Abu Dhabi campus opens

Adam Pivirotto is 17 years old. He is third in his class and has a weighted GPA of 4.57 with interests in theater, politics and international relations. He should have his pick of top colleges, but he said the choice is not his.

"Unfortunately, I come from a home that can't really afford college," Pivirotto said.

He'll go to the school that gives him the most money, which, if he is accepted, will likely be NYU Abu Dhabi.

NYU in New York is well-known for having sky-high tuition and limited financial aid. But across the world in the United Arab Emirates, NYU is opening a satellite campus where there is no limit on the financial aid it offers.

NYUAD held a ceremonial dedication and opening for its downtown campus yesterday, though it won't welcome its first freshmen until August 2010.

NYUAD is completely funded by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. The university hopes to educate the world's brightest students at its new campus. And as NYU seeks those attendees, financial aid has become something more — financial support. The school has avowed that no student or family will have to take on debt to attend NYUAD. Aid includes not only tuition and housing, but also "foreign travel and study integral to a student's academic program," as well as two trips home annually, according to the school's website.

This kind of aid will "allow us to compete with the top schools," said Linda Mills, NYUAD's associate vice chancellor for admissions and financial aid.

"We're going to be turning down kids who applied early action to us, who would have been easy admits for Harvard or Oxford or Stanford or Cambridge," NYU President John Sexton said. "When that begins to happen, that makes NYU hot. [It's] not just going to affect just the 100 students that show up at NYUAD next September. That's going to affect the students that show up here [in New York]."

The first challenge of NYUAD is finding these students. After 300,000 promotional bulletins hit mailboxes around the world, NYU began a more personal outreach program, recruiting from approximately 900 top high schools, either by visiting the schools themselves or by educating the schools' college counselors in information sessions. NYUAD has partnered with the Institute of International Education in its search; the IIE is a non-profit based in the U.S. that is best known for administering Fulbright scholarships to graduate students.

"We are really the first university with a worldwide admissions network," Sexton said.

After each round of admissions (non-binding early decision and regular decision), applicants who make it through the first round of admission cuts are invited to visit the campus and attend an all-expenses-paid Candidate Weekend for tours and interviews.

Jill Briquelet, a counselor at Oxford Academy in Cypress, Calif., has worked with three students who are applying to NYUAD.

"[The] students are very interested in the international focus," Briquelet said "They like the idea of the small classes, the small learning community."

Two of her students have attended a Candidate Weekend. Lan Duong, 17, attended the most recent weekend over Thanksgiving break and is an early-decision candidate. Duong has a 4.5 weighted GPA. It was the challenge of such selective admissions that enticed her to apply.

"It's almost even more prestigious than an Ivy because it's so selective. I jumped at the challenge," she said.

There were 236 students who applied through NYUAD's non-binding early decision process; hundreds of others asked to be reviewed for NYUAD when they applied to NYU's main campus using the Common Application. Nearly 100 students were invited to Candidate Weekends this fall, and the school plans to invite anywhere from 200 to 400 more to the weekends next semester.

"Everything we do over the weekend is an example of the kinds of experiences the students will have [at NYUAD]," Mills said.

At the most recent Candidate Weekend, 55 students, including Duong and Pivirotto, were given a whirlwind tour of Abu Dhabi that included a picnic dinner in the Arabian desert, a visit to a mosque and conversations with Sexton and NYUAD Vice Chancellor Alfred Bloom.

NYUAD's first freshman class will have approximately 100 students, Mills said. Early-decision applications are set to receive notification letters by Dec. 15.

"I'm so nervous," Pivirotto said. "The days are getting closer and closer, and I'm getting more and more nervous."