True, that’s why the Tier rankings are most important. It’s up to the student to decide which school is the best. I try my best not to opinionate this thread.
@ExpertOnMistakes so, with all 26 schools rated, here’s how it stands:
5 stars: Princeton
4 stars: TCNJ, Rutgers
3.5 stars: Stevens, Rowan
3 stars: Drew, Monmouth, Ramapo, Rider, Rutgers Newark, NJIT, Stockton, Seton Hall
2.5 stars: Montclair, FDU Florham, Rutgers Camden
2 stars: FDU Metro, Caldwell, St. Peter’s
1.5 stars: William Paterson, Centenary, Georgian Court
1 star: Kean, NJCU, Felician, Bloomfield
I’ll separate them into divisions. Leagues, if you will. Top division has 16 teams, second tier has ten.
Jersey Premier League (also known as JPL)
- Princeton
- TCNJ
- Rutgers NB
- Stevens
- Rowan
- Drew
- Monmouth
- Ramapo
- Rider
- Rutgers Newark
- NJIT
- Stockton
- Seton Hall
- Montclair
- FDU Florham
- Rutgers Camden
Jersey Second League (JSL)
- FDU Metro
- Caldwell
- St. Peter’s
- William Paterson
- Centenary
- Georgian Court
- Kean
- Felician
- Bloomfield
- NJCU
@LBad96 Solid list.
There’s also St. Elizabeth, which I give 1.5 stars. It’s the standard low-ranking private college, not a whole lot to say that I haven’t said already. The only thing I could probably add is it’s the third best college named after Elizabeth Ann Seton.
St. Elizabeth would NOT stop calling me this year. I don’t know how they even got my information!
Lincoln Tech also harassed me, although they did visit my school…I actually had to be rude for it to stop.
Sorry, this thread just reminded me of them haha.
True.
The point of this thread is not to say that “X college is better than Y” but to see what colleges are similar to each other overall, that way a student knows that there’s more options available to them & that some schools are better than they think.
Of course prestige doesn’t mean much, but if a school is better for your major than a similar school than it is important.
However, fit & value are still the most important things when choosing a college. You want to be happy in college and post-college.
Things that fall under “fit” such as preferences in
-Location(Urban,Suburban,Rural)(In State or OOS)(What is there to do in the area & surrounding areas)
-Enrollment Size(Large,Medium,Small)
-Student Diversity(Ethnic,Racial,Socioeconomically,Academically,Gender Percentage)
-Teaching Style
-Student Life(% of undergrad dormers/commuters,amount of extracurricular activities,sports(level & amount of sports),% in greek life, what students do on & off campus, what do students do on the weekends)
-Study/Learning Opportunities(Study Abroad,Co-Op,etc.)
-Campus itself
Things that fall under value
-Are you getting your money’s worth?(Academics[grad rates,retention rates,post-grad salary]/Price)
-Return on Investment
-Strength in your field of study
-Net Price(Regular Price-Financial Aid)
-Amount you have to pay back in loans
-% of students receiving financial aid
-Funding of School/Endowment
@ExpertOnMistakes Just looked them up and saw that they are about to become co-ed this upcoming fall. Well, in that case…
Jersey Premier League (JPL)
- Princeton
- TCNJ
- Rutgers NB
- Stevens
- Rowan
- Drew
- Monmouth
- Ramapo
- Rider
- Rutgers Newark
- NJIT
- Stockton
- Seton Hall
- Montclair
- FDU Florham
- Rutgers Camden
Each school plays each other twice in a round-robin format for 30 games each.
Winner automatically goes to the USNWR Champions League.
Second-place has to go through the CL qualifiers.
Third and fourth place automatically qualify for the USNWR American League.
Winner of the Woodrow Wilson Cup goes through the AL qualifiers (unless they already qualified through their league position). All New Jersey schools participate in the Wilson Cup.
New Jersey has less national places than most other states because the league is very weak.
Jersey Second League (JSL)
- FDU Metro
- Caldwell
- St. Peter’s
- William Paterson
- Centenary
- Georgian Court
- St. Elizabeth
- Kean
- Felician
- Bloomfield
- NJCU
JSL champions gain automatic promotion to JPL.
Second-placed JSL team enters a one-off, winner-take-all playoff against the second-bottom JPL team. Winner goes to the JPL, loser goes to the JSL.
Sorry, I’m a real soccer nerd. 
Forgot to mention - every JSL team plays the other 10 teams three times each, also for a total of 30 games.
@newjerseygirl98 lol, Pace University did that with me last year as well, although I only had to once tell them calmly for them to stop bothering me. Look at it this way: only Mickey Mouse schools do that, really.
Top Tier- Princeton
Tier 1- TCNJ/Rutgers New Brunswick
Stevens
Tier 2.5- Rutgers Newark
Rowan
NJIT
Ramapo
Stockton
Tier 2.8- Seton Hall
Tier 3- Montclair
Monmouth
Rutgers Camden
Tier 4- Rider
Tier 5- William Paterson/Kean
Fairleigh Dickinson Florham
Fairleigh Dickinson Metropolitan
IVY Princeton
Tier 1- TCNJ - is the higest ranked state school in the region , with among other things the highest ranked b-school in the state by far.
