Not your typical college experience

Introduction
Go to NYU if you're looking for something other than the typical college experience. You'll learn to be independent and grow-up a bit faster in the ways of the world in comparison to the students at other colleges. Academically, it is great, and if anything, it still looks great on your resume. NYU really does seem to strive to prepare you for the working world, as well as life in general.

Campus Life and Social Life
NYU basically has no campus, unless you count Washington Square Park. Seeing as you are sharing your campus with the rest of NYC, your social life will revolve around the rest of NYC (and in the NYU area, it's teeming with undergrads, grads, and young professionals, and the young-hearted professionals who are 40 but still like to go bars and clubs where the younger scene seems to be- which is cool, depending how you look at it). NYU forces you to grow up- and it will be a frustrating experience. There is absolutely no hand-holding, but if you make it through NYU, the "real world" afterwards looks like a piece of cake. In fact, with internships at every corner, the transition is pretty fluid, especially when you find out that you're getting PAID for the work you've been doing all this time up till graduation.

Otherwise, getting a job can be intensely competitive, even for the lower-paying ones, because you have a whole city of young people to compete with. It's really all about networking and/or talent.

It is hard to find a niche- but not because it isn't out there. It's just that there's SO MUCH out there to choose from. You'll find it, be it through dorming, school, classes, work, or the scenes you end up at when you're out having fun. You will meet every type of person, it seems, which has its pros and cons, if you know what i mean;) Join clubs- that's usually the easiest way to make great friends. Life in the City is ridiculously fast-paced, but you do eventually learn to keep up- to the point that any service half-an-hour outside the City seems agonizingly slow. The upside is that everyone outside the City also seems pleasant; a side-effect of NYC living is the attitude that developes. Also, in the City, there's NEVER NOTHING to do; it's solely up to you to make the most of it. Living is expensive though.

If you're into fraternity life or sports, it's there, but there's very little of it. Academics
Academically, NYU is pretty amazing, depending on what school you're in or what you are looking for. Stern and Tisch are best known for their ability to produce able professionals, but at Gallatin you can make-up your own major and follow your own curriculum. CAS has the best Judaic department in the nation but also tends to make you feel like a number; meanwhile Gallatin provides its students with a close-knit community with its small class. Though a large university, you'll be surprised by the amount of networking there is and just how connected the student body can seem to be sometimes. My professors, for the larger part, have been fantastic and inspirational so far. THe atmosphere is VERY liberal-minded, which does not always mean open-minded, depending on who you meet, so beware of that.

Student Body
For the most part, the best words to describe the students are "versatile" and "resilient."

In Closing...
I'm loving it, so I say go for it. It's all just a matter of which pros you're willing to sacrifice for which cons, in the end.