Student Life
The Setting
New York City is one of the world's great cities, providing a nearly limitless array of cultural and entertainment activities. An unmatched variety of restaurants, museums, bars, theaters, parks and galleries provides a rich cultural backdrop for a city of 8 million people from more than 200 different nationalities. Yet despite the large size and diversity, all parts of the City are closely connected, thanks to an easy and efficient public transportation system. The Richard Gilder Graduate School is located in the central borough of Manhattan, overlooking beautiful Central Park. Around the school sit the Upper West Side, a vibrant neighborhood that historically has been home to the City's cultural and artistic workers. From the Cloisters Medieval Museum on the northern tip of Manhattan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side, from leafy Riverdale in the Bronx to hip neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York City offers something to fulfill any and all interests.
The Richard Gilder Graduate School (RGGS) is housed in a newly refurbished complex on the American Museum of Natural History's historic south side. Although the building dates back to 1897, numerous renovations have transformed it into a state of the art facility with modern labs and fully wired classrooms. Linked to the Museum laboratories by the "Golden Corridor,” the RGGS facility provides classrooms, study spaces, and labs right next to the Museum's collection and research areas. With around 40 graduate students in residence, the RGGS possesses a student body small enough to generate a strong collegiate identity and spirit, yet large enough to provide a diverse student community drawing from both the museum's own Comparative Biology PhD Program and collaborating institutions like Columbia, Cornell, CUNY, and NYU.
Housing
The New York City metropolitan area is an exciting place to live. Like all of our staff and postdoctoral scientists, and most of our current graduate students, students in the new Comparative Biology program will choose to live in an area that appeals to their preferences in cost, location, ambience, and commuting convenience.
In contrast to many universities, the Richard Gilder Graduate School typically provides 12 months of stipend support for students enrolled in the AMNH Ph.D. Program in Comparative Biology. The stipend level reflects parity with or exceeds similar institutions and is intended to accommodate New York City housing costs, taking into account the fact that the Museum does not currently own dormitories.
In addition, we have entered into a special partnership with International House to ensure that housing is available for all students entering the Museum’s Comparative Biology Ph.D. Program, for their first and second years.This partnership provides these AMNH students access to a dormitory-style room, suite room, or studio or 1 bedroom apartment in the I.House’s historic buildings at W. 120th Street near Riverside Drive. For all students and research fellows affiliated with our programs, the Richard Gilder Graduate School, through the Administrative Director’s Office, can provide housing referral services, listing searches, and placement assistance (including short-term). Many of our partner universities also offer housing options or advice for our students entering into those collaborative Ph.D. programs. The Graduate School can furnish documentation about current enrollment and fellowship payments to our students for lease purposes.
International House
More than just an apartment, International House is an international post-graduate residential community with in-house cultural programming, support services, leadership training, organized excursions, distinguished speakers’ series, career networking opportunities, international dining fare, musical performances and language exchange groups. Your neighbors come from more than 100 countries; work and train at 72 organizations; study at 33 institutions; and can teach you French, African Dance, or Tai Chi. I. House has hosted over 70,000 graduate students and trainees since it was established more than 80 years ago.