Welcome to Grad Alley, the commencement eve celebration (Wednesday evening) of New York University – the world’s largest private university, with 40,000 students. A carnival-type atmosphere is created along West 4th Street, La Guardia Place, and the NYU plazas. There is free food, entertainment, a live D.J., and their own fireworks display. As I write this on Thursday morning, the commencement ceremonies are taking place in Washington Square Park, the “campus” for NYU.
Grad Alley was absolutely packed. NYU is for the student who wants to attend a large school, be in an urban environment, and take advantage of everything a city like New York has to offer. This is a factor in the strong standing of many of their departments/schools, which can draw from its NYC environment – e.g. law, film, & business. NYU is the polar opposite of the small school in the country, where a bucolic setting, small student body, and intimate contacts are the hallmarks. At times, NYU can feel a bit overwhelming and impersonal. Personally, I like it, but it’s not for the faint of heart – there is no hand holding here…
Wikipedia says 50000 students 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University
Thank you for the answer in previous post 🙂
“no hand holding” presumably in an academic sense!
prokur – who know what’s being counted in a place like NYU – grad students, evening students etc. Also, they have several international campuses now. A number of sites quoted 39,000+.
Brian
Oh my god, those purple Statue of Liberty crowns are too much! Thank god they didn’t have those when I graduated…just the purple gowns.
x!ne -I forgot to mention in the posting that violet is the NYU color, so there’s plenty of purple come graduation time.
Brian
Thanks for the narrative. Photos are very illustrative:)
For all those people this was the beginning of the real world and life. What will they be like 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now? The future. Interesting photo and narrative.
Oh trust me, as a grad of NYU, I’m too familiar with the violet color. And the macho basketball team called The Violets!