Hi everyone! This is JJ (again), reporting from NYU London. I’m a Sophomore in the BS/MS in Accounting program, concentrating in Accounting and Finance/Economics (still thinking about it).
So as I am writing this blog post, I am officially 50% through with the semester. The past 1.5 months have been full of ups and (a few) downs, and I’ll share with you why.
Good: Travel
One thing that I’ll never forget about my time in London is how much traveling I was able to do. If you look at the map below, you’ll see that London is really strategically placed—super close to Europe. A flight to Prague (Czech Republic) is only about 2 hours and if you book early, £30+.
Here are some pictures in London.
Good: Less time spent in school
Study abroad sites do this thing where they compress lessons into a 3-hour class that meets only once a week. I take 4 lessons (1 at University of London and 3 at NYU), but my lessons somehow ended up being only on 2 days. This is great if you’re someone who plans to travel a lot while you’re abroad. I’m also someone that likes stacking classes, so this really works out well for me.
Good: You are NOT just another Sternie
At NYU London, you can only take a maximum of 2 Stern classes so you get to take more electives and meet more people from outside the Stern community! I take Cultures in Africa at School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London with British students, and Media, Culture and Globalization as my 2 electives.
P.S. if you can’t get into the Cultures & Context class in New York/NYU London like me, you can actually ask your advisor if classes at British universities can be used as substitutes. So I technically fulfilled one of my requirements.
Bad: Lesser time to study
However, the pro above also has its down sides. As you probably learnt in Economics classes, you only have a limited amount of time but the same amount of workload as you do in New York. If you travel every other week, this significantly reduces the amount of time you have to do work/prepare for midterms.
Bad: Hard classes
Okay, so this is me speaking from a biased point of view. Clearly, I do not have another experience studying abroad at another NYU site, so I am not the best judge. However, I have heard that London’s classes are harder than other sites. I attribute this to 2 reasons: first, the British style of studying means that professors tend not to let you use cheat sheets, and second, you have professors from some of the best universities in the world teaching you.
Bad: Recruiting
To be frank, you miss out on all the recruiting events that’s being organized left and right in the New York campus. That being said, all the applications are all done online so you really don’t miss the most important things! Plus, if you’re a sophomore like me, recruiting won’t be the top priority.
But all in all, London’s been pretty great. Despite all the “bads” I’ve listed, I honestly wish that I could study here for one more semester. I highly encourage everyone to have at least one study abroad experience in their NYU career! I promise, you won’t regret it. Hope everyone’s doing great back home and see you soon.