FAQs

The application is available on the Steinhardt Graduate Admissions website. 

As of now, we do not require that students take the GREs. If you have already taken the exam and earned a high score, please feel free to include it in your application.

While we do not require that students hold a culinary degree, we certainly value the accomplishment.

There are no prerequisite courses.

If you have taken graduate-level classes that did not serve towards a degree at another university within the past 10 years and received a B or higher, you may receive advanced standing when you matriculate. The courses must be approved by a Food Studies advisor.

The admission process is coordinated through the Office of Graduate Admission. Applicants generally hear from graduate admissions within six to eight weeks of having a completed application. During the review months following application deadlines, the process may take longer. Please be advised that there is no way for the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies to track the status of an application.

To be considered for any type of financial aid (including scholarships and student loans), applicants must submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA. In order to qualify for full-time financial aid, you must be taking at least 9 credits. Part-time students must take a minimum of 4.5 credits to qualify.

Learn more about the process, financial aid, and scholarshipsavailable at NYU Steinhardt here.

Many outside organizations also offer scholarships for graduate students. Be certain to check the organization's website for application deadlines.

All applicants will be considered for admission. Successful candidates typically have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0, an up-to-date resume, strong letters of reference, and a well-crafted essay with goals and motivations that are in line with those of the program and department. Relevant experience in the food profession, while not required, is helpful and strongly encouraged.

Costs for the program are on a per-credit basis, plus basic registration fees. In general, cost per credit is reduced slightly as credit load increases.

While experience in the field is not a requirement to apply, it is encouraged to have some either volunteer or professional experience purely so you are able to decide and test the waters if this field is the right fit for you.

Our application cycles are for both the fall semester and spring semester. The application deadline for the Fall semester is January 15th. The application deadline for the Spring semester is October 1st.

Students may enroll in most classes offered through NYU Steinhardt without special permission. For classes in other schools at NYU, students need to get advanced approval from a Food Studies advisor within our department and permission from the school or department offering the course. Courses in other universities require both advanced permission from a Department advisor and permission from the other institution. In addition, an official transcript must be sent to the Department upon completion of the course. 

The descriptions of courses offered through the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies are available online.

We highly recommend that students attend part-time. By pursuing related jobs and internship opportunities while in school, we believe that students get more out of the program and have stronger job prospects upon completion. However, in certain circumstances, a full-time commitment makes more sense for some students. We suggest discussing the options with a Food Studies advisor. For financial aid purposes, part-time means 4.5 credits and full-time means 9 or more credits per semester.

The Department of Nutrition and Food Studies regularly offers courses abroad. NYU operates a number of campuses and maintains relationships with other universities around the world, thus providing students with a variety of study abroad opportunities. The Study Abroad Office has more information about these options.

The Food Studies Department offers courses in many international locations such as Shanghai, Paris, Florence, India, and in-depth course sites in the United States. 

Each semester, you need to make an appointment with a graduate advisor. These appointments may be in person or over the phone. Prior to the appointment, you should pre-select classes and make a list of pertinent questions. Students in their first semester take the course Current Research which meets throughout the semester. We devote one of these classes to advising.

The Food Studies curriculum is broken down into two categories – core requirements and electives. For additional information about requirements, see the section below on core classes.

All students are required to take five core classes and two research classes. For additional information about requirements, see the curriculum summary.

In the summer we offer a study abroad opportunity and a small number of Food Studies classes. Most students choose to pursue food-related career opportunities or work on their research over the summer. 

Yes! We have a Food Lab and Urban Farm Lab. 

While no joint graduate degrees are allowed at NYU, students have many opportunities to take nutrition and public health courses within the Department. Students can also take classes across Steinhardt and, with permission from advisor and professor, from academic departments in other schools at NYU.

We limit most classes to 25 students; however, seminar, writing, and research classes are often smaller.

Most graduate Food Studies students attend part-time and take between two and three years to complete the degree. Full-time students can complete the program faster, but this is not always recommended. Students get more out of the program and receive stronger job opportunities by enrolling only part-time and working/interning while studying.

At this time, the MA in Food Studies is not available to be completed entirely online.

It is possible to take some courses as a non-matriculated student before applying to the program, such as core courses and some electives. If you would like to apply to register as a non-matriculated student please reach out to the Food Studies Graduate Advisor (samantha.widder@nyu.edu).

All the required core courses are offered in the evening (4:55-6:35pm and 6:45-8:25pm depending on the course and term). We have a handful of other courses offered during the day, but these are typically electives and experiential courses that are not a requirement in the program. Many of our students work full-time and organize their class schedules to work around their jobs. 

We strongly urge all Food Studies students to pursue as many internships, fellowships, and part-time opportunities to build their careers during graduate school. We maintain an email listserv for all currently enrolled graduate students, where we continually post notices regarding internship and job opportunities. We recommend that students pursue a variety of different opportunities during the program.

We urge students to pursue internships while in the program. However, there is no graduate internship course through which students receive credit. On rare occasions, if the organization demands that a student receive credit, then pending advisor approval, the student may register and pay for a one-credit independent study.

Food Studies graduates find jobs in all areas within the food industry. Some examples below are based on our specialization courses. 

Policy and Advocacy

• Nonprofit work (education, food/hunger advocacy groups)
• Local and national governmental (city government, federal government, food regulations, relations between industry and government)
• NGO work in advocacy and policy (farming, labor, food scarcity, trade)
• Development organizations (community building, national programs, international trade and aid organizations)

Business and Social Entrepreneurship

• Food production companies (producers and manufacturers of food items)
• Food distribution companies (importation, transportation, and retail)
• Brick and mortar business creation
• E-commerce
• Consumer Packaged Good creation

Media and Cultural Analysis

• Publishing (magazines, newspapers, online sources)
• Public relations (restaurants, food lobby groups, cookbooks, food organizations)
• Marketing (for restaurants, celebrity chefs, cookbooks, organizations)
• Education (research, museums, schools, higher-level academia, community-based organizations)

At any given time, approximately 160 students (full or part-time) are enrolled in the Food Studies program. An average of 60 students matriculate each year.

Students range in age from recent college graduates to retirees. Most students are in their mid-twenties.

All graduate students are required to have health insurance. NYU offers a range of health insurance plans, depending on students’ needs and credit load. If you have health insurance from another company or organization outside of NYU, you may opt out of the university plan. For more information, visit the Student Health Center’s health insurance webpage.

Most of our classes are on the Washington Square Park campus, all within walking distance of each other. 

NYU has several shuttles around the city transporting students, faculty, and staff with their University ID. 

It is free for all students to join the NYU Athletics facilities! There are two facilities near the Washington Square Park campus and one in Brooklyn.

Your length-of-stay visa requirements stipulate if you can work or not while you are a student. Please refer to the Office of Global Services (OGS) for more information. 

Depending on your length-of-stay visa requirements, you may have to be a full-time student and take 9 credits per semester.