Interview with People Who Just Finished Their First Year at NYU

Last time I did something like this on my blog, it was with different freshmen at different colleges. As this first year came to a close, and I started to reflect on my year for myself, I was suddenly very curious about those around me who attended the same school, were involved in the same activities, or in the same program as me. I wondered our different our experiences actually were and perhaps pinpoint what actions caused these outcomes. The people below are people who I value a lot and was blessed to have met this year, and I hope that you enjoy reading what they have to say.

(again sorry for weird format)

1. Please state your name, major, and where you are from.
JN: My name is Justin Nguyen, I am a freshman in Tisch’s Film & Television program. And I’m from sunny San Jose, California. Bay Area = Best Area
VW: Vincent Wang; Liberal Studies; from Melbourne, Australia
GT: My name is Grace, I’m a dance major, and I’m from Seattle, WA.
MS: Muhammad Saeed, Math and Computer Science, Fremont, CA
RL: Rachel Lee, Dance + Maybe Journalism??, Texas

2. What was the best part of your first year?
JN: The best part about the first year has to just be the whole concept of living in New York City, and really having to be entrenched in a culture of complete diversity. I’ve met some of the most interesting people in the world and have grown close with so many amazing people that I’m so glad to be able to call my friends. The experience of being on my own has also given me a chance to grow individually in all facets of my life.
VW: The best part of my first year at college was the people. New York didn't disappoint by providing some of the most interesting and unique people that I've ever met, whether it be my roommates or classmates or just people on the street. In this short year, I've made some of the best friends I have. 

GT: It’s hard to pinpoint an exact moment, but I do feel as though the best part of the year overall was being able to wake up every morning and genuinely feel happy to be alive, and to be doing what I love, with fun fun people. I think that what contributed to this was the comfort in knowing that I was doing something that I loved and that every day was a new discovery and adventure. 
MS: The best part of my first year was making all the new friends I made and spending time with them making new memories. 

RL: Definitely meeting such incredible people. Everyone comes from  different places with different experiences and learning about someone else's way of life has been really cool. I've never been constantly surprised by the people around me, uncovering something new everyday. 

3. What is something that you have started this year that you are excited to take with you into next year?
JN: I went from a typical public high-school studying the basic required math, English, and Science, and dove head first into a program that I never had very much experience in. So I’m excited to just immerse myself more into film and the community within it. Also, I started picking up rock-climbing, which I highly recommend to everyone!
VW: Rock climbing! I used to think rock climbing was just a way to disprove my fear of heights, but after coming to NYU, I now appreciate just how fun and challenging rock climbing can be. I'm excited to take on harder routes and to get better at this addictive sport. 

GT: I am very excited to continue growing as an artist—I think that this year was the first year I have ever experienced being able to do what I wanted. Before all of this, in high school, I always felt very constrained and as though every day I would think “if only I could do something about this,” but instead now I catch myself wondering “what can I do next?” The agency I have begun to explore in the city and in my classes is something that I can’t wait to explore for the rest of my life. Tangibly, this year I started my own choreographic process and it was addicting… so tangibly, I can’t wait to continue working with my peers and making work. 
MS: I think the friendships and relationships I've made. I'm excited to take them into next year and see how they'll change and grow. 

RL: This year, my insecurities were exposed. I've started to work a little more on self-confidence, and I hope that next year I will be more confident and secure with myself. I'm going to push myself more and try more things that I fear. 

4. Are you happy with your decision of attending this school?
JN: I’d say I’m happy that I decided to attend this school. While there certainly a fair share of ups & downs, the experiences I’ve had and relationships I’ve built have really been worth it. 
VW: I am very happy with my decision of attending this school. At the beginning I had a lot of doubts, but my year at NYU has taught me a lot. I feel a bit more secure about my career path, I think I am a more socially conscious citizen and I have met amazing people that I otherwise would never have come across. 
GT: Yes. This is a complex question though because I do feel like I always tend to ask myself to define binary things—so my own version of the question might be “was this the right decision?” I am so happy here, and while there are many things I wish I could change about my situation and the institution, the privilege of being here and the overall joy makes it worthwhile. 
MS: Yes, I think NYU was the perfect fit for me in all aspects of college life.
RL: Absolutely. I honestly cannot imagine myself anywhere else. My program isn't perfect but it is amazing to learn the things I get to learn and experience the growth of those around me.

