2011 SVHS grad Emma McGee off to college in Abu Dhabi
Emma McGee (center) in Abu Dhabi last winter with other student finalists for the NYU Abu Dhabi program.
Eighteen-year-old Emma McGee, second in the 2011 class at Sonoma Valley High School, applied to 15 schools during her senior year and was accepted or wait-listed by all, including U. C. Davis and St. Andrew’s University in Scotland.
In the end, she chose a school guaranteed to provide a completely different educational experience than her friends will have. Next week she departs for her freshman year at NYU Abu Dhabi, a member of the school’s class of 2015.
A research university with a fully-integrated liberal arts and science college, the school is a joint initiative between New York University and the Emirates of Abu Dhabi (which provides most of the funding).
NYU Abu Dhabi attracts top students from around the world. In 2010, the first year the school admitted students, 40% of the 150 students from 39 countries spoke three or more languages (almost all spoke fluent English). The university is adding a class of 120-150 each year until it reaches full enrollment of 500-600. At the end of the four-year programs, graduates will be true global citizens.
“One of the things I’m most excited about,” MeGee says, “is just getting into the classroom environment where I’ll be surrounded by people from around the globe. I’ll study with them, live with them, have discussions, hear perspectives from around the world.”
To attract what they call “the very top of the world’s talent pool,” NYU Abu Dhabi offers generous financial packages. “Mine includes tuition,” says McGee, “along with two round trip flights home each year.”
It also covers all costs demanded by the program’s requirement that students spend two semesters at two different locations among NYU’s 16 study-abroad campuses. “I’m hoping to do a first semester in a Spanish speaking country,” says McGee. “Maybe I’ll go to Madrid or Buenos Aries.”
McGee’s interest in studying abroad started early. The summer after 8th grade, she traveled to Australia with People to People, a student ambassador program founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. “I met students from all over the world who were making unusual plans for college,” she says. She also traveled to Cambodia and Laos after her junior year in high school.
NYU Abu Dhabi requires potential students to visit the campus prior to acceptance, so when McGee was chosen as a finalist last February she traveled to Abu Dhabi at the school’s expense. She found Abu Dhabi to be a safe, multi-cultural city; the only time she had to modify her clothing was on a mosque visit.
“I’m excited to learn more about Abu Dhabi and the Middle East,” she says, “getting to see it all not just from the perspective of the media and the U. S.”
Asked what she’ll miss about life in Sonoma Valley, McGee cites the weather. “Over there it’s an eternal summer,” she says. “It’s really hot. I’ve lived and grown up in Sonoma all my life. I’ll miss the small, home-town feel, the people I’ve grown up with.
“But this is a once in a lifetime experience. I’m really going to enjoy it.”
–Suzie Rodriguez
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