Got a career issue? Here’s ours.

NYU students are known for coffee chats, cold emails and screen time dominated by doomscrolling on LinkedIn. Collectively, the trends define an overt lack of college culture. But when the country’s most workaholic city becomes your campus, it’s impossible to not be hyperaware of what comes after graduation. Students come to New York City with plans to pursue their professional aspirations, and WSN’s Career Issue aims to capture the trials and tribulations along the way.

Directly immersing yourself in a career-oriented environment can be taxing, and most people don’t enjoy refreshing Indeed, Handshake and ZipRecruiter every few hours. But at the end of the day, there’s a reason NYU alumni make headlines in everything from film to finance. 

This issue highlights how students balance their academics with work on campus and across the city. Internships also take center stage, with a look at the popular yet rigorous world of investment banking and a personal reflection on the unreliable nature of unpaid positions. Reporters recount NYU’s robust history of unions and document Washington Square Park’s maze of vendors monetizing their unique crafts. 

The Career Issue would not have been possible without our Deputy Magazine Editors John Bush and Colette Yehl, who wrote, edited and webbed stories across this issue. A special thanks to our Creative Director Julia Smerling and Multimedia Editor Kyra Reilley for bringing this issue and its cover to life, and to Lauren Ng, Krish Dev, Anjali Mehta and Sidney Snider for overseeing its production. As always, thank you to our copy team — Ella Sabrina Malabanan, Alice Carlile, Sam Kats and Nghi Nguyen — for helping edit each piece. Your work does not go unrecognized.

Finally, to our readers: WSN thanks you for supporting us, and we hope you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Sincerely,