<p>hey, thanks! tho, i have to say, the way JerzyJim played around with number was a revelation i had forgotten ( a GC i know did the same analysis for duke.. it was quite shocking). let's hope they change their minds</p>
<p>JerzyJim, would you tell us something about your children's social lives at TCNJ? Is the "suitcase school" label merited? The only kids I've known there have been involved in the music program. What about those who are more sports oriented? Those who desire some rah rah school spirit? Can anyone speak to this?</p>
<p>I would certainly be happy to relay their experiences.</p>
<p>My son is a junior and plays a varsity sport. His team finished 6th in the country at the D3 level and garnered numerous honors. He is also a college ambassador, and a brother in a respected fraternity. He has a girlfriend on campus and cannot find enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that he has going on. On several occasions, he has communicated how wonderful his college career has been to date. He chose TCNJ over Villanova, Delaware and others and has never once looked back.</p>
<p>As an ambassador, my son is guaranteed 4 years of housing on campus. However, after his sophomore year, he and several of his teammates rented a house about a mile from campus. I am not naive to know that it is easier to host parties off campus. However, it also allowed them to retain focus during their in-season activity.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted to 12 excellent colleges, received significant financial packages to all, and chose TCNJ because of the experiences that she had developed through her brother. My son is the jock, and my daughter, despite playing varsity sports in H.S., is the scholar. She is challenged in her classes and academically has found a home. Socially, her calendar is constantly brimming with opportunities and events. She has a very compatible roommate and they both aspire to medical school.</p>
<p>In the first semester, her RA took my daughter and 30 of her floormates via train to NYC to see the TRL show. The RA is a communications major and frequently obtains passes to major events. The train station is about 10 minutes away, and the train ride to NYC is about an hour. Another night, two carloads of freshmen/sophomores headed the 40 minutes into Phila. to catch John Mayer at the Electric Factory. She has seen several well-known comedians on campus, and concerts are frequently held in the student center. She has attended several plays, both on the main Kendall Theatre stage, and also at the black box theatre on campus. Visiting speakers are commonplace and the NJ Gubernatorial debate was held at TCNJ. </p>
<p>Freshmen are housed within the two 10-story towers. The college provides a unique first year experience, which starts with an exhaustive one week orientation period and which evolves into continuous competitions among the twenty floors of students. Parties are numerous, on/off campus, for those that are interested. The men/women's soccer teams have developed quite a following. The football team and women's field hockey and lacrosse also garner a lot of interest. Suffice it to say, my daughter never has trouble keeping her calendar full.</p>
<p>The college has been shedding the suitcase reputation for the past 10 years. At one time, resident students comprised only 35% of the student body and the female/male ratio was approx. 70/30. Now, 65% can be housed on campus, and once the on-site apartments are completed, closer to 80-85% will be housed there. There is no shortage of activities. The new library is fabulous and has become the academic focal point of campus. </p>
<p>There is a reason that 95% of TCNJ students return for their second year. Sometimes you take the various rankings with a grain of salt, however, my daughter swears that the college's rank as # 6 for the "happiest students" is accurate. The campus is beautiful and the majority of students are high-achieving students who lack the pretense of those at many of the "prestige" schools.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long-winded response but here are a couple of additional anecdotes. One of my daughter's classmates was a Tulane acceptee who spent the first semester at TCNJ as a result of the flood. At the start of the 2nd semester, he returned to Tulane for one day before vacating the campus and returning to TCNJ. He realized that he did not want to give up the experiences that were created that first semester. Check the transfer numbers for TCNJ and you will see that there are well over a thousand students annually attempting to get into the college. You will not see this at the private LACs. It may take a year, but numerous students realize that TCNJ is the real deal, and for a fraction of the price that they may have spent that first year at the "prestige" or "glamour" school.</p>
<p>JerzyJim, thank you for your wonderful response! I am hoping to get into TCNJ and attend it next fall. Your response succeeded in assuring me that TCNJ is, in fact, the best match for me :)</p>
<p>Thanks for such a thoughtful response. You've certainly given me a better perspective.</p>
<p>wow... they need someone like you on each college board.. u answer like they teach u to answer in school - specific and with examples.</p>
<p>Do you know if it's easy to change majors? (when it's outside of a specific "school" like business to chemistry or something)</p>
<p>iight...1250/1870 SAT, great rec,essays, blk,3.3 gpa UW 9 ap, rest honors/acc. span-3 and 630, ush-3 and 660, euro-3 rank: 67/553 prob went up though after this semester</p>
<p>accepted in less than a week!!!!!!!!<-------very excited</p>
<p>congrats! i have basically the same exact stats as you and was deferred ed. now i have hope! i just want to know now, considering they've had my app since november.</p>
<p>I was accepted at TCNJ! I got my letter today! I'm so excited! :) Good luck to everyone else who's still waiting to hear from them and see you all next year! :)</p>
<p>whoo got in, um too bad i can't attend.