5. What is one essential thing that an incoming freshman needs to know that no one verbally told you?
JN: I think one essential thing to know for college, and life really, is that sometimes mediocrity is okay. Every year, things continue to become more competitive, life gets harder; it’s normal to have the mindset that “you should be the best, and always to strive for the best”. While that’s great, it’s important to remember that you won’t always be perfect, because nobody ever really is. That’s alright. 
VW: That you should pick your teachers carefully! Though second-hand sources and websites like RateMyProfessor can be imperfect, they at least provide some sort of basis for choosing teachers. I randomly picked professors in the first semester and it ended up making some of my classes quite unenjoyable. 

GT: Funny, I actually just had a dream about this like an hour ago… but I think that even though I had heard it, I didn’t know to what extent it was true but, NYU isn’t like most other schools. The way the community operates is a lot different, it’s a lot of “fend for yourself,” and making your own groups. Some people are super fortunate and fall into amazing friend groups within the first weeks, and other people take their time. I feel like I am the latter—I’ve felt very isolated in my dance community (to clarify, I feel like the dance community is separate from the school as a whole), so to be an NYU student is a little bit more difficult than to be a dance major… if that makes any sense.
MS: In order to fit in and be happy, you have to actively seek out community and friends, the community doesn't come to you nor does it come easy at NYU.

RL: I thought that students were mainly stressed in college because of the amount of work they actually have but what I've come to notice is that a lot of stress is sort of self-inflicted. College seems to be a big mental game in the sense of the thoughts, questions, concerns, and doubts that you have about life, can really affect how you take class and interact with others. So be prepared to be okay with the unknown.

6. What was the hardest/worst part of your year?
JN: The hardest part of the year for me was a period just after the end of my first year, where I really began questioning where my life was headed, and if I really had made the right decision with what I wanted to do. A quarter-life crisis so to say. And I get it, “You’re only 18, you have your whole life ahead of you…” but the thought still lingers, and I’m sure it does for us all.
VW: The hardest part of the year was probably feeling alone. Being in a new continent, in a different time zone and in a new university was hard to adjust to. Sometimes, even eating a meal alone was a hard thing to do. But eventually, I got used to the independence and the distance. Of course it helped to have great friends at NYU. 
GT: The worst parts of my year were when I felt very personally frustrated, which would reflect on my social interactions. Because in high school my dance, school, and social activities were all relatively separate, coming into a program where everything was integrated was challenging when I found myself withdrawing from my work. I found that I got easily frustrated with the lack of diversity of thought with the people around me, since all aspects of my life had (finally) been unified into one institution. This came at the end of second semester for me, when I had three weeks of performances in a row and was balancing the physical exhaustion of my body while grappling with other academic obligations. While this kind of strain wasn’t new to me (in high school I often faced even more work), I found that I was so absorbed in the NYU lifestyle that I forgot a lot of the lessons and morals that I always return to when I feel upset. I also felt homesick, and lost a lot of the joyous motivation and gratitude that I began the year with. 
MS: Balancing doing well in my classes and living up to my own standards for myself while also enjoying the time I had at NYU.
RL: Probably spiraling in the dark endless hole of self-doubt. I let my thoughts have too much power over me. Rather than having my own confidence and hope, I often fell into the habit of only seeking validation from others and when I didn't receive it, I would let these type of circumstances determine who I thought I was and everything I needed to "fix".

