By Daniel Camacho
Unigo Campus Rep for NYU
Freshman year at New York University is often marked with a blitzkrieg of decisions. Students are often flabbergasted with countless choices that occasionally do not go well.
My NYU freshman year was ideally one of the better freshman stories, but not to say I had a few downs here and there. I would have to say my NYU freshman year best decision was developing good friendships with a small group of friends. My floor, the seventh floor at Rubin Hall, was full of interesting characters, some of whom I consider my good friends today. Freshman year got me to realize having a lot of friends is not always the most important thing. I learned that having a few, close friends are much better than a ton of friendly associates.
Perhaps the NYU freshman year worst decision I made would have to be not setting up rules with my roommates. One roommate specifically had a tendency to be obliviously obnoxious to the other roommate and myself. He would often snooze in the morning for five hours, eat in the room and create a horrible stench, and rarely ever cleaned besides his own desk and bed. A few times all three of us were arguing, but there was never any establishment of agreement to create order in the room. Sometimes I wish the three of us got along more, but unluckily, we also happened to be stubborn young men who would have only been happy with having our own ways.
Matthew Marsh, a sophomore music composition major said his freshman year’s decision-making period has really influenced the kind of student he is today.
“My NYU freshman year best decision would have to be establishing a solid relationship with my writing teacher,” Marsh said. His periodic meetings with her helped him receive a great deal of guidance, as well as greater communication skills with other professors. Marsh also pointed out that now he has “somebody to ask for letters of recommendations when I need them.”
However Marsh said his NYU freshman year worst decision was locking himself in a relationship that he honestly did not have the time for.
“I wanted to have this sort of relationship to have a safety net in New York, instead of relying on friends for support; I literally poured all my energy into one person,” Marsh said. His plan backfired though; especially after realizing he was without any truly close friends during NYU freshman year.
Kaja Neilsen, a sophomore linguistics and French Language major, said her best decision just so happened to be her worst decision freshman year.
“Joining cheerleading was my best and favorite decision. I got to do something I love doing, but there was also a backdrop to joining,” Neilsen said.
Her parents forbade her to join the cheer squad and even threatened to cut off her tuition payments.
“Eventually, I managed to convince them cheerleading was not getting in the way of school, and that is really when the cheer squad became my life,” Neilsen said.
Bauer McClave, a sophomore in the Silver School of Social Work, considers freshman year as the time when mishaps kept happening.
McClave said, “in fact, one night I left my room, actually I was sexiled, and I went on to meet a couple of great people on my floor.” Since then, McClave said she has become close friends with many of those she got to know.
“Probably the worst decision I made was straight from the beginning of freshman year,” McClave said.
Her roommates were notorious for being “complete slobs to the point where people refused to visit because the room became a biohazard.” For example, the kitchen floor was littered with molding food and the carpets were no longer the same color as when first purchased.
“I wish these issues were addressed much earlier rather than having to scream and argue with my roommates over their trashy ways,” McClave said.