NYU Shanghai Admits Students from 84 Countries to the Class of 2025

Students in 84 countries around the world signed on to some very good news on April 1 as NYU Shanghai announced their final round of admissions offers for the Class of 2025.

Roughly 45 percent of this year’s admitted international students come from outside the United States, including many students from India, Kazakhstan, Korea, and Pakistan. Some 24 percent of admitted students will be first-generation college students, and admitted students from the U.S. represent 47 states.

“I cannot wait to say hello in person to my new fellow members of the NYU Shanghai community,” said Chancellor Tong Shijun. “How can NYU Shanghai not be a place for students to ‘make the world their major?’” Tong added, referring to the university’s informal motto.  “They come from all over the world, and they are the world!”

The Class of 2025 was selected from a pool of 18,713 applicants, including over 16,000 applicants from outside China, a new record for NYU Shanghai and a 12-percent increase over the previous year. Applications from students outside the U.S. and China rose by 53 percent, coming in from students in some 155 countries, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications from students in the United States rose by 6 percent.

“The Class of 2025 has completed high school during an unprecedented global health emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how much the world needs creative, cosmopolitan minds, able to forge coalitions to address the challenges we all face as a species,” said Vice Chancellor Jeff Lehman.  “We can’t wait to welcome them in person.”

“This year’s admitted class is utterly amazing,” said Director of Admissions Annie Lu. “They overcame enormous challenges and showed us who they truly are -- exceptionally accomplished students wholeheartedly committed to our interconnected world.”

International students, including students from the United States, will ultimately represent roughly 50 percent of the enrolled Class of 2025, with students from China comprising the other half of the class. The over 2,000 Chinese students who applied to the Class of 2025 undergo a separate admission process and will not know their final admission decision until they receive the results of the gaokao, China’s national entrance examination.

The NYU Global Network received a record 100,131 applicants to the Class of 2025. Roughly 6,700 students are expected to enroll as first-year students in fall 2021 across all three degree-granting Global Network campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai.