porzingis3 wrote:
I'm also a 1L at NYU so I'll chime into provide some input.
From everything I can tell, NYU is super social, especially for the students who live on campus. I live in Brooklyn and I don't attend that many events, but that's 100% my choice (I'm married, have a dog, and like to go to bed early -- what can I say?) - there is still tons to get involved with if I wanted to.
Sections are about ~90 students each and you have your 3 doctrinal classes with your entire section. For Lawyering (our legal methods class), you're in a smaller sub-section of about 30 students (who are all also in your larger section). My Lawyering section became close really fast and if I'm ever feeling like I want someone to hang out with, I know any of them are game.
Overall, I think it's really easy to meet people and make friends at NYU. I find the culture to be very social and everyone is very friendly. I have yet to meet someone that I even moderately dislike.
As for why I chose NYU:
-PI culture/emphasis (although be forewarned: it's definitely true that public defense appears to be much more important than government work and the public interest career center and the private career center have a strange competition thing going on, which is annoying if you're not totally 100% set on what you want to do after graduating)
-Location: I knew that I wouldn't have to leave NYC during the summers if I didn't want to and I could find almost any type of job opportunity I could ask for here. Not to mention there is a never-ending list of things to do in the city, and due to its location in a huge city, NYU's student groups can provide "real world" experiences in the community really easily (different immigration outreach opportunities, a suspension representation project with high school students, homelessness advocacy work, prison reform advocacy stuff, etc)
-Placement: I knew that if I went to NYU, it would be very likely that I will get a job
-Scholarship: while I didn't get more $$ from NYU than anywhere else, I still got a good enough scholarship that it was affordable to attend
-Faculty: it's really cool to be surrounded by brilliant faculty all the time!
-CLINICS: there are so many more clinic opportunities at NYU than any other (peer) law school, and I loved that. I felt like no matter what I was interested in, there is a clinic to get involved in.
-Overall ~vibe~: while it's true the "vibe" or culture of a school is not something you should prioritize, I just felt like I "fit in" when I visited NYU (compared to other schools I visited) and I could really picture myself here. I really liked all the students/faculty/staff I interacted with when I visited, and that sold me on NYU.