An underrated college for Engineering, NYU Tandon.

University of Southern California

7.8(37 Reviews)

Northeastern University

7.5(51 Reviews)

Reason for choosing my college

• There were several reasons as to why I chose NYU over other colleges. First of all, Tandon School of Engineering boasts of a 100% placement record among Master's students. There is also the "NYC" factor; the amount of opportunities in the city is unmatched. Most importantly, the fee structure of Tandon was actually better than the other colleges I got into. Moreover, NYU was placed higher in rankings than the other unis I got an offer from at the time.
• Therefore, it felt like an obvious decision to choose NYU over other colleges because the same amount of investment at Tandon gave me a much better chance of securing a full-time opportunity. Besides, I was getting a chance to live in the city. A lot of the students are concerned about living costs when it comes to NYC; however, as my campus (Tandon School of Engineering) is situated in Brooklyn, I got really good rooms to live in Brooklyn itself that were much cheaper than the ones in Manhattan.

University of Washington

7.4(8 Reviews)

University of California

8.0(11 Reviews)

Columbia University

7.2(22 Reviews)

Reason for Rejection

• I believe that a lack of research work on my profile was the key reason for getting rejected from these universities. I secured really good exam scores (323 in GRE and 113 in TOEFL) and had a 9.1 GPA (top 10 in my class) in my undergraduate. Moreover, I feel my SOP was really well written, along with a major internship in my Resume. As I was applying fresh out of undergrad, I had no full-time work experience. The only important thing I was missing in my profile was a solid research work. I had a paper publication in a journal; however, it wasn't a reputable peer-reviewed journal and my work was basically a review of another paper. Another thing that might have affected my chances of getting into these Universities, is the fact that I applied really late (in mid-December).
• I did have my LORs ready on time; therefore, I started my applications way too late. I did manage to get really stellar LORs thanks to professors of my college. If my profile had a strong research work to showcase that i could have talked about in my SOP, and if I had applied early (in September), I strongly believe that I could have gotten an offer from one of these universities.

• The most important admission document is a student's SOP. In my opinion, It can single-handedly decide whether a student gets an admit or not. I strongly recommend that a student describe their own personal experiences in college with full authenticity, rather than following any SOP template. It will make the SOP unique and stand out among the other applicants. In general, an SOP should have an intro paragraph mentioning the most important experiences the student has (internship, research work). Then the rest of the SOP should describe the student's college journey in a continuous timeline, highlighting all the important experiences. A lot of the students make the mistake of discussing their schooltime achievements in a master's SOP. I strongly believe that students should only discuss their college journey and why it makes them unique and deserving of a Master's admit.
• When it comes to LORs, I recommend reaching out to your professors as early as possible to request LORs. A lot of the colleges in India have a formal procedure to get an LOR from professors (like securing letterheads, submitting formal applications, etc.). Moreover, professors are very busy and will take time to curate an LOR for students. Therefore, it's best to start early; talk to your professors and they will surely help you in this regard.

• The United States is known for its excellent research facilities and ample of job opportunities, when it comes to STEM. As I wanted to work in the industry after my education, the US was definitely a better choice than all the other countries thanks to the sheer amount of big tech companies and startups that hire round the year.
• The Tandon School of Engineering is known for its 100% placement record, as almost all the Master's students secure a full-time work opportunity within 3 months of graduation. A major reason for this is the fact that the University organizes a plethora of career events for the students to attend and build their network. A lot of the students secure interviews at these events and even get hired. Moreover, the Alumni support at Tandon is a boon to every student. Landing a job in the USA is all about networking with the right people, and the Alumni's of NYU are known for supporting new students and providing them with referrals, which can easily get students interviews for part-time and full-time roles.
• Tandon is ranked #41 in the US when it comes to Engineering. Tandon offers a plethora of engineering programs ranging from Computer science to Financial. Most notable courses offered at Tandon are Deep Learning and Machine Learning. NYU is known for its research in GenAI thanks to Professor Dr. Yann LeCun, who is the Director of AI research at Facebook.
• Tandon is situated in the Brooklyn Tech Triangle, and that places the students at the heart of the tech industry. Most of the students opt for a full-time job after completing their Masters; however, some go for research (PHD or postdoc). Tandon has ample opportunities for both. When it comes to extracurriculars, there are a plethora of student clubs in the NYU ecosystem. Music, Dance, Chess, Cricket, Gaming, Languages, you name it—there is a club at NYU where students can meet other fellows who share the same interest. I had no shortage of fun and study at NYU.

• Class schedule for a Master's student isn't very hectic. A full-time master's student has 3 classes per week. Each of these classes is 2 and a half hours long with a 10-minute break in between. A few courses also have a mandatory lab class, which, however, most of the courses don't. Around 30-40% of the courses offer online classes too, in order to accommodate more students in the same class.
• Class timings can vary a lot depending on the specific course. I have had early morning classes that started at 8 am and also evening classes that started at 7 pm. Students can't really control the timing of the class; they need to adhere to the courses that they want to take. However, some courses do offer multiple classes in a week so that the students can choose the timing that suits their time.
• Average strength of each class is around 50, excluding a couple of really popular courses that can have around 200 students in a class. Such courses are conducted online or in an auditorium. However, almost every class has around 40–50 students, which is a decent ratio. The demographic of Tandon school of engineering is mostly Asian.
• Around 50% of the students at Tandon are Indians, followed by 40% Chinese. Therefore, all classes at Tandon are half filled with Indian students. Although the class schedule isn't too hectic, each of these classes does have assignments every week. Each of these assignments takes around 4-5 hours to complete on average; therefore, students are caught up all week in studies. However, some classes do provide very simple assignments that can be completed in an hour. If students complete all the assignments every week, they generally do not need to do much self-study in order to get decent grades in exams.

