Why does an essay at NYU Abu Dhabi need a different approach than a standard high school essay?
NYU Abu Dhabi’s First-Year Writing Seminar requires three essays of increasing complexity over a single term, not one static format repeated three times.
First Essay
The first essay focuses on close analysis of texts and ideas.
Second Essay
The second moves into evidence-driven argument, requiring students to draw on multiple sources to support a claim.
Third Essay
The third culminates in an inquiry-driven research paper supported by gathered evidence, paired with an oral presentation. A student treating every essay assignment the same way, regardless of which stage of this progression it falls into, misses what each specific essay is actually meant to demonstrate.
Grading Threshold
There is also a grading threshold many students do not realize matters until it affects them directly: at NYU Abu Dhabi, only grades of C or higher count toward major, minor, or Core curriculum requirements.
Essay Quality
An essay that earns a C-minus still appears on the transcript but does not satisfy the requirement it was meant to fulfill, meaning the course may need to be repeated. This makes essay quality a higher-stakes question than simply passing.