What is NYU Looking For?

"What's most important for admission?"
"How do they decide who gets in?"

These are questions that are likely to come up over the course of the next few months. Just as you will be making decisions about which colleges and universities seem to provide the best fit for you, colleges and universities will be deciding which applicants they believe will fit best at their institution. In this article, we'll briefly describe how and why admissions decisions are made at NYU so that you can understand important elements of the process.

What does NYU look for?

Admission to NYU is highly selective. A large and exceptionally well-qualified applicant pool enables us to enroll a freshman class that is academically talented as well as remarkably diverse. However, there are no set "formulas" that we follow when we review applications. Rather, we actively seek students who have a variety of interests, talents, and goals. We also seek a class that is geographically, socially, ethnically, and economically diverse.

What does "highly selective" mean?

When we say that NYU is highly selective, we mean that our admissions process is not restricted simply to determining who can "do the work" at NYU. Assembling our freshman class is not purely an objective process. The fact is, each year far more of our applicants than we can possibly admit are "qualified" and would almost certainly succeed here. For every student who is offered admission, there will be others whose qualifications are quite similar but who cannot be admitted due to space limitations.

So how does NYU decide which students to admit?

Recognizing that each applicant offers a unique combination of achievement and potential, we carefully consider the entire application-academic and extracurricular records, essay, letters of recommendation, and standardized test scores. Grades and test scores provide a tangible record of the applicant's academic accomplishments. Essays and recommendations broaden our knowledge and understanding of the student. The student's participation in school, community, and work experiences offers additional insight concerning interests and accomplishments outside of the classroom and assists us in evaluating important personal qualities such as motivation, compassion, and leadership. Finally, we're interested in how students have made effective use of the opportunities available to them, however great or limited they may have been.

What's most important in the admissions decision?

If we had to select one factor, it would probably be the student's overall academic record as viewed in the context of the strength of the program. But again, subjective qualities-motivation, leadership skills, community or extracurricular accomplishments-are also very important in our decision-making process.

Does the difficulty of a particular curriculum make a difference?

Yes. We encourage students to take the most challenging curriculum available to them, and when we evaluate an applicant's record, we take the rigor of the program into account. Another question we're often asked is: "Is it better to get a "B" in an honors or AP course or an "A" in a regular course?" The answer, of course, is that it's better to get an "A" in the honors or AP course! (The fact is that our admitted applicants do get the best grades in the toughest courses.)

Are there minimum GPA or SAT requirements for admissions at NYU?

No. NYU does not use numerical cutoffs when we evaluate applications for admission. Having said that, it is important to realize that NYU receives applications from many students with extraordinary academic records and superior scores on standardized tests; more, in fact, than we can possibly admit each year. As a general rule, applicants with the strongest academic programs and the highest grades and test scores are those most likely to be offered admission.

Should students participate in many activities to improve their chances?

In general, we would prefer to see substantial involvement in a few activities rather than superficial involvement in a laundry list of clubs and organizations. We particularly like to see evidence of leadership roles.

How important are letters of recommendation?

The most helpful recommendations are from individuals who can write specifically about the student and his or her accomplishments, whether academic or extracurricular. Recommendations assist us when they include information about an applicant that might not be readily apparent from even a careful review of the high school transcript or when they provide insight into the student's character; in other words, when they help us to distinguish you from other applicants. Please note, however, that the admissions decision is not influenced by the number of recommendations we receive for an applicant or by the social or political prominence of the person providing the recommendation.