I am seriously considering this school. The only con of the school right now is safety issues. My father is a cop and retired from the army. He is worried about my safety. I know I must use common sense and make good decisions, but at the same time I have heard about muggings that occurred in the afternoon. Do you guys feel safe? How long did it take you to get adjusted to college life? Is it easy to make friends? How is the food/ dorms? Sorry to sound like a a-hole but are the girls pretty. What is the party scene like and is there alot to do. Most of all are you happy that you chose to attend rutgers? Thank you.
Freshman at Rutgers here. I had some of the same concerns that you do a year ago.
Safety: Honestly, if you’re reasonably intelligent, it’s not an issue. I’ve never felt unsafe and I don’t know anybody who has felt unsafe. Rutgers instituted crime alerts a couple years ago that alerts students to crime in the area. Most crime is drug deals gone bad honestly. It’s very rare for anything to come through about afternoon crime (other than the occasional “Slapped on the butt by a stranger” crime alert. While I don’t mean to trivialize that, it’s not a stabbing by any means. Unless you’re going into the city at 3 A.M, you’ll be just fine.
College Life: It didn’t take me long at all to get adjusted to college life. I find that most people settle in pretty well in the first few weeks. Commuters have a bit of a rough go of it, from what I’ve heard, but even as an OOS student, I’ve felt pretty welcomed.
Food: Not bad. Some good, some bad. For a college, there’s a surprising amount of variety in the dining halls. Lots of retail establishments on campus when you get tired of dining hall food (Sbarro, a diner, Starbucks, Qdoba, Au Bon Pain, Wendy’s, Subway etc). Most cost money, a couple accept meal swipes.
Dorms: Again, not bad. They’re not luxurious but they get the job done just fine. They don’t feel cramped to me. Enough room to have all your stuff comfortably.
Girls/Party Life: It’s what you make of it. If you want to party, there’s plenty of it. Not hard to find. If you don’t, it’s not hard to avoid. That’s what makes Rutgers so great- it’s so big that you can do whatever you want to do. The girls are pretty. In a school with 35K+ students, you’ll find someone that you find attractive.
Am I happy I chose Rutgers? Absolutely.
My son still receives crime alerts and it seems that most ‘serious’ incidents (for example, assault) occur late at night, off College Ave. I will admit that I did worry when my son had to walk to his dorm at night, alone, on C/D, but he never had any problems in 4 years.
Here is a daily crime log for the last three months. Scroll down and click on the month to see what went on.