New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has welcomed 389 of the world’s best students into its Class of 2022, a diverse group of young men and women representing 84 nationalities and speaking 64 languages.
UAE Nationals and Americans make up the two largest groups of students by nationality, with 74 Emirati students and 45 Americans in the Class of 2022. Students from South Korea, Egypt, India, Pakistan, United Kingdom, China, Jordan, and Poland make up the next largest cohorts with eight or more students from each country in the class.
For the first time, NYUAD’s incoming class includes students from Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, and Portugal. Of the class, 19% are first generation students, meaning that they are the first from their immediate family to attend college.
NYUAD’s Class of 2022 was selected from over 12,117 applicants around the world. The yield for the incoming class — the percentage of students who choose to attend NYUAD after being admitted — was 83%.
Including the Class of 2022, NYUAD’s total student population has grown to 1,355 students from more than 120 countries who speak over 120 languages, reflecting the international diversity and multicultural character of Abu Dhabi.
It is my great privilege to welcome the Class of 2022 to NYU Abu Dhabi, where an extraordinary and rigorous academic journey awaits you. As part of this tight-knit NYUAD community of more than 1,350 students from across the world, you will find opportunities to take risks, explore new frontiers, and manifest your ideas into realities. Being part of the global NYU community also allows you to benefit from a truly international and multidisciplinary experience in research and collaboration, as well as access to unique academic sites across the world. Be prepared to be bold, expand your perspective, and seek to forge a legacy of your own while studying at this remarkable global university.
As a person who lives a life of many identity intersections, most notably that of blackness and 'latinidad', I learned that I should want to understand others as badly as I want to be understood. My scope of humanity was due for an expansion, preferably by a place where everyone had a unique palette of identities. NYUAD was that place.
Class of 2022 student Ahmad Almuhtadi, UAE, said: “Studying in my home country yet having the opportunity to travel abroad is having the best of both worlds. NYUAD's liberal arts curriculum allows its students to diversify their knowledge outside a fixed, particular major. This interdisciplinary approach advocates an open-minded life ahead.”
Class of 2022 student Alicja Borzyszkowska, Poland, said: "NYUAD inspired me as this uniquely vibrant community that evolves in step with its thriving independent thinkers, artists, scholars, and professors who embrace diversity as a drive of opportunity to preserve individualism as well as to foster meaningful collaboration. NYUAD is committed to being different and this corresponds to my own belief that everyone is born to stand out in their own way. Coming here has been for me more than just the beginning of education at an outstanding academic institution, it has sealed my commitment to recognizing and appreciating different ways of life as a prerequisite to claiming my own path."
Class of 2022 student Jake Chouljian, US, said: “After much thought, I decided to leave my familiar environment and study on the other side of the world. Though I was nervous at first, I went in with an open mind to satisfy my curiosities and hear the stories and knowledge of my global classmates. The opportunity just seemed too enriching to pass up.”
Class of 2022 student Toby Tinson, UK, said: “My family being linked to UAE for over 35 years, I couldn’t be happier to study in Abu Dhabi. I truly believe that education should be about discovering one’s passions and exploring them, and I couldn’t think of anywhere but NYUAD for me to do just that.”
Being born in a multicultural family and living in both of my native countries for an equal number of years, I was facing difficulties to totally ascribe myself to one culture. And NYUAD is a place, where I as a half-Russian, half-Syrian find the escape of ‘feeling a bit alien’ in the diversity of its global community.
NYU Abu Dhabi, NYU Shanghai, and NYU in New York form the backbone of NYU’s global network of degree-granting campuses and academic centers across six continents. The first of its kind, this global university represents a transformative shift in higher education, one in which the intellectual and creative endeavors of academia are shaped and examined through an international and multicultural perspective. NYU ranks 27th globally in the Times Higher Education World University rankings for 2018, and 11th globally in the QS Graduate Employability rankings for 2018. All rankings are based on enrollment and programs throughout all campuses of New York University, including NYUAD.
NYUAD students undergo a rigorous selection and interview process and must demonstrate impressive academic credentials. In pre-arrival surveys, members of the Class of 2022 report choosing NYUAD over some of the world’s most prestigious universities – including Brown University, Columbia University, Duke University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, King’s College London, London School of Economics, McGill University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and the University of Oxford - for its small class sizes, rigorous and innovative curriculum, geographic location, and incredible student diversity.
NYUAD, like NYU in New York, accepts a number of options that satisfy its testing requirements in recognition of the international composition of both institutions. Results include:
SAT: Of the students who were judged on the SAT, the 75th percentile for the SAT Math score was 790 (with 25 students receiving perfect 800 scores), while at the 25th percentile, the score was 670. At the 75th percentile for Evidence-Based Reading & Writing the score was 730. At the 25th percentile, the figure was 630. The median overall SAT score was 1,440 (out of a scale of 1,600).
ACT: The ACT - a US-based standardized test that encompasses English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science Reasoning - median composite score was 32 out of a 36-point scale.
International Baccalaureate (IB): Students completing the IB Diploma reported a median predicted score of 39 (out of a scale of 42).
NYU Abu Dhabi serves as a center for scholarly thought, advanced research, and knowledge creation and exchange through its academic, research, and creative activities. NYUAD, which opened its doors in 2010, was established in partnership with NYU and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and founded upon a shared understanding of the essential roles and challenges of higher education in the 21st century.