Tier 2- Rutgers, Stevens
Tier 3 NJIT, Seton Hall etc etc.
@ASJackson923 Well said.
@LBad96 There probably won’t be that much suspense over who wins. Princeton is the Golden State Warriors (or 95-96 Bulls, if you like) of that league.
@ExpertOnMistakes Princeton are like the Bayern Munich or Juventus of that league. No stopping them, and if anyone else ever breaks the monopoly and wins the league, then it’ll be a massive shock - a lot like Leicester City was this EPL season, or the LA Kings winning the 2012 Stanley Cup Final as the 8th seed in the West. Princeton are by far the most talented and complete squad in all of New Jersey, as well as the most valuable school. They are able to bring in the highest number and best-quality OOS talent, having an electic mix of excellent players. TCNJ and Rutgers can nip at Princeton’s heels for a couple of weeks early on, but the Ivy Leaguers would face no serious threat. Honestly, the North Carolina Premier League (NCPL) is a much stronger, more competitive league (we can continue that part of the discussion in a PM if you’d like).
In my opinion, there is much more excitement in determining that final CL spot - I could easily see Rutgers (if they’re able to make the right signings) and TCNJ flip-flopping each year for second place. And then the last AL spot (fourth place) would be a duel between Rowan and Stevens. Maybe either one of the latter two could one year spring up to second and the CL qualifiers if they put the right pieces together. The relegation battle would be pretty cool also. FDU Florham and Rutgers Camden fighting to avoid automatic relegation and at least get the playoff match. But I can also see the likes of Seton Hall, Montclair and maybe even Stockton having trouble staying up until about the last one and a half months of the season. Rider, due to their apparent locker room and inner personnel turmoil/vulnerability this past season, along with their failure to bring in decent prospects, will likely struggle for a mid-table finish until the final month, where I can see them making a surge and finishing right in 9th or 10th. Rutgers Newark and Ramapo are often slept on and could have good futures if everything goes right. Same goes for Monmouth and NJIT especially.
I can see either one of the top three JSL teams (FDU Metro, Caldwell, and St. Peter’s) gaining automatic promotion, with the three-horse race carrying on until the very last day of the season. Finishing third and missing out on the chance of promotion altogether would be crushing for whomever the unlucky souls are, and they’d be left to lick their wounds and kick themselves. And whomever is relegated to JSL will surely have to sell some of their top players to other schools in the summer in addition to struggling to convince decent players to join in the fight to be promoted straight back up. Say a prayer for everyone else - it’d be very difficult to see the likes of William Paterson and Centenary, let alone company of Kean and NJCU, making a foray into the top flight anytime soon.
@LBad96 I wanted to make a soccer analogy, but as you probably can tell, I don’t know a whole lot about the sport.
Princeton, of course, isn’t just the top school in the state; it’s at least a top 10, if not a top 5 school on a national level. Most colleges in the country can’t compete with it, let alone other New Jersey schools. It’s earned its reputation.
To its credit, New Jersey at least has three reputable institutions. In addition to the top tier Princeton, it has a well-regarded state school in Rutgers and a well-regarded regional university in TCNJ. And let’s face it, very few people are going to get into (and afford) Princeton. Plus, New Jersey residents are at a disadvantage when applying to Princeton because colleges prefer out-of-state students. So while the state doesn’t have that many colleges of note, applicants at least have choices if they’re searching for school known for its academics. I don’t know that much about the schools in North Carolina, but I understand they have a number of top notch universities.
One thing I’m interested in seeing is where the New Jersey schools will end up when the rankings are updated for the year, particularly in the US News’ Regional North list. I’m also wondering if Monmouth and Ramapo will be added to Forbes’ 2016 ranking… but probably not, because I don’t think Forbes adds new schools to their list.
interesting fact, when it comes to business programs in NJ, TCNJ has NO serious comp. It’s ranked #35 in the entire country. Pretty darn good for a small state school.
@stones3 ehhhh I don’t trust Bloomberg tbh. Too much of a Northern school worship circle imho. I’m sure TCNJ’s B-school is solid, though.
??? Austin? Notre Dame?? Michigan? UNC? Its a fairly diverse group based on a region neutral set of metrics.
Anyway TCNJ ranked #35 in the country and that’s vs public and private schools. #20 in accounting alone.
But it is a small school and space is at a huge premium these days.
@stones3 look at the whole list and not just the top ones. It’s dominated by northern schools. You simply can’t expect me to believe that freaking Seton Hall is better than UNCW in business. There is no way that NC State or Clark University (just to name a few) are better than UNCW in business. But that’s another thread for another topic.
As someone not from near NJ but has visited several of the colleges on the list, I’ve found this a very interesting thread.
It’s hard to objectively compare Drew (small, suburban LAC with some excellent STEM, but also with art, theater, religion, and language majors) with Stevens and NJIT (Urban, STEM focused, one small with amazing NYC views, one larger with Newark views ). It seems there’s little overlap between those looking at Drew vs. Stevens/NJIT. Which school is at the top of any individual’s list, assuming most are not going to make the 6.5% Princeton cut, is going to depend on what major you want and what style school you’re looking for.
And poor FDU can’t get any love here…
ok, but Bloomberg is in fact well respected source.
@stones3 I never said it wasn’t. But there is inherent bias in the way they rank schools, I feel.