NYU sends offer letters to 'early' applicants

ABU DHABI // New York University Abu Dhabi has sent out admissions offers to many of the students who will make up its inaugural class this autumn. The college has made offers young people of an "astonishing calibre" from about 20 countries, including the UAE, Ethiopia, Hungary, India, Jordan, Russia and Brazil. Offers made so far are for "early-decision" students who agreed not to apply to other US universities during the application process.

More than 500 early-decision applicants hoped to be among the fewer than 100 students that will make up the first class. Josh Taylor, the senior director for international communications at NYU Abu Dhabi, said those given places would have been "at the very top" of the applicant pool at the university's main campus. "We project they would be in the top three to five per cent of our student body in New York," he said.

"Applicants to NYU are forcing our admissions team to make some incredibly tough decisions. We are pleased, albeit not surprised, by the sheer number of applications we have received to date, and by the astonishing calibre of our applicant pool." Mr Taylor said there were still places available. Applications must be submitted by today. "We project our first class to be under 100 students," he said. "While we are not yet releasing final numbers from our early-admissions process, I can say that we will not fill the class through early-admissions applicants."

NYU Abu Dhabi's temporary campus near the Corniche was opened in December and the first students are due to arrive in late August. Among them will be Adam Pivirotto, 17, from Norfolk, Virginia, who told his local paper, The Virginian-Pilot, that the prospect of studying at NYU Abu Dhabi was "exciting and scary at the same time". "There's never been something like this before," he said. "It's unprecedented. It's so new and exciting. It's such a pioneering thing to do."

NYU Abu Dhabi is funded by the Abu Dhabi Government and is offering generous financial support to students. Adam said his tuition, health insurance, travel and personal expenses were being paid by the university. Annual costs per student have been estimated at US$63,000 (Dh231,400). @Email:[e-mail]