Ask a Dean at TCNJ

Colleges and Universities A-Z The College of New Jersey
81

<p>Dear BandGeek24601:</p>

<p>Congratulations on your acceptances both to TCNJ and RU.</p>

<p>The Honors Program is a separate application and people are invited to apply based on their qualifications demonstrated in the general admission process. However, your letter of admission to TCNJ is your admission to the College, not to the Honors Program. You have to apply to that separately.</p>

<p>With TCNJ, and with every other school I know of, if you have a better financial aid offer somewhere else, you can always ask the other school to match it. What is the worst thing that could happen? The school you’re asking to match could say “no.” But then you’re no worse off for the asking. I can’t guarantee what the response at TCNJ would be, but I encourage you to ask and be prepared to fax a copy of the letter from Rutgers with the dollar amount of merit aid specified in that letter.</p>

<p>Best wishes,</p>

<p>BR</p>

82

<p>Dean Rifkin</p>

<p>My Daughter has been accepted to all schools shes has applied to including TCNJ (still waiting to hear from William and Mary) and TCNJ is in her top three. She will be a English major with secondary teaching. She is very interested in the 5 year masters program. Is there anything you can tell us about the English/Education major that is unique, different, special about the program at TCNJ? She loves the classics as well and will most likely minor in it. Any and all advice/information is needed and very much appreciated. Thanks!!!</p>

83

<p>Dear NJPeeps: </p>

<p>Congratulations to your daughter on her acceptance to TCNJ and the other schools. TCNJ has a great track record in English Teacher Education. Our students all do well on the Praxis and our job placement record is exceptional. The 5-year Master’s Program is very attractive, but students have to understand that they apply to it when they’re already well underway as undergraduates. Students can’t apply for this program as incoming freshmen because the application process depends on grades from TCNJ courses. That being said, it’s a terrific program that really enhances the credentials of our students as they go out into the market.</p>

<p>As evidence of our success, at last year’s National English Honor Society conference, the annual awards for best paper by a future teacher at the elementary level and best paper by a future teacher at the high school level (as well as some other awards including best chapter advisor) went to TCNJ students. There are only two such annual awards, one at the elementary level and one at the high school level, and TCNJ took them BOTH. This was unheard of. And we were all very very proud.</p>

<p>Our English Department and English/Teacher Ed Program have a great sense of community, with events that draw back alumni and a facebook page that connect teachers throughout the state to their alma mater.</p>

<p>The director of our English/Secondary Education program is Dr. Emily Meixner, who is also associate chair of the English Department. I encourage your daughter to contact Dr. Meixner with questions directly. You can find her e-mail address on the English Dept. website. (I’m sorry - I’m abroad right now with a very slow internet connection, so I can’t pull that up right away to post it myself.)</p>

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

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

84

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

<p>Higher Education in general is abuzz now (Feb 2011) in discussion of a book called “Academically Adrift” written by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, and published by the University of Chicago Press. The authors claim that large numbers of students in American colleges and universities don’t learn much from going to college, based on data from students at a range of universities around the country. Their conclusions, however, suggest that students who major in the humanities, social sciences, hard sciences, and math (the liberal arts) do relatively better than students majoring in some more vocational fields. There are all kinds of problems with the study (including the fact that it’s based on a test that is not integrated into the college curriculum, i.e., the test doesn’t have any grade associated with it, so students have no incentive to try to do well on it). However, some of the conclusions the authors draw are interesting:</p>

<ul>
<li>students learn more when they are in a rigorous program (more books to read, more papers to write)</li>
<li>students learn more when they work with approachable faculty with high expectations
students learn more when they are burdened by fewer loans and more hours every week focused on work to pay for school than for schoolwork</li>
</ul>

<p>I don’t think that any of this is rocket science (with apologies to those who study rocket science).</p>

<p>I share this with you to suggest that you think about these factors when you decide where you want to apply to college and what offer of admission to accept.</p>

<p>A college where you will be able to approach the faculty with questions, a college where the faculty know who you are and are happy to work with you as an individual, and a college where there’s a rigorous academic program and help for you to meet those expectations would be a very good place for any student to succeed both at the college and at whatever comes next (getting a job or going to graduate or professional school). </p>

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

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

85

<p>Dear Dean Rifkin,
Hello. I have recently been accepted to TCNJ as an “Open Options School of Science major”. However, I now think I might be interested in engineering. Would it be possible/easy to transfer into the School of Engineering? Could I transfer into that school after my freshman year? Thank you.</p>

<p>–Laura</p>

86

<p>Dear Dean Rifkin,
Hope you have returned from your trip. Its only 3 days or so until you indicated the second wave of notifications of admissions decisions would go out. My stomach is beginning to churn. You mentioned there might even be a third wave of decisions. I also remember somewhere on this site seeing that sometimes TCNJ asks you if you are willing to accept admission for a different major than the one you selected. Would those requests come in the third round?
I sent back the additional information requested for the admissions people to consider when they re-review my application. I hope they see something that eluded them the first go round. Otherwise I have to settle for an ice cream cone at someplace that isn’t my first choice. Wish me luck. Thanks</p>

87

<p>Hi KendallandKaylan and all CC’ers.</p>

<p>TCNJ is on Spring Break now (through 3/13) and I’m still abroad. In fact, I’m in China with my colleague, the director of TCNJ’s Center for Global Engagement, looking at study abroad sites for TCNJ students who want to go to China. </p>

<p>I expect that some more admissions decisions will be going out some time this coming week and the final round will go out in time for students to have them in their hands by April 1. </p>

