<p>I'm lost. D is wanting a smallish environment, 1-10,000 seems to be the range, so Rutgers never gets looked at .But while I'm fumbling around , I see Douglass, and then I see Cook, and then I see Rutgers College itself. I had enough trouble figuring out the Claremont Colleges, anyone want to speak to how all this Rutgers stuff breaks down as a practical matter? She's from Texas, if she wanted to go to a big enormous university we have several. LOL.</p>
<p>All those campuses are different, yet all affiliated with the main Rutgers-New Brunswick entire college. Basically, if you house at one campus it doesn't really matter too much (cept most science/math/engineering people house at Busch because that's where most of those departments are) because you will have the opportunity to take classes at any of the campuses. Yes, even males can take classes at Douglass, they just can't house there. And all campuses are withing 10-15 minutes of each other, so living on one wouldn't completely separate you from the other. Though, if she choose to live on Busch, she would see a more rural atmosphere, which she might enjoy.</p>
<p>Thanks. It's getting less murky.Are these campuses self sufficient? Does Cook have all the courses one needs to graduate or does Rutgers College, or does Douglass? Or do you take your science/math courses at Busch? Is Busch a separate college? Sorry to be so dense. D would be a bio or chem or math or biochemmath major (if that existed). How many kids at the Busch Campus? Is there a map that would show all the NB/Piscataway campuses and the relative distances between them?</p>
<p>Since Rutgers-New Brunswick requires all students to take at least two classes in several different concentrations (mathematics, physical science, social science, humanities) and one class in non-western studies, I would assume a student would definitely have to migrate among the different campuses to complete that requirement. Though each college has it's own identity (Busch is the science/engineering one, Douglass is the woman's studies area, Cook is for life science/agriculture, College Ave is for your basic liberal arts) you would have to go to each one to complete that general education requirement Rutgers has. If your daughter is not interested in that, I would have to presume that Rutgers is unfortunately not a match for her. For me (a biochem major) I know that Busch Campus will be my home pretty much for most of my classes, but to fulfill my requirements I will have to venture around. So if your daughter is not interested in that, then as I said before, Rutgers probably isn't the place for her.</p>
<p>In addition, they have maps on their website - <a href="http://www.rutgers.edu%5B/url%5D">http://www.rutgers.edu</a></p>
<p>Although it has been a number of years since I went to Rutgers College, my niece and nephew went there recently and I can also share my perspective as a college parent in general, although my own kids are going to other colleges. I also grew up in the New Brunswick area. The different campuses definitely have their own personality and are relatively self -sufficient, at least from the social perspective. Rutgers College is the original colonial college that went co-ed in 1972. Much of the campus is therefore older with more character although there certainly are a number of new buildings especially for the dorms (current student would probably debate the term, newer). Many of the humanities courses are taught at the Rutgers College College Ave buildings. Because of space limitations when the sciences were expanded a few decades ago, they were built in a separate campus in the next-door town of Piscataway, connected by shuttle buses. This is also where the football stadium and other sports venues are. I think that the science campus serves all of the Rutgers-New Brunswick campuses. I never found it too much of a big deal, but it does require some attention to your schedule to account for the shuttle. But with the student center and the town all within walking distance of the RC dorms, I would say that there is a feeling of a self-contained unit. Douglas, as the retained womans college unit of Rutgers also has its own student center, dorms and classrooms. Its on the other side of New Brunswick, further way from where the artsy stuff is than Rutgers College. Although the classes are potentially coed, the intent is to create a womens college supportive environment. It doesnt have as purely an all-womans college feels as a more isolated campus would have because of the intermixing with RC and Cook students for classes, but it definitely has a different feel than Rutgers College. Certainly, classes taught there are available to Rutgers College students and visa versa, but I think most kids take most of their classes locally. I think that the quality of each is very high. Cook is the Ag school which physically adjoins Douglas. Livingston College was a product of the 60s and I think still retains that liberal, social-oriented perspective. Its definitely a different character than the more traditional Rutgers College or Douglas. It is also on a separate campus in Piscataway and I think has a more isolated and self contained feel of a smaller liberal arts college. New Brunswick has changed a lot since I went there, all for the better. I would say now its a pretty nice college town. The education at Rutgers is excellent and I think still a bargain even for out-of-staters.</p>
<p>Sorry to uproot a dead thread into the living, but do each of the colleges have their own applications or do I just apply to one Rutgers University? How do you choose which college to go to? I understand that each college has things for their intended major, but what if you haven't picked your major yet?
Do you mean that no matter which college you end up housing in, you still attend all the different colleges each day for different classes?</p>
<p>Are these separate college things only in the New Brunswick campus?</p>
<p>Since this thread has been revived, I'll add my own experience. I was in the first class of the newly named Cook College (formerly the College of Ag & Environmental Science division of Rutgers). Douglass College immediately adjoins Cook. I was a bio major and took ALL my classes at either Cook or Douglass. I only ventured to the college avenue campus for social or sports events. There were some specialized courses that were only offered at the other campuses. I remember one of my friends took some engineering at Rutgers main & another friend took some grad division math classes there. Livingston offered more of the 'non traditional" type courses and was quite a distance from Cook/Douglass. Buses run regularly between the campuses.</p>
<p>to answer the different applications thing, if you're applying as some form of liberal arts major, douglas, livingston, and rutgers college all have the same application, and you can get accepted into all or just one or two of them depending on your stats. (Rutgers college is the most difficult, followed by Douglas, and then Livingston) . Then of course there are the various professional schools that you apply to seperately: the school of pharmacy, the business school, the school of engineering, mason gross school of arts etc.</p>
<p>You have the option of taking any class at any college but the vast majority of kids take ALL of their classes at their own college. I.e. Rutgers College kids would take the vast majority if not all of their classes at the College Ave (old traditional) campus plus the Piscatawy science campus (called Busch Campus). Douglas kids take most of their classes at the Douglas campus and Livingston kids take virtually all of their classes at Livingston. There are a few unique classes that might be given only at one of the campuses and could be taken by anyone. But most kids make their accepted college their homebase and do not stray away very much. Cook may be the exception since they are so specialized I would guess they take their humanities courses at RC or Douglass and their mainstream science courses at the Busch campus.</p>
<p>I was in that first co-ed class of Rutgers College so it was an interesting shift in demographics. There were 400 of us freshman girls and thousands of guys (and yes, I met my husband there).</p>
<p>It was a long time ago but I returned for my Masters 8 years ago and I'm on the various campuses for meetings on a regular basis. In addition, my son will be starting his freshman year (not at Rutgers) so we've just been through the whole college search process. I always had at least one class on another campus each semester. The thing to keep in mind with all of the campuses is you will have to spend a fair amount of time on buses. Chances are you'll have friends on other campuses you'll want to visit at times.</p>
<p>While I really loved my time at Rutgers, I realized after looking at probably 15 schools over the last 2 years with my son just how sprawling the school feels. I would think you'd do better staying in state.</p>