To the rest who got in congrats, and hope you have an awesome time there.</p>
<p>Is it me is ewing the sweetest name for a city, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwing!</p>
<p>
[quote]
JerzyJim said, "Your stats gain you "consideraton" for merit award.</p>
<p>You are an out of state candidate, and perhaps the adminissions personnel detected a "less than" sincere interest on your part to attend. Have you visited and shown serious interest in TCNJ, or did you simply drop the standard app off via the web or postal mail? </p>
<p>Your prior responses indicate that you consider TCNJ nothing more than a safety. Perhaps, the college's "interest-meter" detected a superficiality in your approach. </p>
<p>You would be surprised at the number of qualified candidates vying for these positions. There is a percentage of students whose stats would qualify then for merit awards who are not even accepted to the university..
[/quote]
JerzyJim. Could you provide more information why you believe these awards are NOT automatic? According the website, "this program offers generous scholarships determined by a student's level of achievement. Scholarship awards range from $2,500 per year to tuition, room and board for four years, based upon selection through a nationally recognized merit process or high school rank and combined Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT I) scores." The chart clearly shows that IF you have a rank of x AND you have SAT scores of Y, you WILL receive Z number of dollars per year. This is different from many college scholarship listings which post a minimum score for consideration, but indicate that they choose recipients from among candidates based on multiple criteria - such as scores, GPA, ECs, essays, recommendations. If you have information, (besides the word "considered" in the first sentence of the website), I'd like to know! (We're looking at this school as a possibility for DS....)
Thanks :)</p>
<p>Dear Anxiousmom,
My son was recently admitted to TCNJ (we are in state). In his admittance letter there was no mention of scholarship, even though based on that matrix, we knew he was eligible. I called up admissions, spoke to a real person without having to go through any automated responses, and asked her what was up. She immediately pulled up my son's application, told me she was waiting for official confirmation from his high school as to class rank, and when she got it would put him in the system for a scholarship. He received his letter approx. a week later with the scholarship amount we were expecting. We were very happy, and I got the impression that it was pro forma for in-state students, as a way of keeping Jersey students in Jersey. Now, for out of state students, I don't know.
Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Congratulations to everyone accepted to TCNJ- that is awesome, it is such a great school! I went for a visit and liked it. I hope all of us waiting for a letter get accepted.
Are their scholarships based solely on SAT and GPA?
I also heard they extended their deadline to 3/1 this year.
Again- CONGRATS to everyone accepted BEST OF LUCK to ppl waiting to be accepted</p>
<p>I am going to TCNJ next Fall as well....I think CC (unless I am missing it) should have a TCNJ forum...IMO</p>
<p>what does TCNJ stands for?</p>
<p>Motormouth, I completely agree! The school is getting more and more attention so we definitely need a separate board for TCNJ :) (The College of New Jersey - for those who still find the acronym puzzling)</p>
<p>anxiousmom - I do not want to mislead or discourage anyone from applying to TCNJ. I have familiarity about the school from being involved in comprehensive college searches with my son (college junior) and daughter (college freshman). What I do not have is "inside" information about how they make final selections for their merit offers.</p>
<p>My understanding is that most, if not all in-state residents that qualify for scholarships, will be offered them. As has happened in year's past, if the "yield" for that year is higher than anticipated, then the college can continue to raise the standards for merit qualification for the ensuing year(s).</p>
<p>Out-of-state consideration may be a bit dicier but this is conjecture only. The in-state/out-of-state percentage mix has traditionally been 95/5%. TCNJ may be relaxing this soon, but I am not sure exactly when that will occur. TCNJ will have 8000 applicants this year without advertising and with a comparatively low out-of-state applicant pool. </p>
<p>The college seeks to enroll 1200-incoming freshman per year. That would leave seats for 60 non-NJ residents. As mentioned, TCNJ also has one of the best D3 athletic programs in the nation. Let's assume a conservative total of 10 freshman non-NJ athletes decide to enroll. That leaves approx. 50 slots available. TCNJ has a pretty good yield each year. Assuming a conservative 35% yield, means that 140 non-NJ residents were admitted. </p>
<p>The unknown factor is: how many out-of-state applicants are there, and how many are of the significant scholarship variety? Are there 100, 200, or 500 or more out-of-state applicants that may have 1400-1600 SATs and top 5% class ranks. If the pool number approaches 250 or more, then the colege will have to be selective in their offerings. I believe TCNJ's overall acceptance rate last year was 43% and do not know if the acceptance rate is commensurate among in-state and out-of-state residents. </p>
<p>My daughter's roomate is from NY state and is very comparable statistically to her. She is attending on a tuition-free scholarship, having attained an SAT in the high 1400's with a top 1% class rank.</p>
<p>I would recommend that your DS apply, as it is worth the application investment of $50.</p>
<p>interesting, most interesting. i wonder if my GC ever sent out my class rank. we don't technically rank, but i did ask for permission. maybe he never saw it? i dunno. </p>
<p>i like to think that they're just waiting for my class rank, though it's been about 3 weeks</p>
<p>chemaddict17 ~ I would advise that you speak to your GC to see if he, in fact, supplied that info to the college. That could very well be the delay in any response from TCNJ.</p>
<p>My son attended a private, parochial school that did not formally rank students, however, they formulated a rank to comply with TCNJ's requirements.</p>