<p>I am currently a student at Rutgers Camden and the reaction to the idea is almost completely negative. Rutgers Camden is already a research institute with many dedicated faculty and students. In recent years (really in the past two), Rutgers Camden has made tremendous progress and we see the merger as something that will harm education in south jersey. The Rutgers name is one of the few things that keep many of the best and brightest students in south jersey, for undergraduate, graduate, and law studies. A merger would greatly harm the law program (the professors will probably sue, and win or lose, leave the campus). The alumni support will also drop vastly. I personally selected Rutgers because of its higher standards for professors, and national recognition. Rowan’s name is still a regional one in many fields, with a few exceptions (their teaching, engineering, and computer programs are fairly good). I have one professor currently who teaches are Rutgers Camden and Rowan and told us how he, and other professors who teach at both schools, have to “dumb down” their classes slightly in order to teach them at Rowan. Lowering the educational standards for the sake of money will not help education in south jersey, it will hinder it. The Rutgers Board of Governors will be in Camden on Feb. 15th and they will hear our voice. It will be a tough sell to them because New Brunswick will gain a medical school (looks good on paper of course, but also a financial vacuum). So New Brunswick gains a med school, Rowan gains a law school (though one that will lose all prestige and most professors), but those students and professors that chose Rutgers Camden for all the various reasons are getting screwed. We chose Rutgers Camden for its intimate class sizes, a faculty that rivals the best in New Jersey ( Rutgers Camden professor received a MacArthur Fellowships but the larger New Brunswick, and neither did Princeton University for that matter, have a professor receive one in 2011.), a quickly growing campus, and excited student body.</p>
<p>davsulli, I can understand how you are upset. But I don’t think the merger (if it even really happens) is going to impact current students much since it will likely take a few years to fully implement. </p>
<p>Rutgers name may be better known than Rowan at present, but if you are from NJ, you know that Rutgers is everybody’s safety. We all refer to it as a good school, but nobody is really impressed if you go there. The overwhelming majority of students that go to Rutgers (93%) and Rowan (97%) are NJ residents, so I don’t think either school draws much attention from anybody out of state anyway.</p>
<p>In my opinion, Rowan is equivalent to Rutgers in academics. Also, as you pointed out, Rowan has some very good programs, and therefore is attracting better quality students each year as it grows in prestige. With a medical school and law school, the candidates will be even stronger. Therefore, I doubt the professors will be fleeing with that kind of potential.</p>
<p>In New Jersey yes both Rutgers and Rowan are household names but nationally Rutgers is one of the best known schools on the east coast. Some of that has to be attributed to the football team but much of it also has to be thanked to the fact that Rutgers is one of the best public research institutes not in new jersey, but in the country. </p>
<p>And we had a safety school discussion in class today and I really think it is the other way around, at least for those of us students living in south jersey. For everyone in class Rowan either was not considered, or was the safety school. For many of us it was Rutgers or leave the state. </p>
<p>This particular professor is not the only professor I know to have taught at both schools. I have plenty of friends in Rowan or that have graduated from Rowan and they readily admit that the academics as a whole is on a lesser level than that of Rutgers. The standards of that Rutgers holds for a full time professor are more strict than those for one at Rowan. Rowan has yet to shake the stigma of that of a glorified community or teaching college (as it originally was). Rowan is commonly known as the school to go to if you want to be a teacher, or a cop.</p>
<p>I certainly support Rowan’s desire for growth just I do not support it at the expense of Rutgers Camden. Rowan stands to gain much while Rutgers loses in this deal. The resistance of the faculty of both the university and law school is incredible and will only continue to grow.</p>
<p>I agree that Rutgers NB is harder to get into than Rowan, but I believe Rowan and Rutgers Camden are VERY similar, therefore I doubt they have to dumb down anything…This is where I got my info. If Rutgers Camden is a “research institute” then why does everybody say NJ only has one research institute. I don’t know the qualifications but I’m sure both Rowan and Rutgers Camden do research, just don’t know how you get designated as an institute. I doubt Camden is big enough on it’s own to qualify as such.
