@stlarenas Thanks for the tips. The indecision is partly why we have so many schools on our list. If she goes the education route, we want to make sure we are considering all the MD state school. For nursing, I am trying to get her focused on direct admit nursing schools (West Chester, Delaware, College of New Jersey, etc.).
I suspect she will stick with teaching, just wish she would decide now since it would cut way down on the college searh process… She has been taking child development classes at her HS and will actually be doing an internship her senior year (double period). Hopefully, the internship will help her decide whether or no to continue with teaching.
@DCNatFan Yes, my son got that award, then we were notified of another - I don’t remember but I want to say it was $2500 towards on-campus housing? I seem to remember it would have only been for 2 years but it was a nice surprise! We all really loved the campus, big enough but walkable, which was what he wanted. And seriously…the dorms! LOl Right next to the student center, which has a nice gym. He ended up at Rowan and is doing great, so it all works out in the end!
@DCNatFan:
We’ve visited OU, WCU, WVU and drove through Ship.
Of all of them, Ship is the most rural. OU is a close second (nice college town but in the sticks). WVU has a bigger town around it, and WCU is close to Philly.
D has like every place she’s visited, except Drew (good thing, too, since no way could we afford even half their price tag.)
I wish she were more selective, sometimes 
@NJWrestlingmom At one point we were considering Rowan but someone told us it was a commuter school. Any thoughts on the College of New Jersey?
My son goes to Kansas State and really loves it! Lots of engineers, architects, pre-med and pre-vets around as well as teachers!
Rowan has had that rep since I went there (a NY girl at the time) in the 80’s. Rowan is up to 17k+ undergrads. I don’t consider it a commuter school at all. Brand new dorms, an entire new downtown with shops, classes and upperclassmen apartments, tons of clubs/intramurals etc…anything you can think of! My son hasn’t been home yet this semester (we’re about 1.5 hours away). He’s never bored.
I think any of the state schools will have a number of kids who will go home to work or do laundry, but more and more they aren’t commuter schools anymore.
In general, TCNJ is probably considered the better school over Rowan, but Rowan is more and more being chosen for engineering and sciences thanks to much more generous merit aid and new builidinns. TCNJ is much smaller, although Rowan still has almost no classss over 30 kids. My son is an education major so we didn’t apply to TCNJ as it is considered one of the best for teachers, and we didn’t think a 2.8 would cut it. I still think having both parents and a grandfather as alum are what got him into Rowan (and a great grandfather who was a professor there)!
So @NJWrestlingmom - in the NJ schools, you’d rank them as Rutgers, TCNJ, Rowan, and then the rest? Would that be fair? I’m not sure we can consider anything except Stockton, but I’d love to know how they shake out.
@Gatormama - Just to add to your list…NJ is also home to Drew, Ramapo, Monmouth, Montclair, Stevens, Seton Hall and Fairleigh Dickinson!
@Gator- Princeton, Stevens, Rutgers, and the rest. The remainder of NJ’s public and private colleges are pretty much the same, run of the mill.
@gatormama Academically, I guess for the state schools. But I have yet to meet a NJ student who likes Rutgers! I, personally, hate it! Neither of my kids will consider it, under any circumstances. One of my son’s main criteria was a walking campus - that knocks it right out. My daughter had a bah mitzvah in New Brunswick the day of the Ohio State Rutgers football game and the mess totally turned her off!
A lot depends on major, but I think Rowan wins with the college experience over Stockton and Ramapo. My son didn’t tour Stockton because a friend works there and he told us usually if a kid is accepted to Stockton and Rowan, they pick Rowan. That sealed it for him - he didn’t even want to look.
I don’t think the poster above read the title of this thread. Don’t think Princeton is on anyone’s radar here.
IMO Rutgers is the only public institution in NJ with any kind of national or global reach. That is more important to one’s post-college career than “college experience”. The college experience only lasts four years, after that the repute of the college is the more important factor.
I’m going to suggest that “national or global reach” aren’t important post-college either, actually—most college graduates’ initial jobs are somewhere nearish where they graduated, after all.
@engineer80 - thanks but everyone on this thread is struggling with matching B students to affordable colleges. For me, in PA, this means considering NJ schools that are apparently below your standards. There are plenty of other threads oozing with Ivies and super-selective school choice conundrums; this is not one of them.
And yet almost 10,000 freshmen, mostly from NJ, start there every year.
Im in total disagreement, Rutgers is well renowned and well respected.
Rutgers grad here. It’s an excellent school with many highly sought after competitive majors My neice loves it
and she’s from NJ
TCNJ is excellent but remember to value schools by the MAJOR. as an example Rider is generally not highly regarded but their accounting program is great
My daughter goes to Stockton and loves it their. It meets her needed perfectly. Rutgers was too big for her. It’s all a personal choice based on the individual
My husband has his master’s from Rutgers. Didn’t mean to offend anyone! Definitely a great school. I also live in farm country (yes, that exists in N.J.!!) which I’m sure is part of the reason Rutgers and New Brunswick doesn’t hold a lot of appeal.
Rutgers-NB has a very good Honors College with terrific scholarships. I have a friend whose son goes there and loves it. He is a math/econ major. They list their SAT average as 2160; I don’t see a GPA average, but I just took a quick look.
@DCNatFan not my son but a good friends son had a great experience at Salisbury
@eandesmom Thanks. That is good to hear. Unfortunately, Salisbury is looked down upon at our high school so trying to convince D to block out all the noise and focus on what is best for her and her future.