Richard Gilder Graduate School
of the American Museum of Natural History
Student Life
The Setting
New York is one of the world’s great cities, a place of contagious energy and excitement, with over 200 separate nationalities, a host of cultural institutions, lively theater and music scene, recreation opportunities, and a multitude of restaurants, taverns, and clubs. Situated on Central Park West at 79th Street, overlooking Frederick Law Olmsted’s and Calvert Vaux’s landmark 843 acre Central Park, the American Museum of Natural History lies at the heart of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a vibrant neighborhood that has historically been the home to the City’s cultural and artistic workers. From the Statue of Liberty and Battery Park, to Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building, to the Cloisters Museum near the northern tip, Manhattan is full of historic sites and outstanding activities. Beyond the Museum’s location, the city’s other four boroughs offer an endless variety of things to do, from eating to sightseeing to theater and art to sporting events and more. Extensive natural areas and parks abound in the region, from ocean beaches to mountain forests.
The Richard Gilder Graduate School occupies a central position within the Museum, in a newly refurbished complex on the AMNH’s historic south side, originally constructed in 1897. Lying alongside the Golden Corridor, which links the Museum’s science departments, the RGGS facility provides a central focus and meeting place for students, together with classroom, laboratory, and study facilities. With around 40 graduate students in residence, the RGGS possesses a student body which is small enough to generate a strong collegiate identity and spirit, yet at the same time taps into the wider, diverse student communities of both the museum’s own Comparative Biology PhD Program and its collaborating institutions, 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.
