A basic understanding of the diverse history and craft of the three mediums of theater, film and episodic television.
• The ability to analyze diverse dramatic texts across the three mediums of theater, film and episodic television.
• A basic understanding of and experience in production in at least one of the three mediums of theater, film and episodic television.
• Completed an original, technically proficient full-length Capstone work in one of the three mediums of theater, film or episodic television.
• Completed a broad liberal arts education.

NYU Policies

Tisch policies.

University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages .

Additional academic policies can be found on the  Tisch academic policy page .

Print Options

Send Page to Printer

Print this page.

Download Page (PDF)

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

Published May 10, 2024

The Gallatin Way: Studying Journalism, Art, and Classics

Class of 2026

• At the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, students can create unique academic concentrations by combining interdisciplinary subjects. The program offers academic flexibility and freedom.
• I created my concentration by studying journalism as an art form, integrating journalism with art studies.

As an anxious person, I worried about college and my career plans. Initially unsure of my desired field of study and how to proceed, I also questioned whether a traditional program would make me happy. Discovering the Gallatin School of Individualized Study was the turning point in my academic journey.

What Is Gallatin?

Gallatin is the NYU school where students can create their own concentrations through an interdisciplinary study. This just means that students combine different subjects and topics across disciplines. 

These individualized concentrations are not substitutes for double majors; they are their own thing. Students can create their academic journey from the ground up (which is honestly super fun)!

Creating My Concentration

Initially coming into college, I wanted to study journalism and English, but I quickly realized I wanted to study more. I was originally admitted to the Liberal Studies Core , which introduced me to different disciplines while studying away .

I study journalism as an art form, appreciating its close connection to the arts. Journalism is my medium for storytelling and truth seeking, while art expresses the artist’s truth. This perspective allows me to explore diverse narratives and individuals.

In my concentration, I report on art and learn to analyze it through a journalistic lens. The individualistic nature of art makes reporting on it both enjoyable and a genuine passion of mine.

Gallatin was the ideal school for me because my concentration wouldn’t fit within traditional majors or double majors. I wanted to delve deeper than the standard courses and pursue my interests in a more specific manner.

What Types of Courses Does a Gallatin Student Take?

For my specific concentration, I’m taking courses across different disciplines. For example, I’m taking College of Arts and Science courses in the journalism, art history, and classics departments. Yet, you will also find me at the Tisch School of the Arts studying performance art as well! However, these course decisions can change and adapt. I am always in constant contact with an academic adviser, who knows my concentration deeply and can guide me in course selection. If I need extra help, specifically about credits, I talk with my class adviser, since that’s what she specializes in.

Although I’ve only been at Gallatin for a few weeks, I already have several favorite classes that contribute to my concentration. This semester, I’m enrolled in a Tisch class titled Politics of Portraiture, where we analyze fine art and create art reflecting the evolution of portraiture. Additionally, in Photographing Peace, a Gallatin course, I explore the distinction between war and peace photography in journalism. Lastly, in another Gallatin course, Oral History, Cultural Identity, and the Arts, I study the significance of oral histories and create art inspired by them.

I still have so much time to take other types of courses that will help me continue to form my concentration. I’m hoping to take a studio art course at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development . I also am hoping to delve more into Gallatin-specific courses like the arts workshops and my senior colloquium.

My Gallatin Career Ahead

In my first semester at Gallatin, I’m incredibly pleased with my degree plans and courses. I relish the freedom to pursue classes that genuinely interest me and feel confident in my transition. After writing this article, I’ll be working on my Intellectual Autobiography and Plan for Concentration essay. It’s the second time I’ll formalize my concentration, which feels surreal.

Gallatin appeals to specific students, so it’s OK if it doesn’t fit everyone. But, for those it does fit, embrace the flexibility and changes in your academic journey. You’re no longer confined to a box—spread your wings and explore.

Molly Koch (they/them) is a sophomore in Liberal Studies but is planning on transitioning into the Gallatin School of Individualized Study ton study a combination of journalism, art history, and classics with a minor in archeology. Originally from Maryland, Molly came to NYU as a first generation college student aspiring to earn their degree in the city that never sleeps. When they are not working on campus as an Admissions Ambassador, Molly can be found working chapter-by-chapter on their novel or running down the West Side highway. They are an Opinion Editor for Washington Square News, a member of NYU’s Torch Chapter, National Residence Hall Honorary and a peer mentor for Project Outreach.

More from :

A Gallatin Concentration Grows—and Evolves—Across NYU

With a mix of adviser insight and self-direction, students at NYU Gallatin create rigorous, individualized academic paths.

Meet NYU Gallatin

The NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study empowers students to create a multidisciplinary curriculum. Small class sizes create an intimate college experience while still tapping into all the resources NYU has to offer.

To Gallatin from Liberal Studies: Transitioning Early

Take a look inside one student’s transition to the Gallatin School of Individualized Study after completing their Liberal Studies Core studies.

