STUDENT COMMENTS
The cost of the school compared to the actual methodology of the professors is lacking in many ways. The professors do not know how to relate to an undergraduate, but I can only comment on the accounting department professors.
The school has done a great job in attracting reputable Wall Street firms to recruit Stern students. We have achieved outstanding placement on Wall Street. However, the one down side is that only a handful of top management consulting firms recruit on campus, although this is changing.
Stern has been an overall positive experience for me. NYU is an excellent institution located at the epicenter of our society's cultural and economic forefront. An education at any one of NYU's individual schools is sure to provide a one-of-a-kind experience. The Leonard Stern School of Business stimulates students with technical training to succeed in the business world. More important, however, Stern students are given the skills necessary to succeed in the real world, emphasizing organization, leadership, and communication. The Legal Aspects of Business course with Richard Hendler has unequivocally changed my life.
The harsh grading environment creates more competitiveness than is needed. Grades end up becoming the focus instead of learning and performance. I and plenty friends have gotten Bs with raw scores in the mid-90s. So the lower grades are not necessarily indicative of anything.
Over the years, NYU-Stern has improved its reputation and program. I have seen an incredible transformation of the school, and I really believe it stems from the improved quality of students of the years who then become working professionals. Alumni from my university have performed well in their respective firms, making NYU a more attractive school to hire from every year. For example, I will be joining Morgan Stanley in their investment banking program. Historically, only two people a year went there from my school. This year, we have six new hires joining the firm. I think this is a testament to Stern's ability to identify good students as well as teach them practical skills that are marketable to firms. I feel as though the alumni are really driving the success of the school and furthermore, they recognize the responsibility to help the next generation.
The office of career services is run by monkeys, and anything that happens isn't really Stern's fault.
Stern is a very unique business program. It not only exposes you to the different areas of business, but really requires you to develop teamwork and leadership skills. Being in New York gives you a strong fundamental advantage over other students. I have had four internships during my time here, where most of my friends at other schools could only intern during the summer. I have been able to gain solid experience at banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch and will be working at Credit Suisse full time. I feel that NYU Stern is a huge reason why I have been able to have these type of experiences.
I should not have gone to Stern for marketing. My whole reason for attending Stern was the academic reputation, coupled with the location and opportunity for great jobs. However, I was very diasppointed to find that the school pays 95% of its attention to finance majors, and that if you decide not to be a finance major, you're mostly shunned and forgotten. For every six finance job notices I receive, I receive one in the marketing field. Unless you're dead-set on being a finance major, I would not recommend this school.
Career Services at NYU is incredible. Many opportunities to successfully find a job.
Stern does not give away good grades and actually does the opposite; making it especially difficult to get A's thanks to the "Stern curve." Personally, this has challenged me to work especially hard in my business classes. Even though my GPA may not be as high as graduates of other business schools where high grades are given away, I feel that I am better prepared since I was not handed anything by Stern and had to work hard for every good grade I received.
I think the exposure Stern students get to the world is really unparalleled. Obviously, there's NYC, which is pretty cosmopolitan itself, but Stern goes further with the International Studies Program. After studying Korea and the differences in doing business there, I actually got to travel there for a week and talk with executives at LG Electronics about their company strategy. It was probably one of my favorite experiences of my college career, and one that I think is pretty unique. I think my classmates—even though they may have visited other Korean companies or gone to Berlin or Santiago instead—would almost all agree with me.
I have loved every minute of my time at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business. I felt that I was adequately challenged, while at the same time, given opportunities to overcome these with the aid of fellow group members or access to a teacher. Some may inaccurately cite a number of issues with New York University (and Stern as well). But one of the great things about NYU, however, is that you are granted an extensive amount of independence, which means that although you may need to fulfill certain requirments, you can supplement them however you see fit.
The greatest thing about Stern is the amount of responsibility and leadership opportunities it allows its students to take. We have the most developed undergraduate, student-led extracurricular program in the nation and it's due to the massive amounts of funding and freedom the school allows to its students. We have almost 30 clubs at Stern, all completely run by students, and each club is given nearly free range to utilize the school's resources to develop its own program and calendars. Leading a club, as I am doing, has proved to be an invaluable experience. The Stern Scholars Program is another example of the freedom the school gives its students. It allows Scholars to experience international travel and gain richer cultural experiences than they would otherwise have the chance to experience.
My experience at NYU Stern School of Business has been exceptional. The students are very competitive and intelligent, which has better prepared me for the corporate world. Everyone is very driven academically. However, the extracurricular activities and clubs available are excellent. The business societies always have wonderful guest speakers and events that give us a glimpse of the industries that we are interested in. There is a good balance between academics and the building of leadership skills through club memberships. I feel that Stern students have a diversified set of skills that they can bring to the job market.
Great atmosphere at school, everyone is very motivated, and there is positive camaraderie and school spirit among students. I feel the business program helps make students well-rounded and ready to embrace employment after graduation. The location of the university is amazing, in the heart of New York, offering so many social outlets that have helped me grow as well. Overall, just a great and positive experience that I look back upon fondly.
I also think Stern's Entertainment, Media, Technology concentration, which is a one-of-a-kind undergraduate program is phenomenal.
Stern's location in New York City allowed me to hold meaningful internships throughout my whole college career, which led to a Wall Street investment banking internship after junior year and culminated in me getting my full-time job at a hedge fund.
While the quality has varied from time to time in terms of teaching, I have had a very satisfying experience overall. I have found most of my courses to be interesting and I feel that I am getting value added from my education. I am pleased with the quality of my peers as I am consistently surrounded with very smart people.
One of the reasons I chose to go to Stern was the International Study Project. For this required class we travel to foreign country during spring break of our junior year. While in this other country, we visit a company, and on our return write and present a strategic plan for the next three to five years. My group visited Hyundai, the Korean auto maker, and created a plan for them. This was a phenomenal experience for everyone involved—not just visiting another country for a week, but actually going to a factory floor and seeing how cars were being made. This experience set Stern apart from all of the other schools that I had applied to. After going through it, I know I made the correct decision.
There is one more thing I would like to talk about, and that is the plethora of extracurricular activities available at Stern. Since freshman year, I've been a member and part of the board of the Investment Analysis Group. Being a part of this organization has greatly helped me in numerous ways. But the most important aspect is that level of independence we have. While the administration is watching over us, they give us a signification amount of freedom. During my sophomore year, we had an idea to host an Investment Competition as a part of the larger Stern Summit on Global Business. After a rapid approval by the administration, a part of the club board (4fourstudents) created and ran the entire competition. We continued this Investment Competition this year, and again ran the entire competition with minimal oversight from the administration. Being able to run such a program has been amazing, and has really made my experience at Stern that much better.
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