Graduate School Weekend

Represent Your Institution or Program

NYU Abu Dhabi Graduate School Weekend, typically held in late September or early October, brings together graduate schools from across the globe to our campus in Abu Dhabi. The event fosters relationships between leading institutions throughout the world and helps our students as well as students across the UAE to uncover the wealth of opportunities in graduate education.

It was a fantastic weekend that really gave us a good understanding of NYUAD and the students at your campus. It was also great for general networking and benchmarking. Plus, we had a great time!

Lund University

The attending representatives will learn about the NYUAD curriculum and co-curricular programs through meetings and discussions with deans and senior administrators. Through a fair and other events, attendees will have the opportunity to interact with students from NYUAD and other local universities. NYUAD will also provide tours of local cultural attractions to provide a more holistic view of the UAE.

The best grad fair I have ever attended!

Georgetown University

Why Attend?

  • Recruit diverse students from the NYUAD student body, comprised of about 1300 students from over 115 different countries and speaking as many languages.
  • Target some of the top undergraduate students in the world: NYUAD has a 4% admit rate, and has produced ten Rhodes Scholars in the past five years.
  • Gather in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE—one of the safest and most progressive countries in the Middle East—alongside about 30 other graduate schools to exchange information and learn about graduate education around the world. Past attendees include Harvard University, Shanghai Theatre Company, ETH Zurich, McGill University, London School of Economics.
  • Engage students who are eager for further study with over 30% of NYUAD alumni going directly into graduate study in about 20 countries around the world. 

What to Expect

A packed weekend with a lot of information and networking opportunities. In the past, attendees have come mainly to learn about NYUAD and use this as a Middle East recruitment opportunity. When they left, they were empowered by the connections they made and knowledge they gained from the other institutions present. It turns into a fantastic time to learn about other graduate programs around the world, as well as to share and compare best practices in the field of graduate education.

Past Attendees

  • Columbia University
  • Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health
  • Georgetown University, Walsh School of Foreign Service
  • Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government
  • HEC Paris
  • Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  • Johns Hopkins, School of Advanced International Studies
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • King's College London
  • London School of Economics and Political Science
  • McGill University
  • Nanyang Technological University
  • Peking University School of Transnational Law
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
  • The Fletcher School, Tufts University
  • The University of Texas at Austin
  • The University of Warwick
  • University College of London
  • University of Exeter
  • University of Houston
  • University of London
  • University of Manchester
  • University of Oxford, Said Business School

Representative Schedule of Events

Day One

Time Session
9-9:30am NYUAD Overview
9:30-10:30am Campus Tour
10:30-11:30am Academic Panel
Noon-1pm Lunch with Faculty
1:30-3pm Panel Discussions
3-5pm
Graduate School Fair
5:30pm
Dinner

Day Two

Time Session
9-9:35am
Campus Life Overview
9:35-10:35am
Student Experience Panel with current students
10:35-11:35am
Senior Thesis Panel
11:45am-12:45pm
Lunch with Campus Life Staff
12:45pm
Closing Remarks
1pm onward
Free Time

The students were on average the highest quality, with exactly the right international exposure that we are looking for.

Oxford Said Business School

Selected Graduate Schools Attended by NYUAD Alumni

  • Case Western Reserve University
  • Central European University
  • Columbia University
  • Cornell University
  • Dartmouth College
  • Delft University of Technology
  • Georgetown University
  • Harvard University
  • Hong Kong University
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  • IE Business School
  • Imperial College London
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • KTH Royal Institute of Technology
  • Linkoping University
  • London School of Economics
  • Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich
  • Maryland Institute College of Art
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Northwestern University
  • NYU
  • Princeton University
  • Sackler School of Medicine (Tel Aviv University)
  • Sciences Po Paris
  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography
  • Stanford University
  • Toulouse School of Economics
  • Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi - Milano
  • University College London
  • University College London Qatar
  • University of British Columbia
  • University of California, Los Angeles
  • University of Oklahoma College of Medicine
  • University of Oxford
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • University of Toronto
  • University of Wisconsin Madison
  • Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis
  • Yale Law School
  • Yonsei University

Attending the Weekend

We will assist in booking flights from your institution's city to Abu Dhabi and back. All booking is done through our partner travel agent. We will book flights so that you arrive the evening before the event, and depart the morning after the last day of the event. If you would like to change this, we will put you in direct contact with our travel agent. We will also book accommodation for you.

There are opportunities for grants to help cover the cost of attendance.

Many countries receive a visa upon arrival in the UAE. When booking your travel, our travel agent will help verify if you require one and will facilitate its acquisition. We can guarantee that you will receive a visa, or how long it will take for a visa to be issued.

We provide transport to and from the airport in the UAE. We book transport from the airport, to the accommodation we have booked, as well as back to the airport. If you are staying longer, we can put you in direct contact with our travel agent for ground transport changes. During the event, we facilitate transport to and from all destinations associated with Graduate School Weekend.

Taxis are also easily available, with a cost averaging USD 10 (about AED 40) to get from one side of Abu Dhabi City to the other.

All meals during the event are covered by NYU Abu Dhabi. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note these to our team when providing your travel details.


As a green campus we strongly encourage you to bring electronic media instead of brochures to publicize your graduate programs. Please do not mail printed materials to us in advance.

Please plan to take any unused print-based resources with you when you depart.

The UAE can be quite warm in late September and early October, with averages around 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit). Buildings are air conditioned, and will sometimes be quite cold, especially compared to the outside temperature.

Bring business casual attire and long sleeves for indoors. As you will be visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, please bring along clothes to cover to ankles and wrists during the tour. Women are encouraged to bring a scarf to cover their hair as well. Alternatively, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque provides abayas for women and kanduras for men.