Dean D'Agati (dotcom)

Friends of mine know all about Gramercy since I’ve blogged about it before and talk (brag) about it all the time now, but I wanted to write a post specifically talking about the pros and cons of Gramercy since it’s the time of year that everyone is checking out dorms for next year, and when I was trying to find info about Gramercy last year online, there wasn’t any.

My posts generally show up pretty high in Google searches, so if you’re an NYU student who came across this page through Google, here are some deetz that you won’t find on the NYU Housing site and a video tour to go along with it.

Gramercy Green is a dorm for sophomores. It’s technically for “upperclassmen,” but since it’s the most popular dorm on campus, you’re chances of getting it if you’re not a sophomore are slim to none. It was originally built as a luxury apartment building, so it has styles of all kinds, but every apartment will have:
-Hardwood floors
-A huge kitchen with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and a touch screen microwave.
-An all-marble bathroom with ridic water pressure in the shower.
-Floor to ceiling or almost floor to ceiling windows (depending on the style).

Gramercy has rooms for 2-6 people. I live in a studio, so it’s just me and my roommate, and I would definitely recommend the studio option because it’s a HUGE space for just two people. It’s more space than my bedroom & common room combined last year at U-Hall and the kitchen and bathroom are only shared by 2 people. They also have two-bedroom suites for 4 people, three-bedroom suites for 5 people, and three-bedroom suites for 6 people. (Rooms with 4+ people have two bathrooms so that’s another plus.) There might also be an option for 3 people too but I’m not actually sure.

Here are some pros & cons.

PROS:
-Amenities. Kitchen, bathroom, wood floors and everything else I just mentioned.
-More space than you’ll get at most other dorms.
-EVERYTHING is new. The building is less than 2 years old, not some historic 200 year old landmark that hasn’t been renovated in 87 years.
-The Sub-Cellar has TV lounges, a game room, private & group study rooms, a gym, and more crazyness.
-There are laundry rooms on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st floor as well as a big one in the cellar. I KNOW RIGHT!? It’s amazing.
-The neighborhood is awesome. 3 blocks from Madison Square Park (and Shake Shack!) which is one of my favorite parks in NYC. The streets around the building aren’t always crowded like they are in Union Square.
-Duane Reade on the ground floor.

CONS:
-It’s far from campus. The walk is about 20-25 depending on the lights & how fast you walk. There is a bus, but it’s often unreliable and ALWAYS crowded. Trying to take the bus to get to 9:30 class is a deathwish. I don’t mind the walk if it’s nice out, but it can be tough in the winter.
-It’s nowhere near NYU Dining. The closest dining hall is Palladium, which is still 9 blocks away.
-The elevators are ALWAYS a problem. We only have 3 elevators here, and the building is like 22 stories or something. They are always crowded and always require a pretty significant wait. The views are great on the upper floors (I live on 17) but it would definitely be to your benefit to get something lower so you can use the stairs.
-The fire alarm goes off…. A LOT. And when I mean a lot, I don’t mean like once a month or something. It goes off every single week. Sometimes multiple times during the week. We’ve had three 2AM evacuations so far this year. The smoke detectors are extremely sensitive so when idiot kids fail at cooking or light up in their rooms, the whole building will be evacuated… and like I said, elevators are always a problem. It’s not fun trying to get back in.
-The soundproofing between rooms is great because I never hear my neighbors, but the sound proofing between your room and the hallway is nonexistent. In fact, I hear people screaming out there as I type these words. And a dog barking. Sweet.
-It’s more of a residential area so there are less stores and restaurants that are open 24/7 than there are in the Union Square area.

Here is a video I made at the beginning of the year. I made it for Facebook, that’s why it feels like I’m talking to specific people, but hopefully it can help you guys out, too.

Despite the cons, I definitely still recommend Gramercy for your sophomore year.

If you have any questions, post them down in the comments and I’ll try to help you out.

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Okay. Dilemma.

I have a class this semester that meets Monday & Wednesdays from 11-12:15. The professor is good and I like the class, however, its a hundred person class, so in order to give us that high school like experience that NYU loves so much, we have to go to a recitation class as well.

For anyone who doesn’t know: A recitation is an additional class of just 20 that meets once a week to discuss, in smaller groups, the topics that the professor is discussing in the larger class. However, for this class anyway, the professor isn’t the same in the recitation and the regular class. Grad students teach the recitation sections, and there’s five recitations to choose from with three different teachers. The grad students are also the ones grading all of our work for the class. (We’re actually graded on our participation in the class, so I have to be prepared and participate, which is terrible.)

I chose a Wednesday recitation that I went to this week, and let’s face it. It was just bad. For starters, I have this random old Indian lady in the class. It’s all rich NYU kids and some old lady. So weird. Then I’ve got your classic over achiever who did all the reading in advance and found it her duty to negate the point anyone else in the class was trying to make. Worst of all, however, is the teacher. He has an extremely heavy accent and started the class by saying “Yeah, so, the way I’m going to do this is I’m going to let you guys do all the work.” Thanks, buddy. I don’t want you grading me.

So here’s the problem: I can change to another recitation with a different teacher who I think is better (but I really don’t know). The class is on a Monday though, which I already have an 11am lecture class and a 6:30pm craft class (aka a lot of work), with this random long break in between.

I don’t know for sure if the new guy will be any better (although he does speak English). I don’t know if the kids in the class will be any better (although they’ve got pretty good odds). And I don’t know if I can handle that much work in one day. But the truth is, it makes the rest of the week a lot easier, so it’s probably worth it.

Almost everyone that I’ve talked to has told me to go ahead and change it… but I’m still open to any other advice anyone may have. Let’s do a poll.

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I made deandagati.com a fan page on Facebook. While that’s obviously insanely awesome (slash pathetic) I just wanted to say what’s up to anyone who has never been here before.

Here’s what you can find on this website…

The part that you’re reading right now is a pretty standard blog. All of my recent posts are about Cooper City related things since that’s where I’ve been chillin this Winter Break, but normally you’ll find posts here about New York and NYU. (Click some of the tags like “nyc” on the right hand column to see what I mean.)

I also try to include at least one picture with every post, so if you don’t like reading, feel free to just scroll down and look at the pretty pics. (And click that Facebook-esqe “I like this” button!)

If you want to see videos, click on the links right under that huge ass logo (shut up maxie/alex/taylor) with my name on it at the top of the page. Click on CTV to watch old segments and episodes from my days at CCHS, click on NYU to see what I’ve been working on in New York, or click on ORIGINALS to watch other stuff like the Trip to Florida videos that aren’t for school.

Here’s the fan page link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/deandagaticom/416941340327

PS. If you wan’t a t-shirt, click here!

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