<p>Princeton is a superb institution well deserving of every accolade it receives. But what about the other colleges in NJ? Are they all so bad that there is little reason to talk about them or gasp, even consider attending one of them? I am very curious about the opinion of other CCer's on this issue.</p>
<p>As a former resident of NJ , i don’t thnk highly of many of NJ public colleges…</p>
<p>TCNJ is building quite a reputation:</p>
<p>[National</a> Acclaim :TCNJ](<a href=“http://tcnj.pages.tcnj.edu/about/national-acclaim/]National”>National Acclaim | The College of New Jersey)</p>
<p>My nephew just graduated from TCNJ and had a good experience there. He is, however, “under-employed” at the moment. I do think he got some good individual attention and had some tough classes. Business major. He enjoyed club rugby and after freshman year, when a lot of kids went home on the weekends, had a good social life.</p>
<p>Rutgers has an excellent reputation in some subjects, and a good reputation in many others.</p>
<p>Rankings and accolades mean little to some of us who live in NJ and can see up close and personal who attends the state schools. TCNJ seems to attract nice, hard-working kids but the ones I know are intellectually mediocre. Rutgers gets average to above-average students too, but also quite a few really top notch kids who often decide it’s the best all-around deal if they plan on pre-med, pharmacy, engineering, or if they are rejected from the Ivies, Stanford, and MIT. The prevailing wisdom seems to be to go very elite if you can, but if you can’t, go Rutgers as opposed to second tier private or OOS public. Our high school sal chose Rutgers as a more affordable UG school since she plans on medical school afterward. So Rutgers for science and engineering can be a very good choice I think.</p>
<p>What about Rowan? I am in Monmouth County, so it’s not local for me, and it looks interesting. (Probably because it’s not close enough for me to know much about it!) It looks like a very well-rounded place–good for education, good for the arts, good for engineering. I only know two kids who go there and they are both engineering students who are also musicians, and I’d type them as intellectual and interesting young adults.</p>
<p>GFG, i see the exact opposite…Students who are at a higher ranking in HS attend TCNJ and thoe lower ranked seemed to choose Rutgers…as a matter of fact, of those who i know attend either,many more go to TCNJ…and this is from Northern Bergen County</p>
<p>TCNJ is quite popular among top students at my local NJ HS district. Rutgers is also popular, although anecdotally, TCNJ seems to get more of the better students. Engineering and business majors are more likely to head to Rutgers though, as well as those that want the big school experience, especially those who like sports. </p>
<p>As an engineering manager, I’ve hired a number of Rutgers grads, and think they have a good engineering program.</p>
<p>Rowan is well regarded for the next tier of students. For students with stats that aren’t competitive for TCNJ or Rutgers, Rowan is the first school I recommend. Rowan has much better graduation rates than the other non-TCNJ/Rutgers NJ public schools.</p>
<p>OP - In my limited experience, most kids I know with solid stats don’t attend NJ schools because of $ – the abundance of private LACs in the region which offer large merit (or as some think, tuition discounting) make the COA of the private less than the state schools. UDel OOS merit also can have a COA < Rutgers.</p>
<p>Stevens Institute of Technology is in NJ. So is New Jersey Institute of Technology.</p>
<p>TCNJ is small and it’s in Ewing, a boring suburban place (from the view of a teenager). There are a lot of smart kids who choose Rutgers over TCNJ because it’s simply a larger universe, and after spending their entire lives in a suburb, don’t want to go to college in one. In New Brunswick, you have access to clubs and bars, and you can always take the train into New York. TCNJ is isolated by comparison.</p>
<p>The TCNJ kids go to Philly to go out.</p>
<p>Njsue, valid point, but thinking New Brunswick is a happening place is crazy…perhaps compared to Ewing it is,but it really is a suburban school also</p>
<p>Sacchi, I hear mixed things about Rowan. The engineering program is supposed to be good but when I look at it on the web, it appears like a very ordinary school. Are you saying that statwise, students who cannot get into Rutger or TCNJ are more likely to get into Rowan?</p>
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<p>Maybe NB isn’t happening in comparison to Manhattan or DC, but it beats Davidson, North Carolina; Hanover, New Hampshire; or Northfield, Minnesota by miles. There is actually a lot going on there: State Theater, several really decent restaurants, shops, galleries, bars, etc. And it’s less than one hour by train from Penn Station NYC. So really, not too bad. And no car needed.</p>
<p>Less then an hour from NYC by train could encompass many schools in NJ, and an hour to either NYC or Philly would include most schools in NJ…My point is NB is the suburbs,without question…it really isn’t convenient to NYC or Philly,but doable</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call New Brunswick suburban. It has population density and traffic, accessible public transportation, two major hospitals near campus, and lots of restaurants and shops. It’s not NYC, but it’s not just a suburb IMO. Princeton has some of the above as well, but is more suburban.</p>
<p>I sense that you don’t like New Jersey, qdogpa, but it’s not one giant suburb. New Brunswick is a defined, self-contained town with an urban center. The train station is not in an ex-cornfield surrounded by parking lots (like Princeton/West Windsor); it’s right in the center of town and you can walk to it from campus. I know people every day who commute into NYC and live in the NB area so obviously, it’s pretty “convenient” to Manhattan. A lot of Rutgers faculty live in NYC and do the reverse commute.</p>
<p>I am a bit of a Rutgers booster as I feel it’s underappreciated. FWIW, it ranks 54th on the ARWU (Shanghai) world universities rankings between Vanderbilt (53) and University of Edinburgh (55); on the Times Higher Education rankings this year, it’s 59 in the world (between Tsinghua at 58 and NYU at 60). Obviously it’s a very decent research university with a lot to offer to the motivated student.</p>
<p>NJ native who’s relo’d checking in: There has always been this attitude of “I have to get out of here” with regards to students in NJ, that I don’t find in other states. I think part of it is that NJ is so small that no matter where you go, your parents are no farther than 2 hours or so away. Rutgers seemed far from where I grew up (Passaic County) but it was really less than an hours drive. Living in North Jersey, most options were commutable. And who wants to do that unless you have to? </p>
<p>There’s also no one defining flagship uni; I mean Rutgers really is but it’s not named The New Jersey State University or The University of NJ. And the whole state isn’t flying Rutgers flags on their car on a game day Saturday, KWIM? I find a lot more enthusiasm in SEC country for the flagship institutions. </p>
<p>NJ public colleges/unis are also really expensive for instate tuition, so you don’t have that built in pressure of going to the instate public because it’s the least expensive option. </p>
<p>DH & I are Montclair State grads (back in the day when it was still a college.) When I looked at their stats during D1s search I was stunned by how mediocre it looks on paper. However, it is very well known for its theatre & broadcasting depts. DH & I had fantastic broadcasting professors who facilitated great internships in NYC just 12 miles away. TCNJ is a good school that I would have made my kids apply to if we were still there. Rutgers has top programs in many fields; friends who moved to NJ from NY always were stunned that the instate attitude about RU was dismissive; in NY the reputation was much higher. Drew had a decent reputation as did Fairleigh Dickinson (depending on program) but they’re expensive. I have negative feelings about Seton Hall (spent 2 awful years there in the mid 80’s) and Monmouth University.</p>