First, I just wanted to say how much I love this story. The quality of the writing is superb. I feel myself agreeing with what people have said above. Your story has the feel of the pilot episode and yet it is quite different as well. I don't mind the posting schedule so long as you promise to finish the story.
Also, in regard to the number of students at the university. I go to a Big 10 school (University of Minnesota) and there are slightly less than 50,000 students total. Minnesota and Ohio State have some of the largest student populations, so your original thought of 35,000 is very plausible. (I did a quick Wikipedia search and see that about 50,000 students attend NYU).
-Em
