Applying to NYU Stern: What Students Should Know

For students interested in business, NYU Stern is high on many college lists. But students should understand what they are applying to before building their high school experience around the idea of “business.”

Stern’s primary undergraduate programs include the BS in Business, the BS in Business and Political Economy (BPE), and the BS in Business, Technology and Entrepreneurship (BTE).

It is also very selective. Stern currently reports approximately 21,900 applications for 630 available spots. For the Class of 2029, Stern reported approximately 22,000 applications and an admit rate of about 4%.

At Insight Education, we don’t believe there is a formula for getting into Stern—or any highly selective university. But students can make thoughtful academic and extracurricular choices that help an admissions office understand what interests them, how they think and what they may contribute to the university.

Build a Strong Academic Foundation

Business is quantitative, and students interested in Stern should plan their high school curriculum accordingly.

NYU says its most competitive Stern applicants take rigorous courses across English, social studies, foreign language, mathematics and laboratory sciences. Stern specifically recommends Calculus or at least Precalculus and encourages applicants to take the most rigorous mathematics available at their high school.

We would therefore encourage prospective Stern students to continue challenging themselves in math through senior year. Depending on what a high school offers, that could include Calculus, Statistics or more advanced courses.

But don’t neglect the rest of the transcript.

Approximately 50% of Stern’s undergraduate coursework is in the liberal arts. Courses such as AP U.S. History, AP Government, AP English, economics or an advanced foreign language can demonstrate skills that matter in business: analyzing information, understanding competing viewpoints, communicating clearly and making a persuasive argument.

The most recently available Stern-specific entering-class data also provide useful context. For the Fall 2025 entering class, the reported average high school GPA was 3.9, and approximately 71% of students who reported class rank graduated in the top 10% of their high school class.

These numbers should not be treated as admission cutoffs. They do, however, illustrate the academic strength of Stern’s entering class.

That doesn’t mean students should simply take every AP course available. We would rather see students take an appropriately rigorous curriculum, perform well and make choices that make sense for their interests than overload themselves simply to accumulate advanced-course titles.

Students who need additional support in advanced courses can explore Insight’s 1:1 Academic Tutoring.

Testing Is Optional—but Think Carefully Before Withholding a Strong Score

NYU is currently test-optional, meaning students are not required to submit an SAT or ACT score.

NYU also provides flexibility for students who choose to submit testing. Depending on the applicant’s educational system, accepted testing can include the SAT, ACT, IB Diploma, AP exams, IB Higher-Level exams and certain international examinations.

For Stern applicants, however, the score data provide important context.

For Stern’s Fall 2025 entering class, the reported average SAT was 1551 and the average ACT was 35.2. Approximately 40% of students reported SAT scores and 10% reported ACT scores. Stern separately reported a projected median SAT of 1550 for the Class of 2029.

These numbers should not be interpreted as cutoffs. A 1550 SAT does not get a student into Stern, and a lower score does not automatically keep a student out.

For a business applicant, we would pay particular attention to the Math score as well as the total. A strong quantitative score can reinforce the story already being told by excellent grades in rigorous mathematics courses.

The decision to submit testing should therefore be made based on the student’s scores, transcript and overall application—not simply because NYU permits students to apply without scores.

You can learn more about Insight’s Digital SAT preparation programs here.

Don’t Build a Generic “Business Student”

One of the biggest mistakes students interested in undergraduate business make is trying too hard to look like a business applicant.

We see versions of the same profile repeatedly: DECA, an economics club, a summer business program, an internship and perhaps a small business or nonprofit.

There is nothing wrong with any of those activities. The problem is when the application doesn’t tell us anything about why the student is interested in business or what they have actually done with that interest.

Business is ultimately about identifying problems, understanding people and markets, making decisions and creating value.

A student might start a business—but they could also manage the finances of a robotics team, analyze ticket pricing in professional sports, help a local nonprofit improve fundraising, work a part-time retail job and become interested in consumer behavior, create an app, study how social media influences purchasing decisions, or investigate how government policy affects an industry.

The objective should not be to collect business activities. It should be to develop genuine interests and do increasingly meaningful things with them.

Show Evidence of Initiative and Impact

Saying you are entrepreneurial is easy. Doing something is much more interesting.

That doesn’t mean every Stern applicant needs to start a company.

A teenager who launches a business that generates $300 in revenue may learn a great deal about pricing, customer acquisition and failure. A student who takes a part-time job at a restaurant may notice an inefficient ordering process and help improve it. Someone managing a school club’s budget may find a way to raise twice as much money without asking members to contribute more.

Those experiences can demonstrate something more valuable than a business title: the ability to notice a problem, think through it and take action.

Leadership works the same way. Being president of three clubs is not automatically more impressive than making a meaningful contribution to one organization.

Think About How AI Is Changing Business Careers

Students considering business should also understand that the job market they will enter four years from now may look different from the one their parents remember.

