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The moment I step onto the pavement outside my dorm, I am “on campus”. When I walk through the streets in New York City, I am “on campus”. New York University (NYU) does not subscribe to the typical definition of an enclosed college campus but instead claims the city as our campus by scattering its school buildings throughout the city. This undoubtedly impacts the student experience, but is it for the better or worse?
Many have concerns that in a school so large (over 50,000 of us!) and dispersed that we would have trouble integrating into the community, but I personally find it is quite the opposite. With no “real” campus, it can be more difficult to meet and make friends, but by having your school integrated into the city, it makes the place easy to make a home out of. There is no clear distinction between academic life and personal life, and I find that the blend of both makes it easier to feel connected to the city, as opposed to living in an enclosed campus where you would mostly be staying within those boundaries and having minimal interactions with the outside world.
Because of this, your perception is less filtered when you are not protected on school grounds.
While sometimes it enables you to see the beauty of the city more clearly, it also pulls you into the jarring reality of New York.
On your walk to school, you pass by homeless figures laying on the ground, shivering in thin blankets that do little to protect them from the harsh, frigid winds. You will be coerced into giving your money to strangers that claim they are penniless even when it is clear they are not, but you do it anyway because you are defenceless in this town where most people mind their own business.
New York can be a harsh place. The people are less than friendly, the weather is unpredictably aggressive, and being thrown into this frenzy with no school enclosure to protect you makes things harder, but life goes on. You will soon learn that it is up to you to take care of yourself, and this forces you to grow up and be independent.
While it is true that at NYU you miss out on the football frenzy, the ease of meeting classmates on a campus lawn, and generally the typical American college experience, the school makes up for its lack of a traditional campus life by providing plenty of other opportunities for students to meet other people and find their own community.
While I have only been at NYU for a semester, I have participated in more school events and activities than I can keep track of. Every day it only seems like I’m getting more emails about happenings around the school, whether it be a club meeting, a social, an educational seminar, etc. The school also prides itself on its inclusivity, and often hosts events for and shows public support for underrepresented minorities.
Through the Malaysian Student Association, I have found some incredible Malaysian friends that I can bond with over inside jokes and our constant yearning for our beloved food. Through my course I have met Americans I am blessed to call my close friends, and through living in a dorm I am able to meet and interact with different international students on a daily basis. Through different clubs and organisations, I am able to find similar-minded people that also share my passions and interests.
Friendships aren’t served to you on a silver platter here, but it works out so long as you make the effort to integrate yourself into the school. It works very much like a relationship, really. One-sided relationships never end well. While the school has initiatives to ease your integration, you also need to put in the effort in order to find yourself a place in the community.
To determine whether you are a suitable fit in a school without an “actual” campus, think about what you want to gain out of your college experience and the extent of your willingness to explore beyond your comfort zone to achieve it. I admit this is not necessarily the ideal environment for every individual to strive in, but if you are active, seeking personal growth, and open to a somewhat non-traditional experience, this could be the kind of school to look into.
Sure, by attending a school without a campus you have to give up huge football games and you don’t have as big of Greek life. Instead, in the morning you witness New Yorkers walking their dogs and rushing to work, coffee cup in hand and a bag slung over their shoulder. On the subway train, you see someone doing breakdance and everyone else going about their usual business. You walk down the streets on the way to your next class and hear the businessman speaking in Spanish into the phone, later on, you walk past two old ladies and catch parts of their conversation in Chinese.
You decide you need a break after a long day of class so you walk to the park, you look around and you notice the crowd around the Piano Man, you sway along to the tunes coming from the jazz band, you see the little kids playing with huge bubbles and you think,
if I have to give up a school campus for this, to see New York City in its truest form, to live and experience life as a local New Yorker, it has all been worth it.
[On a related note, if you are up for a completely unique and unconventional college experience, check out Minerva Schools at KGI! If a typical American college with a traditional campus is on one end of a spectrum, Minerva would be on the opposite end. To simplify Minerva in a sentence: students travel to 7 different cities throughout their 4 years to experience complete city immersion whilst taking a range of classes on an online-based platform.
I was admitted to Minerva and had an opportunity to firsthand experience life as a Minerva student for a weekend. Their intentions were made clear in that single weekend: that they want to nurture leaders and inspire personal growth by challenging students beyond just their academic career. While talking to current students, it was evident to me that Minerva has equipped them with life skills that help them navigate future challenges better.]
Brenda Ho Guan Ying is a Hospitality student at New York University. She enjoys writing and performing spoken word poetry at open mics. Unsurprisingly, she loves interacting with and meeting new people, so don’t feel shy to say hi!