What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$14,017 to $66,876 a year, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $84,374 a year. Average need-based aid package: $64,101.Aid and debt
$29,765
average debt at graduation
1,204
students got merit aid
about 4% of undergraduates
$37,519
average merit award
Not reported by this school: share receiving need-based grants.
Getting In
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1480–1550 · 27% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 34–35 · 10% of the class submitted
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Character
- Important
- SAT/ACT scores
- Considered
- Extracurriculars
- Special talent
- First-gen status
- Where you're from
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Demonstrated interest
- Not considered
- Class rank
- Legacy status
- In-state residency
What this means for you
NYU rates three things you can work on as Very Important: course rigor, your essay, and your recommendations.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. The essay is weighted like your GPA. And choose recommenders who can be specific about you, not just confirm your transcript.
NYU rates demonstrated interest 'Considered' — it can tip a close decision, without being decisive.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
NYU just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-NYU essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
56.3% of NYU classes have fewer than 20 students.
56.3%
under 20 students
32.4%
20 to 49
11.3%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. NYU CDS 2025–26, I-3.
12:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
38%
live on campus
2%
of men in fraternities
6%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- Asian24.1%
- White21.9%
- Hispanic13.1%
- Black6%
- Multiracial4.7%
- Unknown / other4.4%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. NYU CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
73.7% of NYU students graduate in 4 years.
73.7%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
87.9%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
96.1%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
85.6% finish in 6 years, against 87.9% of all students.
Pell Grant students finish at about the same rate as everyone else.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in New York.
NYU's campus is Greenwich Village itself: academic buildings, dorms and Bobst Library ring Washington Square Park with no gates, walls or quad separating the university from the surrounding city.
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Students step out of class onto MacDougal Street or into Union Square rather than across a lawn, and the subway rather than a campus shuttle is how most people get to a second class across town.
The City
Major city
New York, NY
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Martin Scorsese
Academy Award-winning director of Goodfellas, The Departed and Taxi Driver; earned his BA and MA in film from what is now NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Class of 1964
Alan Greenspan
Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006; earned his BA, MA and PhD in economics from NYU, now home to the Stern School of Business.
Class of 1948
Rudy Giuliani
Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001, credited with a sharp drop in crime during his tenure; earned his JD from NYU School of Law.
Class of 1968
Jonas Salk
Developed the first successful polio vaccine, ending the disease's epidemics in the US within a few years of its 1955 rollout; earned his MD from NYU's medical school.
Class of 1939
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
Commencement at Yankee Stadium
NYU's all-university commencement outgrew Washington Square Park and has been held at Yankee Stadium since 2008, making it one of the largest single graduation ceremonies in the country.
Strawberry Fest
An annual spring tradition built around what's billed as New York City's longest strawberry shortcake, served up to students on campus.
Midnight Breakfast
Twice a year, in the run-up to finals, Student Affairs administrators serve free breakfast to students at midnight — a study-break tradition rather than a ceremonial one.
Weekend escapes from New York
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from New York
Jersey Shore, New Jersey
1 hour 15 minutesThe closest beach escape from Manhattan, reachable by NJ Transit without a car.
The Hamptons, New York
2 hours 30 minutesLong Island's beach towns, reachable by the Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1 hour 30 minutesA short Amtrak or bus ride south, and a common day trip or weekend swap with Philly-based friends.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
35 minutes from campus
For international flights: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) — about 45 minutes by car, or an hour by subway and airtrain.
Pro sports nearby
- New York Knicks NBA
- New York Rangers NHL
- New York Yankees MLBAbout 30 minutes by subway away
- New York Giants NFLAbout 45 minutes by NJ Transit train and shuttle away
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
NYU doesn't commute to a business district — it sits inside one. Wall Street, Midtown's media and advertising firms, and a fast-growing tech corridor are all a short subway ride from Washington Square, so an internship rarely means leaving the neighborhood behind for long.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- JPMorgan Chase
- Goldman Sachs
- Condé Nast
- NBCUniversal
- NYU Langone Health
Midtown and Wall Street Manhattan, both a short subway ride from Washington Square
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
NYU has no traditional campus boundary — Washington Square Park is the closest thing to a quad, and the university's buildings are woven into Greenwich Village rather than fenced off from it. NYU enrolls 29,471 undergraduates, making it the largest private university in New York City, and it doubles down on scale globally: the school runs full degree-granting campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai alongside study-away sites on nearly every continent, describing itself as a "global network university." Admission is now genuinely selective at 9.1%, but aid is less complete than that selectivity might suggest — 64.5% of demonstrated need met on average across undergraduates, with an average aid package of $64,101 and average debt at graduation of $29,765. Culturally, Greek life is a minor presence (2% of men, 6% of women join) and only 38% of undergraduates live in university housing, so most social life plays out across the city rather than in dorms or fraternity houses. The trade-off: NYU's four-year graduation rate (73.7%) trails its six-year rate (87.9%) by more than 14 points, so a meaningful share of students take longer than four years to finish.