Ask a Dean at TCNJ

<p>Many kids from my school are applying to TCNJ as well… a few of them have told me that they got this e-mail. They said that you’ll hear before April 1st, but I can’t tell you much more.</p>

<p>Hi again,
When does TCNJ release merit scholarship information for admitted students? (or was it already sent and I didn’t get anything?) Thanks.</p>

<p>If you are getting any Merit money, it will be in your acceptance letter.</p>

<p>A Question about the Paws System:</p>

<p>I have been reading online that some students have begun receiving their acceptances in the mail from TCNJ. I have not received anything in the mail yet regarding admission, but TCNJ sent me a paper with a PAWs I.D. so I could check my admission status. According to TCNJ’s website, in order for me to check my admission status, at the main menu in the PAWs system I must click accept admission. I really like TCNJ, but I am still waiting on other colleges. Will clicking this button make the decision binding? Or do you also have to send in a deposit as well?</p>

<p>I wondered the same thing. That website set-up is less than ideal…</p>

<p>I’m pretty sure you can click the button lol I’ve been checking my brother’s account and every time I log on I have to click “Accept Admission” to see if he’s actually gotten in.</p>

<p>DeanRifkin - When will we see the next set of acceptances?</p>

<p>acceptance letter arrived in NY today.</p>

<p>Dear KendallandKaylan:</p>

<p>Of course, I’m sorry to hear that the news wasn’t what you were hoping for. However, I need to remind you that TCNJ promises all applicants a decision by April 1. Nothing has changed in that commitment.</p>

<p>I understand that with your high SAT scores (congratulations, by the way), you feel that you should be accepted to TCNJ. However, if our admissions decisions were based only on SATs, we wouldn’t be acting in accordance with our principles: we value the individual student and look at the entire application. So, in the admissions process, we review the entirety of every application, including not only SATs, but also high school grades, extra-curricular activities, letters of recommendation, and student essays.</p>

<p>In a case like the one you describe, the Admissions Office may have determined that it needs more information, such as a mid-year high school grade report.</p>

<p>I want to remind everyone that our College’s goal is to admit an academically qualified freshman class with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and interests. This takes time: all our applicants worked hard on their applications and our admissions team works hard in reviewing them. This year we had over 10,000 applications for fewer than 1400 seats in our class of 2015.</p>

<p>So, I recommend you take a deep breath, provide whatever additional information has been requested, such as mid-year grades from your high school, and be patient. Today is February 22. It’s only another 5-6 weeks until all decisions will be delivered to all our applicants.</p>

<p>In the meantime, I wish you, and all college applicants waiting to hear their decisions, patience and, of course, good luck. May you and all college applicants find a good fit in one of the envelopes that arrives in the mail by April 1.</p>

<p>Sincerely,</p>

<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of Culture and Society
The College of New Jersey</p>

<p>I forgot to say: I would love to have an ice cream cone with you at summer orientation! Seek me out - I give presentations to all the students in my school and I’ll be there all the days that humanities and social science majors are going through orientation. </p>

<p>Best wishes,</p>

<p>BR</p>

<p>PS this goes for ALL the CC-ers who come to TCNJ, although please forgive me if I have just ONE ice cream cone per day with all those who are joining me that day. (I can’t have one ice cream cone per student and stay healthy!)</p>

<p>I think that the next wave of decision letters will go out in the mail around March 10. Unfortunately, I cannot say what criteria determine whether a student’s application goes into that first wave (that just went out), the second wave (that will go out around March 10), or the final wave (that will go out in the waning days of March in time for us to be sure that every applicant has a decision in hand by April 1.)</p>

<p>I wish everyone calm for managing the stress that comes with waiting for the big news, not only from TCNJ, but from all the colleges to which you’ve applied.</p>

<p>And I want to assure you that the vast majority of students are happy in their choice of where to attend college: once you get your decisions, look at the financial ramifications of attendance at each of your options, and consider which provides you with the best fit, both in terms of the curriculum (academics) and the co-curriculum (activities, clubs, etc.) This is one of your first decisions as an adult: no matter what you hear from any one school, I urge you to make a choice you can be happy about and then to be happy about that choice.</p>

<p>Best wishes to all,</p>

<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of Culture & Society
The College of New Jersey</p>

<p>Generally speaking merit awards are announced with the admission letter. In a few cases that information might come later, but it’s generally packaged together.</p>

<p>I expect the next wave of admission letters to go out around March 10, everyone.</p>

<p>Dear College Confidential Readers:</p>

<p>Here’s more information about using PAWS to access your admission decision:</p>

