My child hopes to be a liberal arts major and has been rejected from Rutgers and Princeton. NJIT, Stevens, etc. are out of the question since she has no interest in majoring in technology, science, math, engineering, etc. All that’s left in-state among the next highest ranking are Drew, Ramapo, Rowan, and Seton Hall. My child is artsy, loves upscale campuses and towns, and hopes to live on campus in dorms, at least for the first two years. Which would you recommend and why, and how would you rank them? What are the key differences?
Well, to start Drew and Ramapo are the only two Liberal Arts colleges on your list. Also, there is a HUGE difference between South Orange (Seton Hall) and Madison (Drew).
Drew doesn’t have off-campus housing so you’ll be in the dorm 4 years - which is usually the draw of the small, private LACs. But the cute town of Madison is right there, as well as the train line to NYC if you desired. They have a phenomenal theater program and and in fact are home to the NJ Shakespeare Festival.
Ramapo dorms are very nice, as they’re trying to shed their commuter image. And while there’s no cute town nearby, the mountains are right there for those who enjoy nature. For some reason the school doesn’t get much love, which is surprising since the academics are surprisingly good.
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Agree with Ramapo, good school with great dorms. A friend is a sophomore and does find it a bit boring - seems a number of kids like to go to the city on weekends and that’s not her thing.
My son is a senior at Rowan - I think the best housing in the bunch there. Definitely strongest in engineering but my son is a humanities major and has loved it. You have to live on campus 2 years. My son went off campus to save money junior year, but gorgeous, brand new on-campus apartments are keeping a lot of upperclassmen on campus. Glassboro is not “upscale”, but Rowan Blvd has some great places to eat and live and it pretty much brand new.
TCNJ isn’t on your list - I think they would be ranked higher than any of the others listed. Great academics if less than stellar freshman dorms, but nice new housing for upperclassmen.
How much can you afford?
If you can afford a private school, have you looked in PA as well?
Rejected from Princeton in September? That’s early. Try TCNJ and Montclair.
In PA, there’s F&M, Dickinson, Muhlenberg, Lafayette Drexel and Ursinus.
Haverford, Bryn Mawr and CMU would probably too much of a reach.
UPItt is public but not sure how much it would cost you with out-of-state tuition.
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When the initial post said Liberal Arts, I think that could be done anywhere. I think it referenced something other than architecture, nursing, engineering and business.
FDU also has a campus in Madison.
Princeton hasn’t released any admission decisions yet for this year.
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Wouldn’t they have for ED?
Princeton doesn’t have ED. Normally it offers early action (for which admissions decisions are released in mid-December), but this year it decided to offer only regular decision. So no rejections or acceptances have been sent out yet in this cycle. Maybe the rejection cited in the original past was from last year and the student took a gap year instead of attending college?
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Run the NPC on Dickinson, Muhlenberg, Allegheny, Wooster. Apps aren’t due till Feb 1.
TCNJ is ranked higher than all of those colleges.
Is Princeton only doing it for this year? Did any other highly ranked schools eliminate any type of early application?
I also suggested TCNJ. Maybe the applicant wants a match/safety school. Since the post mentions about a denial from Rutgers, TCNJ would be closer to a reach school.
Aren’t Rutgers and TCNJ comparable for admissions standards?