I am responding to this thread in response to a thread started by @ad010599 in the Rutgers forum, with follow-up responses by @nz1998 and @Trollair . It was a question comparing TCNJ’s CS program to that of Rutgers. Rather than replying directly or within the thread, I thought I’d respond publicly.
My son is a freshman CS major at TCNJ. He did not apply to Rutgers because he wanted a smaller college. In the end, he was down to a decision between TCNJ and another research university (Delaware). Although he selected TCNJ for a number of reasons, he was impressed with their CS department as they’ve had students intern with and hired by Google. (His thinking was that if the “best” is recruiting the school, then the program must be good.)
In his first semester, he’s already shadowed research on human computation and data integration and he will be part of the team presenting their findings in Seattle this March. He is also discussing summer research on machine learning with his advisor.
I’m a Rutgers graduate and I am typing this proudly wearing a scarlet colored hoodie, but I don’t think he would have gotten this kind of opportunity in his freshman year at RU. To be clear, the colleges and the programs offer different benefits – you have decide what is a better fit for you.