<p>Just curious what anyone knows about this school.</p>
<p>I know the name and that it’s in Princeton NJ, only because there used to be a prominently displayed poster about Rider U hanging on the second floor wall of the staircase of my old high school.</p>
<p>D was there for a week for Girls’ State. She wasn’t impressed with the dorms - old, small, lots of wear and tear. We also visited when she was looking at colleges as they were offering her fairly heavy merit money based on her stats. It was ok, but didn’t do much for her. She did not choose to apply. Four years later, I tried to schedule a visit for S. But the admissions secretary yelled at me because when she asked me what date we wanted to visit, the date I mentioned was their accepted freshmen preview day. Ok, how was I supposed to know that? She did not give me a chance to choose another date - she was downright rude and as we had plenty of other options, I just crossed it off the list. </p>
<p>I’m sure other people have not had that experience, lol, so take it with a grain of salt. They do have DI athletics and their business program is supposed to be pretty good, I believe. We were on the Lawrenceville campus and they did not have a Princeton campus at that point.</p>
<p>We took a tour over 5 years ago, which was just prior to their dorm renovations. I would never have put my kid into a dorm that looked like the one that they showed to us. I did not care that they redid them, because just the idea that they were housing their students in this type of housing prior to the renovation meant that I would not send my children there.</p>
<p>Just FYI, the part of Rider that’s in Princeton is Westminster Choir College. The main campus is in Lawrenceville.</p>
<p>Academically, what is the story?</p>
<p>Ah, northeastmom, our visits were prior to any dorm renovations also. Actually, now that I think of it, D may have done the college visit first and then spent the week on campus for Girls’ State, which made her decide not to apply.</p>
<p>The College Board info pages make it look pretty run-of-the-mill academically.</p>
<p>[College</a> Search - Rider University - At a Glance](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>[Academic</a> Tracker - Meet College Admission Requirements - High School Class Selection](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>Academically it is not a challenging school and according to some students the campus is very quiet on weekends (Suitcase School ?)…</p>
<p>I have heard what ncmentor has said, although I have no personal knowledge. I can tell you that most schools in NJ (at least the state schools) are suitcase schools because students who are from NJ can get home pretty easily. An admission counselor at a smaller NJ state school pointed out to me that even large state Us (ie:Rutgers) have a lot of students going home on weekends. Students at Rutgers would not feel it like they would feel it on a small campus simply because Rutgers is so large (meaning that a large number of students will still remain on campus on weekends, even though a large number left campus too).</p>
<p>BTW, expect to find lots of geese on campus. At least they had them and their droppings on the day we visited.</p>
<p>Rider’s not very selective. Just looked it up on my D’s school’s Naviance. Many applications (we’re in NJ), and 95% accepted. Only those with VERY low grades weren’t accepted.</p>
<p>TCNJ is very nearby, and MUCH stronger academically, and cheaper to boot.</p>
<p>^^^I’ve been gone from NJ for 7 years but that was my gut feeling also. Rider has always been a big step up from Monmouth U and a small step down from Drew. Not bad, but nothing spectacular and certainly many stronger public academic institutions to be had for much less $$$. TCNJ would be the one most compared with, since they are in the same area. I think Rider might be a good choice for a truly average HS student whose parents could afford it.</p>
<p>The academics when we looked were average at best, but it was when we were new to the college search game. We were lured to look by the promise of large merit money, lol. The stats of the incoming freshmen class (3.27 gpa avg. and roughly 460-580 middle 50% for each sections on SAT) give a partial picture of the level of students.</p>
<p>Interesting note - they rank #19 on Princeton Review’s Least Happy Students list, for whatever that is worth. NYU is #16 on that list.</p>
<p>RobD - I would consider Rider more than “a small step down from Drew.” Yet when I went to compare their incoming class stats, the avg. gpa is the same (3.27), but Drew’s SATs are higher (510-630). I wonder if the gpa similarity is because of a difference in the high schools the students come from. Drew’s class had 38% in the top 10% of their HS class vs. 16% at Rider.</p>
<p>Wow, Rider is considered a “big step up from Monmouth”? We only looked at Drew and Rider (and very briefly, William Paterson) in NJ, but I didn’t think Monmouth was that far down.</p>
<p>I would stay away from Rider. My nephew (PA resident) who is a medium student looked at all the NJ schools and his family was not at all impressed with Rider. He is a junior at TCNJ. The NJ schools do have the “suitcase” problem, too- much more than schools in other states, in my opinion. Plus, NJ has been cutting a lot of school funding.</p>
<p>Agree with suitcase school issue–as a small state with a big population, it’s too easy for everyone to go home; no one’s that far away. Both my kids went OOS for that reason.</p>
<p>I would say that Rider/Monmouth are perceived as similar, rather than one being one step up from the other (and Monmouth has a spectacular setting, btw). Drew, on the other hand, I think is a big step up from both, with some national name recognition.</p>
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<p>The cut in NJ school funding, I have been told has effected NJ public universities. I have friends who have noticed the difference. The NJ public Us are also not inexpensive, IMO! It has cost us less to send our son to a private out of state school this year, then to send our son to our instate public university.</p>
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<p>The NJ privates were also affected by the cuts. I know of one that will receive not any of the state money it usually received and it sounded like all the NJ privates are in the same boat.</p>
<p>Well, if that’s the case, I am glad my kid left NJ. Also, I am glad that NY raised their SUNY tuitions just in time for us to see that they are not going to be our solution to education either!</p>
<p>^^ Yep, my kids fared much better out of state.</p>
<p>My brother received his Masters degree from there. He works for a widely known, highly successful company. He makes oodles of money and has subordinates that went to ND, Harvard, Michigan and UNC-Chapel Hill among other schools. Rider is also know for the accounting program undergrad program. At least locally.</p>
<p>garland- I would say right now Monmouth is similar but a little more respected overall.</p>
<p>Neither school will hold you back in life.</p>