<p>Sorry not to have gotten back to you sooner: it’s a busy time on every college campus.</p>
<p>The early decision notifications are posted to PAWS on December 15, but I’m not sure at what time of day they go up (probably in the morning).</p>
<p>SAT scores do have an impact on merit scholarship awards, so if you retake the SATs and get better scores, you could get bumped up into a higher award category. </p>
<p>[Explanation: PAWS is the acronym for the academic recordkeeping software at The College of New Jersey. Applicants to our college get an account on PAWS and they log into PAWS to see if they’ve been admitted when the time for the decision rolls around.]</p>
<p>Rapsnacks, you’ll have to write me privately - please send this info to me by e-mail, not posting it to College Confidential - with your actual name (last name, first name, middle initial) and the month and date of your birth (not year) so I can check your PAWS account. I’ll get back to you by e-mail with information that I can find out about your PAWS account. I just can’t check up on anything with only your College Confidential screen name and I don’t want you posting your private information to the CC bulletin board. With your help, I’ll get this straightened out.</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of the School of Culture & Society
The College of New Jersey</p>
<p>Hi BandGeek24601. The RD decisions are being mailed out in time for them to reach applicants on 12/15. If by that date you haven’t gotten your letter you can check your status on PAWS. The information will not be available on PAWS before 12/15. </p>
<p>Good luck to all the TCNJ applicants and best wishes to all CC subscribers for a happy & healthy holiday season.</p>
<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of Culture & Society
The College of New Jersey</p>
<p>Hello DeanRifkin,
I was just curious to know that if I do get accepted as an ED student, but can’t afford to go to TCNJ and can go to a school like Rutgers, which is only a little cheaper than TCNJ, will I be allowed to withdraw the application and go to Rutgers instead? Even though Rutgers is a little cheaper, there are more job opportunities there I can get involved in to pay my way through college, unlike TCNJ where I would probably need a car to get around.</p>
<p>Dear PharmacyHopeful (and other ED-students):</p>
<p>I understand that this is a very stressful time. I encourage you to wait a few days and find out about your status when the Early Decision information comes. Today is Sunday 12/12, you should know on Wednesday 12/15 (if not sooner, depending on the mail). </p>
<p>If you are admitted and are concerned about funding, let the folks in Financial Aid and Admissions know. A lot of students work right on campus (no car needed). But before you start planning for that, you should find out if you’re admitted and what your financial aid award would be from TCNJ. It’s just a few more days to wait. </p>
<p>Hang in there.</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of the School of Culture & Society
The College of New Jersey</p>
<p>Thank you Mr.Rifkin. I’ve been a little confused lately on how I fell about TCNJ. It’s a wonderful school, but it all goes back to my financial situation. I guess I should be patient and wait to see if I even get accepted in the first place! and if I do, wait and see if TCNJ offers me anything and do FAFSA and all that good stuff! What exactly do students who work on campus do? what kind of jobs do they offer? Would it be hard to get a job on campus?
-Thank you!</p>
<p>Since I’m Dean of the School of Culture and Society, I know more about the JPW major than the Communication Studies major, but both are great options. In JPW our students often hold internships in newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses. One of our JPW students had an internship at the Trenton Times this summer that turned into a job during the academic year. (He has published several front page stories.) </p>
<p>I encourage you to explore the websites and contact faculty by e-mail directly with your questions. (You can find the faculty names and e-mail addresses on the website; you can certainly start with department chairs if that seems easiest for you.)</p>
<p>With best wishes,</p>
<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of Culture & Society
The College of New Jersey</p>
<p>I was recently accepted to The School of Business at TCNJ under early decision! I’m very excited, and looking further into the next steps now. Do you know how application to the Honors Program works (do I wait for a letter about applying to it or do I need to contact admissions in order to start that process?), and exactly what the difference in my experience at TCNJ will be if I were to be in the Honors Program?</p>
<p>Also, I am majoring in Marketing and thinking about having a minor in Psychology, because it’s something I’m interested in and it would definitely complement the marketing major. How do I go about stating that I would like to minor in Psychology (is that something I do before registering for classes)?</p>
<p>Thank you, and I look forward to meeting you in the fall!</p>
<p>I wanted to know when will the interview calls for the 7 year Med program will be sent out. Application was submitted in November. I haven’t seen too many people saying they have got it as yet, so was curious.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all those admitted early decision or early action. To those who don’t have a concrete answer yet (deferred or rejected in the early process or applying on the for the regular timetable) - hang in there. The goal is to find the right fit, and I’m sure you’ll find it. I know the wait can be hard, but I encourage you to keep doing all the good work you’re doing in school and beyond and the time will pass quickly enough.</p>
<p>To answer your questions, tcnj2015 (I like that username):</p>
<p>a) Most colleges are about to close down for the holidays. Not only at TCNJ, but elsewhere around the country people are going on vacation and closing up shop. So not much is going to be happening anywhere until after we re-open after Jan. 1. At TCNJ the Honors Program will be working with the Admissions Office in January to identify early decision students who will be invited to apply for admissions to the honors program. I anticipate you’d be hearing some time in February about that. If you want, you can write Dr. Sisko, who is a professor of Philosophy and Director of our Honors Program, to let him know of your interest. His e-mail is sisko at tcnj dot edu.</p>
<p>b) It is very easy to establish a minor at TCNJ - BUT you can’t do it until you’re actually in your freshman year. In other words, you can’t do it now as a soon-to-be freshman. The time for you to make a move in this direction is when you come to campus for your orientation day. That will be some time in mid-July 2011. Your assistant dean and/or some faculty members in the department of your major will work with you to set up your first-semester schedule of courses. For a business major, that would typically be a couple of business courses (surprise!), an orientation course in the Business School, and one or two courses to fulfill your liberal learning requirements. You can ask for one of those liberal learning courses to be Psychology 101, which is a requirement for the minor in Psychology and prerequisite for other courses in Psychology also required for the minor.</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of Culture & Society
The College of New Jersey</p>
<p>Hello.