Program Alum presents songs at Joe's Pub

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program alum Hyeyoung Kim (Cycle 13) will present songs from her musicals Sunfish  (with lyrics by Cycle 13's Michael Cooper), and  Days of Rage  (with lyrics by Cycle 16's Shoshana Greenberg) at Joe's Pub on May 23rd, 2024. The concert is produced by Gyurin Kim.

For more info and tickets, click here

Washington Square News

Dozens walk out of Yankee Stadium as Mills gives commencement address

Dozens of students, many wearing keffiyeh scarves and booing in dissent, walked out of this year’s commencement ceremony at Yankee Stadium as NYU president Linda Mills gave her address to graduates.

Mills, who opened her speech with a quote from the Broadway musical “Wicked,” did not directly address recent protests and arrests on campus. Some other universities that saw large pro-Palestinian encampment protests and student and faculty arrests, such as Columbia University and the University of Southern California, opted not to hold universitywide commencement ceremonies at all this year .

“Let’s try a thought experiment: Think of someone from whom you might normally shy away, or with whom you might not usually agree,” Mills said in her speech. “What would it look like to stretch and to bridge, to learn from those you might otherwise judge, even reject. Today as we face a world of war and polarization, this is as important as ever. The enduring desire to be open to those most unlike us.”

Mills was also booed when presenting honorary degrees to this year’s recipients earlier in the ceremony, and again when presenting the University Medal — given to “distinguished visitors and members of the university community” — to Tisch professor Susan Hilferty, as well as Broadway actors and Tisch alumni Brittney Johnson and Carla Stickler.

“During a joyful 2 1/2 hours for 40,000 grads and guests, I observed a few passing moments of booing by a tiny fraction of the crowd,” NYU spokesperson John Beckman wrote in a statement to WSN. “It had no impact on the proceedings, which carried on very well, and the overwhelming majority of the attendees seemed to enjoy the Commencement Exercises very much.”

Outside the stadium’s entrances, students who had walked out during Mills’ speech began chanting “NYU, you can’t hide, you’re abetting genocide” and “Linda, Linda what do you say, how many students did you arrest today?” New York City Police Department officers and security guards stood around the demonstration as the commencement ceremony continued inside. 

NYU’s Palestine Solidarity Coalition and Jews Against Zionism groups had announced the walkout in an Instagram post earlier in the day .

“Autonomously planned Yankee Graduation walkout, we refuse to let the ceremony continue as planned whilst NYU refuses to acknowledge Palestine or Gaza and is complicit in the genocide of over 40,000 Palestinians,” the post reads. “Join us on May 15th, Nakba Day, for a walkout out of commencement during Linda’s speech, if you can put red paint or lipstick on your hands and wear a keffiyeh.”

Later, thousands of graduates cheered as Mills conferred their degrees and certificates, and this year’s commencement exercises came to a close. 

Throughout the past year, Mills has come under fire for her approach to pro-Palestinian protest activity on campus, particularly after NYU authorized the arrests of 133 protesters at an encampment set up at Gould Plaza and the arrests of 14 student protesters outside another encampment at the Paulson Center. She has also faced criticism for her handling of antisemitism on campus, with some instances of antisemitic behavior having been reported during protests and the university currently facing a lawsuit alleging it has failed to properly address antisemitism .

Contact Carmo Moniz at [email protected] .

Comments (0)

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Finished Papers

Customer Reviews

Our Top Proficient Writers At Your Essays Service

Frequently asked questions.

John N. Williams

Orders of are accepted for more complex assignment types only (e.g. Dissertation, Thesis, Term paper, etc.). Special conditions are applied to such orders. That is why please kindly choose a proper type of your assignment.

The College Fix

• Abortion/Pro-life
• Anti-Semitism
• Climate Change
• Common Core
• Free Speech
• Higher Ed Bubble
• Higher Education
• K-12 Education
• Political Correctness
• Racial issues
• Second Amendment
• Sexual Assault
• White Privilege
• Student Reporters
• Merchandise
• About The Fix
• Write For Us

Opponents say discipline is ‘Orwellian,’ ‘re-education’

New York University students who were arrested at a recent anti-Israel encampment must write “reflection” essays as part of their discipline, according to the campus Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.

The university’s Office of Student Conduct issued the punishments last week for students who were arrested April 22 in connection with a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus, according to a news release .

The pro-Palestinian group referred to the disciplinary measures as “Orwellian” in the release.

One punishment, a five to six page “reflection paper,” must include “a clear, well-developed response that demonstrates that you have thought about all aspects of the issue/decision/behavior that resulted in your involvement with the Office of Student Conduct,” according to a university instructions sheet .

The instructions sheet states the paper “cannot serve to justify your actions, evaluate the actions of others, or challenge a conduct regulation.”

In the essay, students also must describe their personal values and consider how their actions affected other people, including the university and “society as a whole.” Additionally, the instructions tell students to consider what they need to do to “make things right.”

NYU is requiring other student protesters to write “dozens of writing assignments” through its Ethos Integrity Series Modules , according to the news release. The series is supposed to help students develop “moral reasoning” and “ethical decision-making skills.”