• The faculty at NYU is excellent. Most of the professors are very approachable and they feel happy to help students out. Each professor has an office hour every week where students can directly interact with the professors to get any help they need in the course. The Tandon School of Engineering has a Faculty to student ratio of around 1:40; this is sufficient for students to approach professors if they do need help.
• My favourite professors were Professor Dr Chinmay Hegde and Professor Dr Anna Choromanska. They both taught Machine Learning and Deep learning courses at Tandon. They are very friendly and I was able to build a strong foundation in ML and DL through their lectures. Besides, they gave a very limited number of assignments so that the students can spend time on self-learning.
• Some professors even help students in getting part-time and full-time roles through their connections in the Industry. There are professors who hold high research positions in top companies and sometimes do help students through their references. However, this is quite rare and instead NYU organises a tonne of career events for students to land jobs. Students generally approach professors for TA and RA roles and professors are happy to hire students who approach them directly.

• NYU has two primary campus locations in NYC. One is the Tandon Engineering Campus, situated in the Brooklyn Tech Triangle and the other is situated around the iconic Washington Square Park. Each of these campuses is loaded with all the important facilities that a student needs. For example, every NYU building has a library and a study space for students and there is a dedicated library building called Bobst library.
• NYU has a dedicated building for sports called the Palladium that hosts games like basketball and swimming. Every NYU building has doctors for any emergency situation. There are numerous clubs in the NYU ecosystem. I was mostly involved with the gaming club and the chess club and I used to attend their weekly meets. The most popular club has to be the Indian Students club, there Diwali and Holi celebrations are some of the most famous events on the entire campus. Other popular events include the grad cruise parties and the gala nights. There are a tonne of extracurricular activities thanks to the plethora of student clubs.
• My favourite used to be exploring the city events. One such event was called Scavenger Hunt, organised by the literary club at NYU. In the event, we were divided into teams and had to search dozens of book stores across Manhattan in order to find clues that gave the answer to an elaborate puzzle. It was exciting to walk through beautiful neighbourhoods of NYC in search of these bookshops. This is just one example out of the huge number of such events that happen every day at NYU.

• Most Indian students strive to land a TA, RA or GA role under any one of the professors. The average pay per hour for such roles is around $30 with a 20-hour limit per week. As the number of TAs and RAs is very limited, each professor can only hire around 4-5 assistants. Therefore, it is not very easy to land such jobs. Generally, the students who approach the professor early and have good grades in their other courses do secure such jobs. Some professors even post about such openings through email or Handshake (job search portal) and do prefer to interview multiple candidates before hiring. However, it's always recommended to approach the professors directly to ask for such roles.

• NYU does not allow first-year students to get an off-campus job. Instead, first-year students need to rely on on-campus opportunities. Moreover, as NYU prefers hiring professionals for most of the campus work in order to maintain campus quality, the number of on-campus opportunities is also limited. Most of these on-campus opportunities are TA, RA and GA roles along with a few niche roles in some departments, like ambassadors or software developers. The number of such positions is very limited and only 15-20% of the students secure such jobs. The pay for these jobs is generally between $25 and $30, and students are not permitted to work more than 20 hours every week. Therefore, students can make around $1600-2000 every month, which is more than sufficient to manage all the living expenses (rent, food, and bills).
• Students need to approach professors and seniors who are hiring to get one of these opportunities. Thanks to CPT, students can get a major internship after completing their first year of studies. Students can work full-time during these internships and make a decent amount of money.

• The Tandon School of Engineering boasts of a 100% placement record, which means almost every student secures a full-time job within 3 months of graduating. A few students opt for research (PHD of Post Doc). The salary for jobs in the United States varies a lot depending on the location of the job. While in some cities the annual pay for a fresher STEM graduate could be around $80,000, in other cities the pay for the same role could be as high as $110,000 a year. This is done to offset the cost of living difference in different cities. A majority of the NYU grads secure a job in New York City itself. As it is the most expensive city in the world to live in, starting pay for a role like software developer is around $110,000 a year before taxes. Therefore, the average salary range for most students graduating out of NYU is quite high, around $100,000 a year.
• Finding a job in the USA is all about networking. Students at NYU can attend multiple career events organized on the campus; a lot of the students find a job through them. The rest of the students apply for dozens of jobs online on websites like Linkedin, and try to reach out to the recruiter directly or get a referral through a connection (usually an NYU alumnus). Finding a job is all about posting dozens of applications and asking for referrals. The lowest salaries offered to Tandon grads are around $75,000 a year when the job location is in remote places in the US. While the highest pay offers go up to 150,000 dollars a year in locations like San Francisco.

• I found my accommodation through Facebook groups that usually go by names like "NYU housing", "Brooklyn rooms for NYU students". Facebook groups are probably the most popular medium for finding accommodation for Indian students in the US. There are tonnes of apartments (or flats) that are advertised every day on these groups. The most important thing to consider while finding a place to stay is to find the right roommates to stay with. For me, finding accommodation was a smooth process. I found a couple of seniors who had a room empty in their apartment, and I went for it. My roommates were very helpful.
• However, a lot of my friends struggled due to the very different lifestyles of their roommates that caused a lot of tension and drama. I recommend people first look for 2-3 roommates to share an apartment with. This can too be done through Facebook Groups, Whatsapp groups or even in discord. Make sure that your group of roomies discuss their day-to-day lifestyle with each other so that you can make sure that there won't be much friction among them. Then comes the apartment hunting.
• There are a tonne of landlords who keep students as tenants in the apartment and don't really ask for any salary slips or bank statements. I do not recommend going for brokers, as it is not very difficult to find a good place to stay, and therefore it doesn't make much sense to pay an additional broker fee.