Engineering buildings - are they better on the inside than they are on the outside?

DS has been admitted to Rutgers Electrical Engineering & Honors College. We are from NJ, so this would be very affordable for us, and an attractive option. We didn’t get to tour pre-pandemic, so went today just to take a look around. We went in with the attitude that this could be the right school for DS, and we just wanted to make sure. DS thought it was a waste of time since we wouldn’t be able to go in any buildings, and his opinion has always been that he would never choose a school just based on the campus. However, after walking around Busch campus, he doesn’t think he can spend four years there.

There are four buildings that literally look like WWII bunkers. It says they hold ‘engineering labs & offices’. There are some window a/c units(seriously, no central a/c??), and the exterior just looks like it is falling apart. The EE building was moderately better, but it was so small for hundreds and hundreds of students. Weeks Hall looked very nice. But overall, the campus was not impressive, and truthfully it was a little depressing.

Can anyone tell me what these buildings are like inside? Are there state-of-the-art labs, teaching facilities, equipment? Are there classrooms full of oscilloscopes for teaching EE lab classes? Are there maker-spaces and facilities to work on projects, and competition team space? Are the labs well-ventilated and laid out?

How much time do electrical engineers spend in Weeks Hall, as opposed to the old engineering buildings?

From what I’ve read, Rutgers admits that its engineering facilities are lacking space, and has a plan to expand, but not anytime soon. I really expected much more from New Jersey’s flagship university.

I’m hoping I’m mistaken - can anyone make us feel better about the engineering facilities?

On the other hand, we also looked around the College Ave campus, and it was lovely! Such a shame engineering isn’t located there!

TIA!

We live near Rutgers and my son was accepted there two years ago but passed on it. There is one building specific to Engineering that was built within the last year and a half which houses some classrooms, clubs, etc. to drive student collaboration. Another building isn’t pre-war like that also has faculty and student class space in the other side of those buildings you described. Some of the Engineering labs are located in the older buildings.