[College</a> Search - Rowan University - At a Glance](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)
[College</a> Search - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey: Camden Regional Campus - At a Glance](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>Davsulli, thank you for your candid insight. We are from north jersey. Do you think the academics are that subpar for an engineering student? My son is a top student and is one of their top applicants (offered full scholarship). If he goes he’ll be in the Honor’s program. I’m sure most of his classes will be engineering, math, computer, and science and I can’t imagine those being dumbed down in a well respected program. He will also be coming in with 6-7 AP classes. I don’t think he will care if his general ed classes are easy. In fact he will probably welcome that.</p>
<p>Pssst. Rowan is every bit as selective as Rutgers NB in engineering. </p>
<p>This is about breaking up the political crony haven that is the UMDNJ and trimming duplicate admin costs, not killing Rutgers. I actually agree with the governor (and you) that Rutgers as a major university is “good, not great”. This would be a another coup for Rowan, which is shooting for greatness, one college at a time. I can see the Camden campus being dedicated to law and medicine, and the business school expanding at Rowan, thanks to the Rohrer family endowment (which COULD have gone to Rutgers; Rohrer was a Camden County auto dealer, banker, and government official). </p>
<p>I’ll believe it when I see it, though. There’s union, administration, and board intransigence to hurdle, especially at Rutgers-Camden. Many non-law school RC students chose RC because of the Rutgers name, or they didn’t have the cash for housing up north, or didn’t want the sprawling NB campus, or couldn’t get accepted at NB.</p>
<p>I saw your son’s grades and curriculum. He won’t take any general ed classes as an engineering major, unless he chooses them as electives (unlikely). His four years are basically planned out for him. His AP scores 4 or above allow him to gain college credits before he walks in the door. If he goes the Honors route, he gets special, brand new housing on Rowan Blvd. But don’t push it. It’s tough enough, especially if he has other interests. As I said, Rowan is a place for “do-ers” and the years fly by if he gets involved. It’s not a small school, but it feels and acts like one.</p>
<p>One more thing. My son had the same kind of scores/grades your son did. He, and many other Rowan engineering majors, could have gone anywhere, but chose Rowan. He could have skipped freshman calc. He’s glad he didn’t. If your son goes to Rowan as an engineer, it’s almost certain that he’ll be assigned to my son as a “PRO” (look it up in Student Affairs) to help him navigate. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>“Rutgers Camden admission stats (SAT and class rank) are more like Rowan’s that Rutgers NB. There are people on the Camden campus who didn’t get into the NB campus…just saying…”</p>
<p>Sorry for taking away from the conversation regarding choices of schools of engineering, but I felt that I had to leave a response to this comment. Please don’t doubt the quality of students at Rutgers-Camden. There are duds everywhere, at every university. In my opinion the RU-C tends to be the college for non-traditional degree seekers. Not because they aren’t smart enough, but because life didn’t take them to the path of a 4-yr degree while living on campus at another university. Their ability shouldn’t be stacked against carefree 18 year olds who go in droves to New Brunswick and have little more to worry about than their grades and their social life. They might be mothers, fathers, and/or full-time workers who still manage to excel despite all. I graduated from Moorestown High School and I went to RU-NB, but I didn’t finish there because my mother became extremely ill. I came home to be close to/with my mother until the day she died. During that time I was able to continue my education at RU-C. I am grateful that RU-C was in our region and let me keep going to school when otherwise I might not have been able to. There are many at RU-C who wouldn’t be able to attend a university if Rutgers was not in the area. Their stories may be different, but they are like me. It would be a shame if the merger didn’t keep in mind the non-traditional student. I suspect great things for Rowan in the future, but I hope alternatives such as RU-C remain as well. Sign the petition to keep Rutgers in Camden [Stop</a> The Merge - Rutgers 2 Rowan](<a href=“http://www.r2rmerge.com%5DStop”>http://www.r2rmerge.com)</p>
<p>The SAT and class rank stats are for incoming freshmen. Rutgers NB seems to be harder for freshmen to get into than NB-Camden. (according to the stats).</p>
<p>I am a prospective Rowan engineering student, and have plans to attend graduate school for Petroleum engineering at either Uhouston, Utexas, TAMU or Texas Tech, LSU and USocal. I was wondering how well are the academics at Rowan and how the professors and the environment are? I know it is relatively close to Philly and was wondering about affordable off-campus housing options. Any advice/info is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Well for starters, knowing where the governor stands is a far cry from an absorption of university. There is a much more complicated and democratic process involved.</p>
<p>To the mother whose son is thinking of attending Rowan, you should be aware the idea of a takeover of Rutgers-Camden that has been floated has received vigorous opposition from the entire Rutgers-Camden administration and faculty and most of the student body. The President of the entire Rutgers system, likewise, has recently testified to the NJ Senate Higher Education Committee of his own opposition to the idea. Your son will not be stepping into a happily “merged” university but into a deeply a contentious situation. Faculty and students from both universities are opposed to this takeover idea, and your right: folks Rowan are fearful of what will happen to Rowan if indeed it becomes a research university. Small class sizes will be gone. Dedicated teaching faculty will be compelled to “publish or perish” and classes will be taught by adjuncts. I know the Interim President of Rowan has said he wants to keep class sizes small–of course he does, who doesn’t? But there’s a reality in the world of research universities: professors have to research and copiously publish, that’s their job. People love Rowan as a teaching school but inevitably that will have to change.</p>
