Accommodations for Students and Guests
Directions to Campus
Frequently Asked Questions
Immunization Requirements
Important Dates
New Student Seminar Required Reading
NYU Welcome Week
Registration and Consent Form
Placement Exams

Accommodations for Transfers, Parents and Guests during Orientation
NYU Steinhardt does not provide housing for transfer students, parents, or guests during our summer orientation program. For a complete list of accommodations in and around the NYU neighborhood please visit http://www.nyu.edu/about/hotels.html

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to attend Orientation?
Unless you are an internal transfer student who has already registered for your Fall classes, all new freshmen and transfer students are required to attend one session in order to meet with their advisor, take placement examinations, and register for classes.

What should I bring with me?
Freshmen: If you attend the June or July session you will be staying overnight in a residence hall, therefore, you should bring your overnight bag, comfortable clothes, a towel, toiletries and minimal spending money. Bed linens are provided for you. You should also bring your admissions letter (or your NYU Student ID number found on the letter), and picture ID.

Transfers: Please bring your admissions letter (or your NYU Student ID number found on the letter) and a copy of your tentative statement of transfer credit.

Do I have to take the English Writing Examination?
All new transfer students, even if they have taken English/Writing courses must take the Expository Writing Examination. Your advisor will be able to answer questions about credits for English/Writing classes, etc.

Do I have to take the Foreign Language Placement Examination?
If you wish to take a class in a language that you studied in high school, and you are not transferring in AP or college credit for that language, you must take the placement examination so that you can be advised as to the proper class level.

Will I get all of the classes I need?
Your advisor and orientation leaders will help you register for classes that you need to take in order to meet your Steinhardt graduation requirements.

Immunization Requirements
New York University policy requires that all incoming students complete several health related requirements that include a health history, proof of immunization to measles, mumps and rubella, an acknowledgement that you have received information regarding meningitis and have completed an on-line course on alcohol and other drugs.

In the coming weeks you will be receiving information, forms and instructions from the Student Health Center that will assist you in complying with these requirements..

Deadline for submission of all requirements is August 15, 2008

If health requirements are not met and required information has not been received by the Student Health Center (SHC) your registration will be cancelled and you will be de-enrolled 30 days after classes begin.

Fore more information visit the Student Health Center's website at http://www.nyu.edu/shc/

Important Dates

For a complete calendar please visit http://www.nyu.edu/registrar/calendars/

New Student Seminar Required Reading
The New Student Seminar (E03.0001) is a required course for all new students enrolled in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. This seminar is your bridge to college life and will help you become familiar with the University, the Steinhardt School, and your program of study. You will also begin exploring your role as new college students against the backdrop of this year’s new student theme and new student reading.

The Book The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud

The Theme Learning from Books, from Life, and from the City.

New York City is the stuff of legends, a city with a mythology all its own. “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,” wrote Fred Ebb in his famous song, “New York, New York.” Edith Wharton, Henry James, Saul Bellow, and even Candice Bushnell have written “society novels,” which attempt to capture the city and its denizens at a particular moment in time. New York City, at the turn of the 21st century is the subject of The Emperor’s Children, a popular novel that looks at the dynamics of a group of friends and relations whose lives intersect and are changed by 9/11. Like the characters in Claire Messud’s novel, you have come to New York City and NYU to carve out your own destiny. Your life, the novel, is shaped by the family who launched you into this world, as well as the friends you meet, the books you read, and the choices you make about how you will live your life.

The Assignment The Emperor’s Children is about the ‘odyssey years,’ a decade of wandering that occurs between adolescence and adulthood. During this period, the characters explore adulthood, decide what kind of people they are, work through their attachment to their parents and authority figures, and come to terms with the post 9/11 world. The characters in the book evoke in us a wide variety of responses. Messud has said, “I believe that these guys, for all their faults and limitations, are no worse than most of us . . . I was trying to portray people as I see them, motivated by conflicting impulses, given to shabby thoughts and actions, but not, for the most part, bad people.” How are the “emperor’s children” like or not like us? What conflicts do they face? How is their journey like or unlike your own? As you put pen to a new chapter in your life, think about how you would write your story. Is it a story of independence or dependency or a little bit of both? What kind of character are you? What do you strive to achieve? Where do you imagine yourself in 2012 in 2022?

The Dean's Convocation In early fall, Dean Mary Brabeck will help us to further our understanding of the novel’s theme at a special ceremony.

For more themes/questions to consider about The Emperor's Children, click here.

NYU Welcome Week
NYU Welcome Week, August 24-29, open to all freshmen and transfer students, is six days of over 200 programs and events, from study skills workshops to yoga classes to NYC excursions, and even a beach party! Welcome Week is a great way to meet new people, get to know NYU, experience New York City, and have fun during your first week of school. You will receive a complete list of Welcome Week programs in the mail in early to mid-August. For more information about Welcome Week, visit the Student Resource Center's website at http://www.nyu.edu/src/.

Registration and Consent Form
You must complete and send a Registration and Consent form to attend one of the Orientation sessions offered this summer.

Please click here for the New Undergraduate Student and Parent Orientation 2008 registration and consent form.

Please click here for the New Transfer Student Orientation 2008 registration and consent form.

Placement Exams
Foreign Language: If you wish to take a class in a language that you studied in high school, and you are not transferring in AP or college credit for that language, you must take the placement examination so that you can be advised as to the proper class level. Exams will be offered in: French, Italian, Spanish, German, Korean, Modern Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Tagalog, Portuguese, Russian

Expository Writing Exam: All new transfer students, even if they have taken English/Writing courses must take the Expository Writing Examination. Your advisor will be able to answer questions about credits for English/Writing classes, etc.

Music Theory Placement Exams: Required of all new Music students for placement into the Music Theory course sequence.