In addition to writing essays, some students were banned from campus and university activities, according to the group.

Middle Eastern studies Professor Sara Pursley, a member of the pro-Palestinian group, criticized the disciplinary measures in the news release.

“Since they can’t write anything justifying their action, students seem to be banned from writing about personal values that might be relevant here, such as a belief in freedom of expression, the responsibility to oppose genocide, or the duty of nonviolent civil disobedience under certain circumstances,” Pursley said. “This seems rather ironic in an essay on integrity.”

On X, conservative Princeton University law Professor Robert George said while he believes students should be disciplined for unlawful activities, NYU’s specific essay requirements are concerning.

“Students who engage in disruption, harassment, or other unlawful activities – no matter the cause they are seeking to advance – should be subject to disciplinary proceedings and appropriate sanctions, but they should not be subjected to thought reform or re-education,” George wrote .

Police in riot gear arrest dozens of NYU students and faculty who refused to leave a makeshift anti-Israel encampment in late April, The Fix reported .

Police said the protesters were arrested for “disorderly conduct” and unlawfully blocking traffic, according to the Washington Square News , NYU’s student newspaper.

MORE: Jewish NYU student kicked out of campus leadership post for opposing Hamas terrorism reinstated

IMAGE: Freedom News TV/YouTube

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter

Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , Reddit , MeWe , Rumble , Gab , Minds and Gettr .

More Articles from The College Fix

Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook , Twitter , Reddit , MeWe , Rumble , Parler , Gab , and Telegram .

Don’t Miss A Thing

Most popular from the college fix, something we should know.

No thanks, I’m not interested!

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

What would Lisa Simpson do? NYU student protesters asked to ponder ethical issues

FILE - New York University students and pro-Palestinian supporters rally outside the NYU Stern School of Business building, Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York. Some NYU students facing discipline for their actions during this spring’s pro-Palestinian protests have been assigned a 49-page workbook that includes a “Simpsons"-based module on ethical decision making. Some have been asked to write an apologetic “reflection paper” and submit it “in 12-point Times New Roman or similar font."(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

FILE - New York University students and pro-Israeli supporters rally across the street from pro-Palestinian students and supporters outside the NYU Stern School of Business building, Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York. Some NYU students facing discipline for their actions during this spring’s pro-Palestinian protests have been assigned a 49-page workbook that includes a “Simpsons"-based module on ethical decision making. Some have been asked to write an apologetic “reflection paper” and submit it “in 12-point Times New Roman or similar font.” (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

• Copy Link copied

NEW YORK (AP) — Would Lisa Simpson set up a tent at New York University to protest the war in Gaza? How would Principal Skinner respond if she did?

Hard to say, but some NYU students facing discipline for their actions during this spring’s pro-Palestinian protests have been assigned a 49-page workbook that includes a “Simpsons”-based module on ethical decision-making. Some have been asked to write an apologetic “reflection paper” and submit it “in 12-point Times New Roman or similar font.”

Like colleges across the U.S., NYU was the scene of protests over Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack during the last weeks of the spring semester.

More than 100 NYU students were arrested when police cleared an encampment at the university’s Manhattan campus on April 22, and about a dozen more were arrested at a smaller encampment on May 3.

NYU’s school year has ended, but the university is requiring some student protesters to go through a disciplinary process that includes answering questions like “What are your values? Did the decision you made align with your personal values?” in a double-spaced reflection paper.

Others must complete a 49-page “Ethos Integrity Series” that asks students to rank their values from 1 to 42 and complete assignments like “write about how your values affect your daily life and the decisions you make.”

One section is based on an episode of “The Simpsons” in which Lisa uncharacteristically cheats on a test and is wracked by guilt. Principal Skinner, meanwhile, wants to keep the cheating under wraps so the school can get a grant. Questions in the ethics workbook include “What, if anything, could Lisa have done or thought about to make better decisions?” and “What are the potential and actual consequences of Principal Skinner’s decisions?”

An NYU group called Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine criticized the assignments in a news release.

Sara Pursley, an associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, noted that students completing the reflection paper are told they must not try to justify their actions or “challenge a conduct regulation.”

“Since they can’t write anything justifying their action, students seem to be banned from writing about personal values that might be relevant here, such as a belief in freedom of expression, the responsibility to oppose genocide, or the duty of nonviolent civil disobedience under certain circumstances,” Pursley said. “This seems rather ironic in an essay on integrity.”

NYU spokesperson John Beckman said the disciplinary process is meant to be educational.

“The point of these essays is to reflect upon how a student’s way of expressing their values might be having an impact on other members of the NYU community,” Beckman said. “We think that’s a worthwhile goal.”

He added, “Which is not to say that the specific assignments couldn’t be improved.”

Faculty members and staff from NYU’s Office of Student Conduct will meet in the fall, Beckman said, to consider “what might be done to improve the quality of the prompts for the reflection papers as well as the other educational assignments.”