7. What surprised you about college?
JN: I think we tend to judge ourselves in a light complete separate from the people surrounding us. Coming into college, I was worried that everyone already had their 50 year plan for their lives, while I just watched my life blow by. Boy, was I wrong. Going to college, everyone’s entering into the same situation as you are: the starting point may vary, but we’re all getting those feelings of excitement, joy, sadness, anger, restlessness, and anxiousness.
VW: I was especially surprised by my course, Liberal Studies. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what I'd be specifically studying before I entered into NYU, and in the first semester, I was surprised that I didn't enjoy the academic coursework I was studying. However, by the second semester, I had picked a few better teachers and had gone in with a better mindset, and so I found the second semester much more enjoyable.
GT: I surprised myself when I came to college. I suddenly felt free from all of the high school identifiers that I had given myself—not to say that I felt that my qualities had changed, but rather that I was liberated from any unwanted labels. I felt like I really found reason to be confident socially and in my work, which I had never been before. Even as I reflect back on the year now, I’m like “damn… where did all that confidence come from?” I remember one day I was just saying hi to people in the studio left and right, and I just reflected on my actions and how much more comfortable I was in this environment.
MS: If you really look hard enough, there are a lot of people who are very similar to you or share the same interests.
RL: How willing and kind people are. Especially upper class-men  I was used to competitive environments and expected college to be an amplified version of high school. But to my surprise, people are willing to listen to your problems, do favors,  and take actions to remind you that you have value. 

8. Describe your experience in regards to the culture at NYU.
JN: I think the whole concept of the NYU culture tends to be more focused on the look, rather than actual content. By that, I mean: NYU tends to push the idea that everyone’s voice should be heard … but only if it falls in line with our already established ideals. I personally haven’t had any specifically bad experiences regarding this kind of surface level culture of NYU, but looking at interactions throughout the campus as a collective whole, I get the sense that everyone has a sort of hesitancy to speak their mind fully, especially if it falls against what’s popular.
VW: The culture at NYU is very unique. Coming from a country where the overwhelming majority of university students commute, NYU was a nice change of pace. With so many people living on campus in such a vibrant part of Manhattan, I was never short of things to do or people to meet. It made for some unforgettable experiences.
GT: NYU isn’t exactly the friendly college campus experience. The city is awesome, there are a million and one things to be doing on any given night. The quality that I see in people who thrive in the city and are socially successful, are those who do not shy away from independence. The first-year instinct is to latch onto a group of friends to explore the city with, when really familiarity only comes to the individual. I think that because of the need to be independent, it makes being in dorms and just an average person in the NYU community really difficult. Luckily, I was able to find support in the dance community pretty quickly, although I really wish I had been able to find more people outside of the dance department to connect with. Because of the randomly assigned rooms that all first-years have, I already felt like I didn’t belong with the regular NYU community, since I never really spoke to any of my roommates. I think that that was a mistake, writing off the other people in closest proximity to me. Although I joined a few clubs, I always wasn’t committed enough to the meeting times, so I pretty much never went.
MS: The culture at NYU is definitely different. It is not what I expected a college to be like, and it is very unique. If you find the community you fit into, then it definitely lives up to the college environment lots of people expect. But because it is different and unique, you might experience many things other would not at other schools in the form of obstacles or hardships.
RL: I've had such a great experience here and in fact, for the first time in my life, I feel like I have secure relationships and communities. You would think that without a closed campus students get lost in trying to find community but it's 100% possible to find your peeps. What I will say needs improvement in the culture in regards to a classroom setting, is more praise/validation for students that show up everyday and work hard. The culture sometimes seems to highlight those who eagerly only network themselves rather than working on bettering their own intellect, artistry, effort etc.

9. Anything else you want to add?
JN: I think NYU is a great school, but like everything in life, you have to find what’s right for you. I look forward to continue exploring the city of New York, as well as the many places I’ve learned about throughout the world just this year with the lifelong friends I’ve made along the way.

GT: It’s honestly hard to reflect on this year because it hasn’t really ended yet. Overall, I would say that both the most challenging and the most rewarding part of this program has been being able to love and be challenged by my community. I have never spent so much close and intimate time with dancers like this, and it has really been a gift to familiarize myself with other people, and watch them grow at the same time. In response to getting to watch everyone change, I too feel like I’ve discovered more of who I am.