Artificial intelligence is already changing some of the work traditionally assigned to entry-level analysts, consultants and corporate employees. Research, data cleanup, preliminary financial analysis, first-pass modeling, documentation, competitive research and initial drafts can increasingly be completed or accelerated with AI.

That does not mean major employers have stopped hiring new graduates.

Consulting firms such as McKinsey and BCG continue to recruit undergraduate students for full-time positions. Investment banks and asset managers including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock continue to operate undergraduate analyst programs. Large multinational companies continue to hire graduates across finance, marketing, operations, supply chain, human resources, analytics and rotational leadership programs.

Amazon, for example, recruits undergraduates into areas including finance rotational programs, business analysis, program management, marketing and risk. Johnson & Johnson offers early-career and leadership-development programs spanning finance, commercial functions, marketing, human resources, procurement, supply chain, operations and technology.

The terminology varies. A new college graduate may be called an analyst at one employer, an associate at another, or enter a rotational leadership program at a multinational company.

What is changing is what those employees will be expected to do.

Some of the routine work historically performed by junior employees can now be done much faster with AI. Future graduates may therefore be expected to contribute higher-level thinking earlier in their careers: defining the right problem, interpreting data, checking whether an AI-generated answer actually makes sense, understanding customers, communicating recommendations and making decisions when there is no obvious answer.

Some employers are already saying this explicitly. Graduate recruiting programs increasingly emphasize the ability to use AI and data tools while also identifying patterns, asking good questions, communicating clearly, exercising judgment and operating comfortably with ambiguity.

For students considering Stern, that should reinforce an important point: preparing for a business career should not mean learning only traditional business skills.

Strong quantitative ability matters. So do economics, finance and data analysis. But in an AI-enabled workplace, students who can ask good questions, solve difficult problems, evaluate whether an answer makes sense, communicate clearly, understand people and markets, and make decisions under uncertainty may become even more valuable.

That is another reason we encourage students interested in business to develop depth outside of business as well. Computer science, statistics, history, psychology, political science, writing and the arts can all develop skills that become more—not less—important when technology can perform more routine analytical work.

Understand Which Stern Program Fits You

Students interested in Stern should understand the differences among its undergraduate options.

The BS in Business is the broadest program and allows students to pursue a range of business concentrations while also taking substantial coursework outside Stern.

The BS in Business and Political Economy (BPE) is designed for students interested in the relationship among business, markets, government and public policy and includes significant international study.

The BS in Business, Technology and Entrepreneurship (BTE) is intended for students especially interested in the intersection of business, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Students applying to BPE or BTE are also considered for Stern’s BS in Business because those programs have limited enrollment.

This should not become a game of guessing which program might be easier to enter.

The better question is: Which curriculum actually makes sense based on what you have been interested in and doing throughout high school?

Remember Who You’re Competing Against

Selective admissions happen in context.

For a student at a competitive Bay Area high school, there may be many classmates applying to Stern with excellent grades, advanced math, strong SAT scores, DECA awards, internships and business-related summer programs.

If five students from your school want to study business and their applications all look essentially the same, academic strength alone may not distinguish one from another.

Students should ask themselves:

What would an admissions reader remember about me after reading the application?

The answer doesn’t have to be business.

It could be music, football, political campaigns, art, environmental advocacy, family responsibilities, cooking, artificial intelligence or almost anything else. Combining a serious business interest with something seemingly unrelated can often create a much more interesting intellectual direction.

That is also consistent with Stern itself. Approximately 40% of Stern undergraduates minor in the liberal arts.

You don’t need to be different simply for the sake of being different. But by junior and senior year, an admissions reader should understand what specifically interests you, what you chose to pursue deeply and what distinguishes you from another academically strong student sitting in the same classrooms.

Use the Essays to Show the Person Behind the Business Applicant

NYU’s essays should not turn into another résumé.

The admissions office already knows that you founded a club, completed an internship and participated in DECA. The essays are an opportunity to understand you.

For Stern applicants in particular, we would avoid essays filled with generic statements about wanting to become an entrepreneur, work on Wall Street or “combine business and technology.” Thousands of applicants can say the same thing.

Instead, think about the experiences that explain how you became interested in the questions you now care about.

A student fascinated by sports might become interested in salary caps, ticket pricing, sports analytics or franchise valuation. Someone interested in politics might explore polling, campaign finance, trade or the economic effects of government policy. A musician might become interested in streaming economics, intellectual property or how artists build audiences.

A good application connects the dots between academics, activities and personality without making every part of the application about business.

Our advice on showcasing your strengths in college essays explores this further.

Keep Stern in Perspective

With roughly 22,000 applicants and an admit rate of about 4% for the Class of 2029, Stern should be considered highly selective for virtually every applicant.

A thoughtful college process isn’t about constructing four years of high school around admission to one business school. It is about developing genuine interests, challenging yourself academically, making meaningful contributions and then building a balanced college list with multiple places where you would be excited to study.

At Insight Education, our college admissions counseling helps students make those choices throughout high school and then present their experiences authentically and effectively when it is time to apply.