NYU Stern is a Hellhole
About to finish up my freshman year here and I don't think I could have picked a worse school to go to. Everyone here is overly professional and ungenuine. Nearly every conversation is centered around recruiting, clubs, or resume bullshit. The people here are toxic narcissists who would rather talk about their internships than anything else and the academic focus here is nonexistent. The entire institution is just built around nonstop competition and toxicity, exacerbated by a business school "Stern Curve." I've personally seen students backstab their classmates two times just in the past semester over the curve. There is no collaboration here besides the little that exists in club settings, and even then we're forced to constantly grind in order to not get "cut" by upper classmen.
My biggest regret is going here and it's absolutely ruining my mental health. And with the fucked up grading system, the school traps you with a low GPA so that you're unable to transfer to a peer school.
Don't come here.
I have despised working with stern kids. To your point, have seen them fuck over classmates on numerous occasions for internships
Sounds like the LSE of NYC
LSE doesn't grade on a curve so I don't think this comparison works very well tbh.
went to LSE and was involved in the finance societies and can confirm that LSE is like this. one of the finance societies had to have the student union admin get involved in their leadership elections because of all the bs kids were up to
Went there - can confidently agree with you that it sucks. Just get a good job and completely check out of all those useless clubs. It’s embarrassing how nepo they all are.
have never met a stern alumni that had a positive undergrad experience.
sharp-elbowed hardos with no hobbies - no clue why kids matriculate there - would bucket it with carnegie mellon in terms of vibes (easily visible sadness amongst students)
CMU senior here, it’s not all entirely bad this side of PA. Half the student population (typically STEM majors) is extremely studious, the other half (comprising business + humanities + Greek life + athletes) is decently social, though this is a big generalization. I had a better college social life here than I expected.
The only undergraduate business programs worth attending are Wharton (Penn), Dyson (Cornell), and Ross (Michigan). Stern, UVA McIntire, Indiana Kelley, etc. are all toxic wastes of money. The less prestigious a school is, the more competitive recruitment is, and the more luck based placement is. While Penn, Cornell, and Michigan are preprofessional, they are prestigious enough, and have student bodies with diverse enough interests, that opportunities are available and attainable.
Ross and Stern are same level. Either both are worth attending or neither imo. I don't think you can say Ross is worth it but Stern is not, and I would say both are not worth it.
Agree that both are the same level for recruiting, but that doesn't both are the same level of worth attending. Michigan is a massive diverse school with sports, greek life, and good student culture. To get all those things in one of the best college towns in America at a school that is cheaper (in or out of state) than NYU while having the same recruiting outcomes makes it much more worth it to attend. Tbh though for the same reasons, I'd personally much rather go to UVA than Dyson.
How do you enjoy Dyson?
Neither, I’m just telling people to go to the best school possible. Can’t go wrong in that situation. Take Wharton over both of them.
Lmao - IU was not toxic. We were too busy drinking for that bs
I’m all for drinking and partying, especially when you’re young enough to handle it. What do you think people at Penn and Cornell do? Those are two of the most Greek life heavy Ivies, and I think Michigan speaks for itself. Doesn’t mean Indiana placement compares to them. Can you honestly say that Indiana Kelley kids have it as easy as people from any of the other three?
IU isn't toxic, it's just over hyped and not great quality (if they auto admit anyone with a 3.8 weighted GPA, which is around 3.3-4 unweighted, and a 1370, they students are definitely going to be far less qualified than the average T20 with 3.9/1550).
UVA and Ross I heard have the benefits of a big football public college with the education of an Ivy (i.e glorious social life), so I'd def pair them up. However, Ross is graded on a curve whereas McIntire isn't, and both schools' recruiting is dominated by their selective asf finance clubs, so if anything, Ross is more toxic than UVA (albeit neither r Stern lol). I'm actually surprised why u think McIntire sucks?
Cornell as a whole isn't toxic, it's j depressed due to the weather... however Dyson grades r mad inflated and AEMs always seem to have the best lives on campus.
Also, based on the recent Wharton post and talking to some of my acquaintances, Penn is like a better Stern in that kids can construct DCFs in high school and are extremely toxic...
I went there. Would def agree with you for the most part. There are normal chill kids but you have to find the right community— it takes time
There are a couple of schools where a lot of cheaters from my high school went to and Stern is a big one
So the personalities start forming well before college lol
JP Stevens High School?
Nah they all go to Buttgers
Meh. I enjoyed my time there.
Ditch the stern clubs and business school students and make friends elsewhere. NYU is a huge school and NYC is a massive city. There's plenty of opportunity to build a really interesting experience for yourself if you're willing to go off the beaten path.
Don't get me wrong. I also loved to bash Stern's culture/administration and tease the incoming investment banking summer analysts who thought they won the Nobel, but you'll only get this one college experience for your whole life. I hope you figure out a good plan and find a way to make this work for you. I promise it's not too late.
2nd this, all of my friends were outside of Stern, mostly in CAS. I graduated 5+ years ago and were still friends to this day. Find clubs that interest you outside of the Stern ones. The plus with NYU is you have the opportunity to really meet some interesting people (for better or for worse) if you step outside the Stern bubble.
What is your opinion on it being possible to stay hyper-focused on the IB industry during undergrad at Stern whilst enjoying everything else about NYC? Would the average student at that school find trouble balancing everything academic, professional, social, and personal? OR would a certain part of their undergrad years have to be sacrificed for career advancement at Stern?
Definitely have to make sacrifices (and a lot of time/energy can be spent on clubs/recruiting) but still plenty to enjoy NYC. Even for the hardest working people I knew at stern in tons of clubs, nearly all found time to enjoy the city and go out/have plenty of fun
Agree with the other reply, but want to highlight one more point. Your ability to balance these things in college while in pursuit of a banking seat is a pretty good predictor of how you can handle an 5x more difficult balancing act on the job.
Life at NYU sucks. Stern doesn’t even recruit as well as you think. Top kids like 100/700 place well in BB EB PE, the rest are left with MM or no jobs. Due to the competitive nature of clubs and the curve, it’s become an environment where the the gap between top and bottom kids are huge.
What if Stern is one of the few choices that a high school student has to choose for their undergrad? And their only other options would be University of Florida, Northeastern, UC Santa Barbara.
Take Stern and grind, transfer up if possible. All I have ever said on WSO about schools is that students interested in finance should attend the best possible. In this scenario, that’s NYU. If either Ross or Dyson enters the equation, you take one of those (go with Dyson in my opinion). If Wharton is an option, go there. Pretty straightforward philosophy.
25K undergrads at NYU. Nobody made a rule saying you have to hang out with the robots in your classes.
focus up and/or expand outside the stern bubble - sounds like the ladder will be better for your mental health. I went to stern, met some amazing people who I am still incredibly close with, have had tons of opportunities come my way bc of school connections, had a lot of fun in college, and got a top EB offer in the process. Based on timing seems like this post is right before or after finals - even if it’s hard, dont let stress over grades ruin your college experience
weak.
bump i’m a stern sophomore and i want to drop out
you are ridiculously pathetic.
you go to a great school, stop whining and grow a pair.
ur pathetic if u think I was actually serious… every college student says they want to drop out at some point
This is why you have to go where you like and still can get a good job. My close friend and I were admitted to MIT as we both wanted to study engineering. I was shocked when he didn’t go, he said why the hell would I want to be at a school where everyone is focused on engineering, sounds miserable. He went to an Ivy instead…once I got there, I realized he was right.
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