<p>If a student is admissible to the College, but not admissible to the major which s/he selected, before a decision letter is sent, the student will be contacted and offered the opportunity to select another major (and then will be admitted to that major). Students who are not admissible to the College will not be given that opportunity. </p>

<p>By April 1, the vast majority of applicants will have a decision, yea or nay, but a smaller group of students will be put on a waiting list.</p>

<p>I know it’s hard to wait. I hope there’s some comfort in knowing that your older brothers, sisters, and friends went through the exact same timing and waiting last year and years prior, and your younger brothers, sisters, and friends will go through the exam same thing and waiting next year and years to come. It’s just the way it works. In the long run, you won’t remember this period of waiting as much as you’ll think back about your senior year in high school and your transition to college.</p>

<p>So I wish everyone patience for this final stretch of waiting. (Yes, I did it, too. In my day, it was a question of “thick envelopes” or “thin envelopes” and I remember waiting impatiently. But it all worked out in the end.)</p>

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

<p>BR</p>

88

<p>Dear Laura:</p>

<p>Sorry to take some time to get back to you. I’m in China and had to get the information from our Admissions Office. Here’s what they said:</p>

<p>If students would like to change their major now, there is a “change of major” form on the admitted student webpage on the admissions site. We will notify the student within one week of the request. </p>

<p>Please note that you can request to change your major now, but that in the summer orientation process, it is difficult to do that. Also, Engineering is a major that is hard to change to after you have started college. Essentially, switching to Engineering after your freshman year would mean going back to being a freshman again (not being able to get your bachelor’s degree in 4 years) because the major is very sequential.</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>

<p>Best wishes,</p>

<p>BR</p>

89

<p>thank you! sorry, just one more question
 what if we’re unable to attend the orientation date that we’re assigned to? i see on the website that the days are july 12-14 and 18-20, but i will be on vacation from july 9-16th. if i’m assigned to one during this week, would i be able to switch to one during the following week? thanks.</p>

<p>Laura</p>

90

<p>good morning all, </p>

<p>everything in this thread has been very helping, however I am wondering if my being a Veteran will be a factor in my acceptance or not, I was given an extension on being able to submit my application. because of it, and now i dont know if i will be having to wait longer. and usually how long does it take for it to post on PAWS?</p>

91

<p>Dear Semper31:</p>

<p>Thank you for your service to our country. If you write me directly at <a href=“mailto:rifkin@tcnj.edu”>rifkin@tcnj.edu</a> with your name and e-mail address, I will try to find out if you can expect an answer by the April 1 date, given your extension.</p>

<p>Sincerely,</p>

<p>BR</p>

92

<p>Dear Laura and all other CCers thinking about orientation at TCNJ in July 2011:</p>

<p>Students will get information about orientation dates that depend on their major. Some majors are big and have multiple dates, while some majors are small and have only one orientation date. Any student on vacation during the orientation date should contact TCNJ as per the instructions in the orientation information packet to set up an alternative orientation experience. We understand that a lot of people take their vacations in the summer.</p>

<p>Sincerely,</p>

<p>BR</p>

93

<p>Dear Dean Rifkin,
Have you returned from The Orient?
So far I’m still a bridesmaid but at least I haven’t gotten a rejection yet. I sent Mr. Mc Cullough(?) in Admissions a letter telling him how much I want to attend TCNJ and I’m hanging in there until they tell me I’m out(I hope I don’t get to hear that).
Hope your trip was outstanding. Still looking forward to that cone!</p>

94

<p>Hi KendallandKaylan and all CC’ers:</p>

<p>There’s nothing else to do but hunker down and wait. I know it’s hard. Hang in there.</p>

<p>Best wishes,</p>

<p>BR</p>

95

<p>Dean Rifken-
I will be attending TCNJ as a PoliSci major this fall. I am also planning on getting on the pre-law track. I hope to play basketball, but I wanted to know how intense the PoliSci/Pre-Law is, and if it is possible to keep up grades while playing ball.</p>

96

<p>Dean Rifkin:</p>

<p>Just wondering if you know the status of the Honors Program applications? Have they been sent out to admitted students? I was accepted early decision, and I know that I meet the requirements for the Honors Program- starting to get a little bit nervous!
Thanks!</p>

97

<p>Yes, everyone will hear by April 1.</p>

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

<p>BR</p>

98

<p>Dear HistoryMajor28:</p>

<p>I can’t tell anything for sure about your case because I don’t have your name. I suggest you (and any other CC’ers with this question) contact the director of our Honors Program, Dr. Sisko, at <a href=“mailto:sisko@tcnj.edu”>sisko@tcnj.edu</a>, with your name and PAWS ID and he can tell you the status of your Honors options. </p>

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

<p>BR</p>

99

<p>Dear GoopMyBand:</p>

<p>Student athletes at TCNJ participate in every sport and succeed academically and athletically. Pretty soon we will be having our annual brunch to celebrate our most successful student athletes (high GPAs). Being successful both in your sport and in your classes requires attention and time management skills and if you’re admitted to TCNJ it means that we know that you can do that.</p>

<p>I encourage you to contact the coach of your team at TCNJ and the department chair of your program with more questions about how other student athletes in your combination of sport and major have succeeded in the past.</p>

<p>Sincerely,</p>

<p>BR</p>

100

<p>Hi Dean Rifkin,
Just wondering if you could let us know when the next round of decisions are going out! Also, if I don’t get my decision until April 1, will I still have time to apply to the Honors College?</p>