I was accepted into the School of Culture & Society, and I am planning to major in Psychology.
Is it possible that I can have a double major in both Psychology and Marketing? Would I have to be accepted into the school of buisness as well?
Thank you.</p>
<p>Hello TCNJPlease. Congratulations on your admission to TCNJ and the School of Culture and Society. I look forward to meeting you in person either at Admitted Students Day (April 10) or at Summer Orientation (mid-July).</p>
<p>At TCNJ you can have two majors and they can be in the same or different schools. (Psychology is in Culture & Society, while Marketing is in Business.) These two majors, by the way, are frequently combined, especially for students in Psychology who specialize in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.</p>
<p>Students with two majors have to designate one of these majors as “primary” or “the first major.” That determines which school requirements (Culture & Society or Business) are the requirements you have to fulfill. You can change the order of the majors if you want (which is first, which is second) but you have to have them ranked in this way.</p>
<p>You do not have to be accepted (for admissions) to the school of your second major. In fact, we don’t allow incoming freshmen to declare second majors or minors until they are on campus as enrolled students in the fall. </p>
<p>To find out more about the School of Business and the marketing major, I encourage you to look at the Marketing Program’s website at [Business</a> :: The College of New Jersey](<a href=“http://www.tcnj.edu/~business/businessadmin/index.html]Business”>School of Business | TCNJ). Then if you have questions, it would be best for you to contact the coordinator of student services at the School of Business. Her contact information is on the right side of the Business School website.</p>
<p>Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to you and all CC readers,</p>
<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of Culture & Society
The College of New Jersey</p>
<p>This year our Admissions Team is trying a different approach and notifications will go out in 3 waves. These waves will be based on the ways in which Admissions Counselors are assigned applications, not on any aspect of the applicants’ dossiers (that is not the SAT scores, or applicant’s high school, for example). I expect that the earliest wave of notification letters will go out in late February with two more waves in March - one in mid-March and one in late March. The application deadline this year is January 15. I hope this information is helpful. I know it can be hard to wait: I wish you patience at this challenging time. </p>
<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of the School of Culture & Society
The College of New Jersey</p>
<p>Does anybody know if I have to notify TCNJ about a deferral? I got my letter a few weeks ago, and I remember a friend of mine telling me I have to call admissions to tell them that I accept the deferral or something. The letter didn’t say anything like that and that I am now in regular admissions. Is that automatic?
_Thanks</p>
<p>I am applying to TCNJ as a student from Florida, which means I don’t have as great a general knowledge of the school as residents of NJ might have. I’m specifically applying to the 7 year medical program, however, I am an intended philosophy major, placing me (I believe) in TCNJ’s School of Culture and Society. How does TCNJ’s philosophy program/classes/professors compare with those of other university’s at the UNDERGRADUATE level? Rankings do great injustice to the actual quality of programs, so your advocacy of TCNJ’s philosophy department would be particularly meaningful :)</p>
<p>Sorry not to have been able to reply earlier, I’ve been traveling.</p>
<p>I just want to assure you and all other early decision applicants to TCNJ who received a deferral: your application is automatically considered in the regular decision applicant pool. If TCNJ remains your top choice, you should inform the Admissions Office. Please also send updated grades.</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of Culture and Society
The College of New Jersey</p>