NYU Draper MA Program Alumnus Review

[levoyous]

I’ve noticed a few posts on here about NYU’s Draper Program, both when I was applying and since. Since there have been few posts from people who have attended, I thought I would try to give an insider’s perspective. I don’t believe in simple, do-or-don’t advice on graduate school, but hopefully I can give you enough information to make an informed decision on your own. The first few paragraphs will be merely descriptive, and then I will address some pros and cons below.

 

The program requires 32 credits (about 8 courses) and takes roughly two years, more or less depending on whether or not you attend full time. Draper has a couple of permanent faculty and a few others who rotate every few years, as well as a couple of adjuncts. Draper offers its own courses as well as allowing you to take courses in almost all NYU departments with the department/professor’s permission. (For example, I took courses in philosophy, comp lit and political science.)

 

All of the Draper professors are excellent scholars and teachers, and the courses are rigorous and difficult. There is a loose configuration of disciplinary orientations within its interdisciplinary environment, but most students tend toward either social sciences (anthropology, sociology), humanities (philosophy, literature, cultural studies), or arts (music or visual/fine art). Draper courses will give you a basic orientation in say, literary theory or “science studies” (something like contemporary philosophy of science), and then you can choose more specialized courses from other departments to complete your training. Figuring out what courses you should take is mostly up to you; Draper offers little in the way of disciplinary guidance or formal degree programs.

 

In my experience, Draper students are smart, motivated, and diverse. The program attracts a few different kinds of people, including rich kids who don’t know what to do with themselves, and (more commonly) people who have led very interesting lives but didn’t follow a traditional academic path. It makes the Draper student body very “real”; there’s very little academic posturing and a lot of genuine intellectual searching and people motivated to figure out their academic direction. Among both professors and other students, I met people who will be lifelong friends and advisers. The department plans lots of social events and extracurricular activities that help you boost your academic CV (the program’s journal, and student organization) as well as make friends if you’re new to the city.

 

The final project is a thesis of about 50 pages, which can be advised by a Draper professor or any other NYU faculty member (both are common; my adviser was outside the program).

 

Now, some pros and cons, and then some concluding thoughts.

 

PROS:

*Interdisciplinarity. Extreme academic flexibility, ideal for people whose undergraduate major is unrelated to their current interests, or who aren’t sure what discipline their work fits into.

 

*NYU. It’s a great school, it has top scholars in almost every field, and carries an undeniable weight on your CV. These are people who will be writing your PhD recommendation letters, and no matter what anyone might tell you, it matters where they’re from. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I got PhD interviews at more than one Ivy League school because of who my recommenders were.

 

*Opportunities to prepare for graduate school. Draper’s student journal, Anamesa, gives you a chance to both work on a peer-reviewed publication and publish your own work, both of which are great on your CV for PhD applications. They also have PhD workshops and boot camps every year, which help you decide on programs and get into the nitty-gritty of the application process. In general, Draper students have a strong record of successful PhD applications.

 

CONS:

 

*Price. Tuition and fees is about $7500 per course, times eight is about $60,000. As of 2013, all students get a 30% tuition discount, which gets it down to $40k. You also get 50% remission if you’re a full-time teacher. I worked full-time during the program, which is academically not ideal, but meant I didn’t have to borrow any more for living expenses. If you have to move to NYC and borrow for living expenses as well, there’s almost no question that you shouldn’t go.

 

*Disciplinary ambiguity. While Draper is a great place to “find yourself” in an environment that is challenging but not limiting, its lack of structure can also result in a continued indecision about what kind of scholar you are, which will kill you when it comes time to apply to PhD programs. Interdisciplinary is a noble goal, but most departments you apply to will expect you to demonstrate a commitment to their discipline. Draper is great if your goal is just to get an MA and become a generally educated person, but if you have scholarly ambitions, you have to be fairly driven and focused to get what you need to get out of the program (ie, scholarly training, quality work to use for a writing sample, and strong letters of recommendation).

 

*Isolation from the NYU graduate community. Draper has some of the best, smartest students at NYU, but they are generally less integrated into the university at large as students in disciplinary MA programs, who know and are generally treated the same as PhD students. This may or may not matter depending on your personal goals, but if you want to experience what it’s like to be a part of a disciplinary department, get to know faculty members beyond just who teaches your courses, have the “hang out in the department” feel, Draper doesn’t offer as much of that as other programs.

 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

 

As I said at the beginning, I don’t think it’s possible to render a universal judgement on whether you should or shouldn’t attend a particular program. My experience is unusual in that I had an established career and was able to work while I attended, thus reducing the cost compared to many other students, and giving me steady employment after I finished. Even then, it is a very expensive program, and it was arguably stupid of me to take on that much debt for it. On the other hand, I was able to figure myself out academically, to find a fantastic adviser, and to be accepted to strong PhD programs in my discipline. Draper students (people I know, not just statistics) were accepted to Oxford, Berkeley, Irvine, UCLA, Penn, the CUNY Grad Center, Emory, Boston College, and others.

 

The one thing I will say absolutely: unless you are independently wealthy, under no circumstances should you move to New York and borrow six-figures-plus for an MA program in the humanities. You should look at amortizations and think long and hard about how long it will take you to pay that back, and the fact that you may may be crippled financially for decades for something that provides you no material benefit.

 

If you intend to go on to a doctoral program and have a clear idea of what discipline you want to study, you should look for an affordable master’s program in your discipline instead. The CUNY system, especially, has MA programs in virtually every discipline, is ridiculously cheap, and still puts you in a great city close to excellent scholars.

 

It’s impossible to deny that Draper can be a great experience, and unless you’re utterly clueless, will put you in a strong position for a successful PhD application. NYU is a top university, and there are few places in the world better to be a scholar than New York. That said, unless you can a) minimize your borrowing to just tuition or less; and b ) have a unique reason that a disciplinary MA isn’t right for you (you have no clue about discipline, have bad/unrelated undergrad grades, etc), then you should not consider Draper.

 

Please feel free to post questions or message me.

Edited April 8, 2014 by levoyous

[fasboo]

did someone pay you to write this???

[levoyous]

did someone pay you to write this???

 

Yep, they told me to write that you probably shouldn't go to their program unless you're rich or have special circumstances. 

Edited April 9, 2014 by levoyous

[BeatBackBones]

Thanks for the review! Was very helpful. 

[pixie185]

Incredibly helpful, thank you so much.  I was gung-ho about Draper until I started finding some negative propaganda online.  Your post was extremely informative, and has renewed my initial excitement about the program.

[youngcharlie101]

I personally despised NYU's Draper Program. I would have much rather gone to get my MA in Comparative Literature. 

[Zmith]

I personally despised NYU's Draper Program. I would have much rather gone to get my MA in Comparative Literature. 

 

Why did it suck?