<p>After you log into PAWS, click on “accept admission.” This will take you to a screen that will inform you if you’ve been accepted. If you’ve been accepted, you’ll see this text:</p>

<p>“We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to the following program (s) …”</p>

<p>At this point you have an option to click on “accept or decline,” but don’t do that until you are ready to make that choice. (Of course you can exit the program or back out of that page on your browser.)</p>

<p>I do want to assure you that PAWS works very well for students already at TCNJ. They use it to register for courses, view grades posted after final exams, view academic requirements and “what if reports”. (A “what if report” tells an accounting major, for example, what her graduation requirements would be if she changed majors to chemistry or art history.)</p>

<p>Best wishes to all,</p>

<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of the School of Culture and Society
The College of New Jersey</p>

<p>Dear CC-ers:</p>

<p>Here is some more information about checking your admission status on PAWS for TCNJ applicants:</p>

<p>Technically, we don’t give decisions online or through self service in PAWS. What we do allow is that students can pay their acceptance deposit online. The page to pay their deposit only opens if the student was admitted…SO…in a round about way…a student can learn that they are admitted through PAWS.</p>

<p>When a student logs in, even before they are admitted, there is a link that says Accept Admission.</p>

<p>If admitted, accept or decline your offer of admission.</p>

<p>If they click on it before they are admitted, then they get a message that says “Either you haven’t been admitted or have already paid your deposit”</p>

<p>If a student is admitted, then it goes to the Pay Deposit page. We have a tutorial of page shots of what the students see in PAWS. Here is the link:</p>

<p>[Tutorials:</a> Accept Admission](<a href=“http://www.tcnj.edu/~admiss/apply/tutorials/accept_admission.html]Tutorials:”>Applications | TCNJ)</p>

<p>I hope that this information is helpful and thank my colleagues in Admissions for their help. (I can’t actually see the pages you see as applicants.)</p>

<p>Best wishes,</p>

<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of the School of Culture and Society
The College of New Jersey</p>

<p>Hello,
I am a senior in high school. do i have to send in my mid-year grades?</p>

<p>Hi, I just wanted to know how well the nursing program is at TCNJ? I got accepted and I am trying to decide between TCNJ and RU. Are there a lot of medical centers around TCNJ that the students can work in? And how easy is it to find a job coming out of TCNJ as a nurse?</p>

<p>Most high schools automatically send their mid-year grade reports into all the colleges where their high school seniors have applied. Before you send anything, please check with your high school. Probably the answer is “yes, we’ve done it.”</p>

<p>Also, everyone should know that just about every college needs a final transcript showing completion of the high school program (HS diploma) for submission before you actually matriculate. So you should keep up the good work - don’t slack off in the second half of your senior year because doing so could create a problem for you at whatever college you choose to attend.</p>

<p>Best wishes to all,</p>

<p>Ben Rifkin
Dean of the School of Culture and Society
The College of New Jersey</p>

<p>Hi Dean Rifkin,</p>

<p>I was accepted last week with some merit scholarship, and received a second letter yesterday congratulating me on my acceptance to the honors college. However, I was confused because though the letter made it very clear that I was a member of the honors college, the envelope also contained an application to fill out to apply for the honors college, with a message that each application is carefully looked at, with not all students accepted. Did I misread the letter in some way? Should I or should I not fill out the application?</p>

<p>Also–and this sounds incredibly selfish to ask–is there any way to make an appeal for an increase in merit scholarship, based on amounts received at a comparative school? I understand TCNJ does not give full rides or even half rides, but the merit money I received from TCNJ is a quarter of what I received from Rutgers. I prefer TCNJ to Rutgers, but with the money Rutgers is offering, it seems impossible to turn it down.</p>

<p>The Nursing Program at TCNJ is great - and it’s celebrating the 40th year of the bachelor’s degree in Nursing. The program is very competitive for admission. I urge you to check out the program yourself by looking at the website and then coming to campus. Students work very closely with faculty to integrate their practicum experiences. I think our students have no problem with employment after graduation, but I encourage you to ask those questions directly to the admissions folks or to staff at the School of Nursing and Health & Exercise Science.</p>

<p>As to the location of nearby health facilities for those practicum experiences, that’s another good question to ask at the SoNHES. </p>

<p>Ultimately, you should compare TCNJ and RU (if those are the two schools in the mix) on these and other factors that are important to you, including such issues as the faculty:student ratio, other opportunities on campus, cost, etc.</p>

<p>GOOD LUCK with your choices. The world needs great nurses, so I’m happy to hear that you want to be one of them.</p>

<p>Best wishes,</p>

<p>BR</p>