My New Life in New York
Now that I’ve gotten settled in my new life here in New York, I figured it was about time to start writing in this blog. I’d already decided a while back that I want to start blogging again in earnest to chronicle my life in grad school and make it easier for my family to keep up with what is going on with me.
It should be noted that the idea behind this blog is NOT to talk in-depth about the specific projects I’m working on. For that you should read my ITP blog; most of our classes require blogs, and I have set those up on a separate site. Over here, you might occasionally read about a project if there was anything unusual about the process, or if I’m particularly proud of it, but otherwise, this blog will be more about life as a grad student and living in New York City.
First off, just to get everyone on the same page, I figured I should explain some of the basics regarding what I am doing here in New York, my living situation, etc. I’ll do this in question-answer format; my extended family already quizzed me about this extensively over the summer, so I have a pretty good idea of what to cover.
What are you doing in New York?#
I’m getting my masters at New York University.
What are you getting your masters degree in? How long is the program?#
I’m studying at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), a two-year masters program that’s part of the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. The program, which is about 30 years old, is highly experimental and open-ended; I like to compare it to the MIT Media Lab, but slightly more arts-oriented. The basic idea behind the program is to use emerging technologies to find new and creative ways to communicate with people. In practice, this means student projects encompass the entire range from computational information visualization to sound design, web mash-ups to wearable technology, experimental art installations to interactive museum exhibits, game design and animation to robots… and whatever else you can think of that combines art and technology.
Do you have to choose a specialization?#
Most students usually pick a specialization, especially during the second year; all your work culminates in a thesis project during your final semester, and by that point I think most students are taking courses with a common theme. As for my specific area of focus, I don’t have one yet. I’m leaning toward something to do with interactive storytelling and/or educational games, but I want to keep an open mind while I try a little bit of everything.
How big is the program? Do you get your own desk in a studio?#
There’s 122 students in my year (the class of 2012), and slightly less than that in the second-year class. This makes it the largest grad program at Tisch but not at NYU as a whole; the Stern MBA program, for example, is almost 4 times as big. So, basically, for a masters program, we’re still relatively average as far as class size goes. Still, we have a lot more students than there’s really adequate space for, so no one gets their own desks. We don’t even have the concept of ‘studios’ in quite the same way as we did at the CMU School of Design; at ITP, pretty much everything is just one big shared workspace.
Where is New York University located?#
Although NYU has campuses throughout the city, its main campus is in Lower Manhattan, in the Greenwich Village/NoHo area. ITP occupies one floor in the Tisch building, which is on the eastern edge of the main campus, on Broadway at Waverly Place.
Where are you living? How long is your commute?#
I’m living in Brooklyn, in an area known as Clinton Hill. It’s probably best-known for the fact that the Pratt Institute is located there; otherwise, it’s a relatively small and unknown neighborhood. On average, my commute is about 35 minutes door-to-door. I live about an 8-minute walk (equidistant) from two different G stations, which is relatively convenient, but the G is the only subway line that doesn’t run into Manhattan, so I always have to transfer at least once to get into the city. In the case of getting to school, I actually transfer twice, but the nice thing is that I then end up pretty much directly outside of the Tisch building.
Do you have roommates? Did you know them beforehand?#
Yes, I share my apartment with 3 others, though we each have our own rooms. One of them, Dannel, was a good friend of mine from undergrad. The other two, Chaska and Matt, are his younger sister and a friend he interned at Apple with, respectively. Dannel is working full-time at Etsy, Matt is working full-time at the New York Times, and Chaska is a second-year undergraduate student at the School of Visual Arts.
Do you have any other friends in the city?#
Yes, fortunately, several other 2010 graduates of the CMU Design program found jobs here, are from New York and living at home, or are trying to find jobs here, so they’re scattered throughout the city. Aside from that, my best friend from high school is also getting her masters at NYU, and there’s a few other random people I knew from before, so I’m not alone. We don’t see each other often, but it’s nice to have people to hang out with.
Are you working? How are you financing your education?#
The program prohibits students from working full-time because it’s too intensive to do both. However, NYU does have a work-study program where students can work up to 20 hours a week and essentially have all or part of their earnings be exempt from federal taxes. So, that’s what I’m doing; I actually have two part-time jobs, one within ITP and one for the Graduate Acting program, for a total of 20 hours a week. It isn’t nearly enough to cover my tuition (which is covered by a small scholarship and an extensive amount of loans), but it is just enough to pay for my books and supplies, subway fare, groceries and personal living expenses, and my undergraduate loan repayments. It’s tough, but I’m making it work.
If you have any other questions, feel free to add them in a comment!