<p>Hello! I'm currently a freshman at a top 20 LAC, and not entirely satisfied with my experience here. I'm thinking of transferring for next year, and TCNJ has been one of my considerations. I was wondering if anyone who has previously transferred into TCNJ could answer a few questions for me.</p>
<p>1) What sort of financial aid did you get as a transfer? Also, were you guaranteed housing?
2) How active are the student groups on campus? My school boasts an extensive list of clubs/groups, but I don't really feel like many of them do anything significant.
3) How much is there to do <em>on campus</em>? My school is lacking in interesting on-campus activities, and I'm looking for a school that provides.
4) How would you rate the quality of the professors? (I'm considering a major in either journalism or English, if that helps)
5) How has your experience at TCNJ been? In general, and as a transfer student. Was it hard to transfer credits/did the requirements put you behind? My school has no required courses, so transferring to a school where this is not the case might take some adjusting.</p>
<p>Sorry for the lengthy post, but I'm trying very hard to get a good feel for the colleges I'm thinking of transferring to. I apparently didn't do such a good job of that when deciding on a school last year! Anyway, thank you so much for your help!</p>
<p>Hopefully this isn’t too late for you! I transferred to TCNJ in January, so hopefully I can help.</p>
<ol>
<li>You cannot get any scholarships as a transfer from another 4 year college, and I did not receive any financial aid based on my FAFSA (but I didn’t receive any based on that at my old school, either). So no financial support. You are NOT guaranteed housing as a transfer, but you can get on a waitlist. You still may not get housing and be stuck looking off campus or commuting.</li>
<li>I don’t think transfers are treated very well, but they’re trying to work on it. As far as credits go, all of my credits transferred, and they will likely accept yours and just decide that they are some kind of elective (which you need to take anyway to fill your liberal learning requirements).</li>
</ol>
<p>I can’t help you in the other ones since my commute pretty much prevents me from having any knowledge either way</p>
<p>This is probably very late, but I have a lot of friends who transferred to TCNJ.</p>
<p>They all got housing, as there is specific housing reserved for transfers to the school. Also, only one of them is able to graduate on time, the rest are here for an extra year. Still, they all say transferring to TCNJ was a great decision and would do it again if they could.</p>
<p>Also, I myself am in the journalism program and although it is much tougher than the regular english program, it is very easy to get to know they professors and they are willing to help you in any way possible. Also, all of the professors are also working/have worked for top media outlets or publications and really apply their real-life experience to their classes. Everyone I know who has graduated from the program now has a job, even in today’s economy!</p>
<p>Also, it helps to get involved with the student newspaper if you study journalism or even english (or even communications). They’ve won best student newspaper in the state for the past five years or so (beating out both private and public schools, including Princeton)</p>
<p>I will be a transfer student in the fall of 2011 and i was wondering if anyone knows exactly how many transfer students are offered housing. I’ll only be an hour from home. Is it worth looking for off campus housing if I’m not offered housing?</p>
<p>Hi, I transferred here as a junior last semester.</p>
<p>1) What sort of financial aid did you get as a transfer? Also, were you guaranteed housing?
I did not get any financial aid. (other than loans) I didn’t apply for housing and chose to live off-campus. No one is gaurenteed housing unless you are a freshman or sophmore. </p>
<p>2) How active are the student groups on campus? My school boasts an extensive list of clubs/groups, but I don’t really feel like many of them do anything significant.
I think this is one of the only positive aspects of TCNJ. The Clubs definatley get involved in a lot of activities. It’s good to join a few since there is literally nothing in Ewing other than a shady bowling alley. </p>
<p>3) How much is there to do <em>on campus</em>? My school is lacking in interesting on-campus activities, and I’m looking for a school that provides.
There’s not much to do on campus other than a weekly band playing in the bar on campus. </p>
<p>4) How would you rate the quality of the professors? (I’m considering a major in either journalism or English, if that helps)
I was planning on minoring in English and so far have taken 3 courses here. It is by far the worst experience at this school. My 3 professors have all degraded students(esp transfers), and one went as far as to call us “stupid” and not “up to par with reg. tcnj students”. In my experience, they do not show up for office hours and fail to show up to appointments without explanations or apologizies. If you disagree with them, be prepared. If you have your own opinion, I would not recommend coming here. The answers you’ll recieve are always “I went to Harvard/Princeton/where ever so I know what’s best”. I cant say enough bad things about the English professors here.</p>
<p>5) How has your experience at TCNJ been? In general, and as a transfer student. Was it hard to transfer credits/did the requirements put you behind? My school has no required courses, so transferring to a school where this is not the case might take some adjusting.</p>
<p>This school is a joke. They will tell you that you dont need liberal learning reqs, yet fail to mention that certain programs have their own required liberal learning courses. The advisors are awful. Every time I have gone to go over my schedule they won’t even look at my transcript to see what classes I need. Their response is “whatever you want to take, take it”. TCNJ is lacking severely in money (Profs are not even allowed to print anything out for classes and are fined if they do) and will do anything to make sure you stay here as long as possible. I transferred here with 5 friends (all who were promised to be out in 2yrs) and I am the only one who will graduate on time.</p>
<p>Granted, this post is quite old but I’ll put this out there for anyone it might help. TCNJ is like a lot of schools out there: your education will be what you make of it, there are a lot of great professors and then there are some lousy ones, and half the time the guidance counselors are useless. As a student who transferred into TCNJ, I can say that I have personally had a good experience only a couple months in. For those having difficulties with course selection, you need to be speaking with the department head/ adviser in order to plot your schedule, as the general advisers are not very helpful for transfers (for ex. if you are a psych major, speak to the head of the psych department).
This is not a school to be afraid of or to run from, it’s a great public institution (and comparably cheap at that) that holds a lot of clout within this region and if you are attempting to get into graduate school; however, it’s important to pick a school that is a fit for you. If you are a transfer, chances are that wherever you go, it will be a difficult transition especially if you choose to commute. My advice is to just make the best of it.</p>