NYU PreCollege

You need to be a current 11th or 12th grader for a fall or spring term, or a rising 11th or 12th grader for summer, and in good academic and disciplinary standing. NYU recommends a cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Seniors who'll graduate before the term starts and current 9th graders can't apply.

NYU calls admission selective and bases its decisions on the strength of your high school grades and your personal statement. The statement is labeled optional, but it's one of only two things NYU says it weighs, so it's worth writing. It runs 250 to 500 words about who you are, on a topic of your choice or on NYU's prompt about an experience that shaped you. NYU doesn't publish how many students it admits.

International students can study online in any term but can come to campus only in summer. To study on campus, they need a student visa (a tourist visa or ESTA isn't accepted) and must take 6 to 8 credits to meet the visa's full-time rule. If English isn't your native language, you'll also need to submit English test scores by the application deadline.

For a fall or spring term, tuition is $6,276 for a 3-credit course or $8,368 for a 4-credit course. Summer students pay the same for 3- and 4-credit courses. A 2-credit course costs $4,184 and the non-credit College Writing Workshop costs $700, and every summer student also pays a $300 program activity charge. Living on campus in summer means taking at least two courses and paying NYU's estimated $4,800 for housing and dining. So two 3-credit courses come to about $17,650 (from $12,552 tuition, $4,800 and $300), and a full 8-credit load comes to about $21,840.

NYU's high school programs don't take tuition payments by credit card, and most don't offer payment plans. If you withdraw in writing before the term's add/drop deadline in the first week of class, you get a full refund of tuition and fees, apart from the $250 deposit and the $50 application charge. After that, any refund depends on when you withdraw and follows NYU's refund calendar. Summer residents who cancel housing after 1 June may be charged $500, and a student dismissed for breaking the conduct rules gets nothing back.

• Application charge

  $50, non-refundable, paid after you submit.

• Deposit

  $250 to accept your place, non-refundable but counted toward your tuition.

• Course extras

  Some courses add lab or studio charges, so check the credits and charges in the course list before you register.

• International students

  Those attending in summer on a student visa are automatically enrolled in NYU Student Health Insurance at $1,464 and pay NYU's $50 I-20 and $115 international student charges. Check visa fees with the official source.

• Daily life

  Summer events cost nothing beyond the $300 activity charge. Subway rides to off-campus events, a bigger meal plan and personal spending are yours to cover.

You leave with NYU college credits and a final grade for each course on an NYU academic record, posted 2 to 3 weeks after classes end. NYU doesn't send a transcript automatically, so you'll need to request one when you want to show the work to a school or college.

NYU doesn't say how other colleges will treat the credit. You can take one course per term pass/fail, but that P doesn't count toward your GPA and may not transfer to a future degree, so a letter grade is the safer choice if the credit matters to you. Drop a course after the add/drop deadline and a W stays on your record. The summer College Writing Workshop carries no credit and is graded pass/fail.

Each floor of the summer residence hall has its own Program Assistant, a current NYU student who's your main point of contact. Professional administrators run the building, and a Campus Safety officer is on duty there 24/7. Residents must be at least 15. They check in by 11 p.m. by handing their NYUCard to the front desk and must be in their rooms for quiet hours at 1 a.m. The hall is co-ed, but students share bedrooms in suites assigned by gender identity, and roommate requests aren't allowed. Guests can't go past the lobby, and that includes family. Nights or weekends away are allowed only in extenuating circumstances, with a parent's request at least two business days ahead.

Free time is the part to talk through at home. NYU doesn't have an enclosed campus. Staff go along on program events, but students can head into the city on their own, and NYU asks families to agree on boundaries. The Student Health Center offers basic urgent care but has no pediatricians, and students handle their own medication. Precollege students count as college students under the federal privacy law FERPA, so parents see records only if the student signs a consent form. NYU can still contact parents when a student's health or safety is at serious risk. Possessing or using alcohol or drugs, or even being present while someone else does, means immediate dismissal without a refund. The full rules are in the NYU High School Programs Handbook.

Applications go through NYU's Precollege application portal, and because NYU admits on a rolling basis with limited space, it urges students to apply as early as possible.

1. 1

   Fill in the Precollege Application Account Creation Form once with your name, date of birth and email, since submitting it twice can slow down your review.

2. 2

   Use the temporary PIN NYU emails you to set up your account, then complete the application on the Application Management page.

3. 3

   Add your official transcript covering every year from 9th grade, any English test scores you need and the optional personal statement, then pay the $50 application charge.

4. 4

   Submit by 4 January 2027 for spring. For summer, international students coming to campus must apply by 15 March 2027, and U.S. and online students by 4 June 2027. If you want summer housing, NYU advises applying by 15 April 2027.

5. 5

   Expect a decision about 2 to 3 weeks after NYU has everything, and if you're admitted, accept the offer and pay the $250 deposit before registering for courses, where seats go first-come, first-served.

6. 6

   Summer residents then submit the housing license by 1 June 2027. NYU offers no deferrals, so switching to a later term means a new application.