Visiting Columbia and NYU

[treppenwitz]

Just booked my ticket to NYC: will be visiting both Columbia and NYU (if they extend my scholarship deadline).  Will be my first time in New York and I will be there for less than a week: what do I need to see at the schools and what do I need to see elsewhere?

[just call me elle]

in terms of the schools, make sure you actually spend time looking at classrooms, study areas, dorms/apartments, and libraries, since you'll spend lots of time in them and they could affect your experience a lot. also try to get a sense for the neighborhoods around the schools, since they're significantly different.

new york is great. depending on your interests, museums like the Met and MoMA can be great - check online to see if they have special exhibitions. soho shopping is always fun, though there are mobs of tourists.

[treppenwitz]

Cool, thanks: I'm definitely going to have to be vigilant about actually checking out apartments, classrooms, libraries, etc.  I'm totally one of those people who just walk into a room, take a quick glance around and walk out without paying attention to much of anything.  And then when people ask me how it was I just tell them it was great even if it was absolute crap because I honestly can't remember . 

Anyone else have any tips?  Surely there has to be a secret passage or something I gotta look out for in the library.

[turnitout]

museums: the guggenheim. it's my favorite museum in new york and it's small enough that you can get through it in a couple hours. (student id = discount)
theatre if you're into it. there are always a number of good off- and off-off bway shows playing. same with music. check out the village voice.
if you're into sushi, i LOVE monster sushi (they have one place in the village, one place on 23rd around 6th ave, and one place uptown somewhere). the philly rolls sound gross, but are the best things on the face of the planet. if you're into italian, there is an amazing little place on sullivan (down a few blocks from nyu law, just under houston) called pepe rosso -- prices are $7-$10 and you can either do take-out or sit at a cafe table outside. there are great cafes with sidewalk seating all over the village and soho. the east village and lower east side have some of the best dive bars in the country. and there's some french cafe on columbus around 70th that makes the world's most amazing belgian waffles.
oh -- if you're there for around a week and plan to travel the city a bit, get a subway card. and avoid doing touristy stuff on weekends -- you'll never forgive yourself.