How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Today, WSN reported that NYU received the largest number of freshman applications in the university's history. There were 3,140 early decision applicants this year, up from 2,987 last year, including 236 early applicants to NYU's new campus in Abu Dhabi. NYU accepted 62 students to the Abu Dhabi campus.
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Considering the national decline in high school graduates, the number of students who applied to the new campus and the percentage accepted is impressive. The good news bears with it a host of questions about how the new campus will affect us at Washington Square.
We know little about the Abu Dhabi campus beyond the information given on its website. We know that the Abu Dhabi campus is being billed positively and that President John Sexton has high expectations for its growth. But because the school is so new, the number of applicants and the acceptance rate do not indicate its future success — we don't even have a count of regular-decision applicants to NYUAD for fall 2010. We need more information about applicants before we're ready to accept that they're top academic competitors. What is the Abu Dhabi campus beyond "The World's Honors College," as the website bills it?
NYU's pursuit of globalization will inevitably affect the way people think about our school. What message does our investment of time, money and staff in a foreign adjunct send to alumni, staff and prospective students? Does a wall full of Abu Dhabi information at the Welcome Center indicate an administrative fascination with it that might lead to a disproportionate use of resources away from the main campus?
No one will know the impact of the Abu Dhabi campus until it's made. While the editorial board is excited about the opportunities it will undoubtedly provide to the NYU community, we are also eager to learn more about the new program. As students, we have a right to know how its development will impact the brand of our education and how our limited resources are being used to develop it. Community members have a lot riding on its success, and the editorial board is excited to see how the campus will stake our claim internationally in 2010.