<p>You should also be aware that putting these two universities together will not automatically create a “research university.” The governor has said he will call it a research university but the truth is, among researcher, academics, and engineers world-wide, it’s a little more complicated than that. Rutgers-Camden is an AAU accredited research institute with the back, prestige, and resources of one of the most well respected research universities in the world. Rowan just isn’t that. If Rutgers-Camden is shut down and taken over by Rowan, Rowan will have decades of work to do to get to the Rutgers level of research which will cost millions and millions of dollars which have not been provided for in the governor’s ill-conceived idea.</p>
<p>Also, it is a misunderstanding to believe that people are opposed to this takeover simply because of their own degrees. Currently, South Jersey is fortunate enough to have choices in higher ed. South Jersey has a world-class research university in Rutgers-Camden and an excellent teaching school in Rowan. This takeover will ruin both, deprive South Jersey of a reasonable choice, and deny South New Jersey access to The State University of New Jersey.</p>
<p>The reality is Rutgers is a world-class research facility. I know people in NJ often think of it as no big deal but the international academic community has much admiration for Rutgers and is baffled the NJ would amputate a third of its esteemed university and plunge backwards into obscurity. As indeed, Rowan is an unknown entity internationally. This is because it is a different kind of school with a different culture and a different mission. Rutgers has proposed a consortium model in which the two schools share resources and work together to enhance one another. Such a model allows both schools to keep their identities, their cultures, their missions, but also allows both to grow its strength and do even better what they already each do so well.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.r2rmerge.com/[/url]”>http://www.r2rmerge.com/</a>
Rutgers-Camden faculty statement: <a href=“http://crab.rutgers.edu/~johnwall/FASstatement-signed.pdf[/url]”>John Wall | Rutgers University;
Testimonials from international academic community for one department alone at Rutgers-Camden: <a href=“http://www.change.org/petitions/rutgers-university-board-of-governors-keep-childhood-studies-part-of-rutgers-university[/url]”>http://www.change.org/petitions/rutgers-university-board-of-governors-keep-childhood-studies-part-of-rutgers-university</a>
Rutgers-Camden Chancellor statement against takeover at one of many rallies: <a href=“Rutgers Camden Merger Rally - YouTube”>Rutgers Camden Merger Rally - YouTube;
Rutgers consortium model: <a href=“Adobe Acrobat Sign”>Adobe Acrobat Sign;
Rutgers-Rowan-Cooper collaboration possibilities: <a href=“http://crab.rutgers.edu/~johnwall/Collaborations.pdf[/url]”>John Wall | Rutgers University;
<p>I would disagree with the assessment that Rutgers and Rowan are academically equivalent, or that a Rutgers education is not very well regarded, particularly in certain fields. While Rowan has made great strides to improve it’s education quality and it’s academic standing, particularly in engineering (and a few others) it still does not enjoy the reputation of Rutgers, nor can it be considered equal to Rutgers as a research institution. Especially over the last several years, Rutgers has attracted top-notch students - students who had opportunities to attend ivies, who took advantage of the generous scholarship offers and knew that they were still able to receive excellent educations that would open doors for them. Rutgers has been unable to attract a larger OOS student-body due to it’s high tuition cost, but given the education stats for NJ, that has not limited the quality of students that attend.
I would have been happy had my son chose to attend, and I keep urging my daughter to seriously consider it.</p>
<p>As an employer, my company has been very pleased with our rutgers grads (both undergrad and graduate degrees.)</p>
<p>davsulli really?!? I won’t argue what Rutgers has to offer, I’m sure it is a great school but maybe you need to talk to other people at Rowan. Nobody here regards our school as just a place for “cop or teachers”. The people who say that are those partying on a Thursday and coasting through school on easy major’s barely getting C’s. The Rowan I know is academically rigorous, challenging, and has some of the best professor’s you’ll meet who are there to support you if you take the time to seek them out. I won’t list a whole bunch of reasons, but as a student at Rowan to say our classes are easier or less is just a joke. Come study engineering here for 4 years and tell me how much “easier” they are please.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to come off as defensive but I think every school has less academically challenging paths. If you are open to the challenge Rowan in certain majors will offer that to you. I will defend my professor’s forever as well, they are fantastic, smart, and inspire me. Not everyone is amazing mind you, but at least in my experience if you seek out help and are a good student they will reward you that back.</p>
<p>sivachevy - Please PM me, I’m a graduate student in Engineering, I’d be happy to answer your questions.</p>
<p>“He won’t take any general ed classes as an engineering major, unless he chooses them as electives (unlikely).” - This is incorrect, every engineering major is required to take certain general education classes, it’s a University wide policy. It’s not many (maybe 5?) and offer a great change to try something else out. You will have to take a 3 credit Art class for example, I took Photography which is a nice break from the rigorous engineering days. Some of those AP classes may count I’m not totally sure but a few Gen Ed’s will need to be taken regardless. </p>
<p>I didn’t do the honors since as a transfer it would have added unnecessary time to my degree but a few engineers I know did. The honor’s only housing is pretty sweet though, it’s brand new and is the best on campus.</p>
<p>If you or your son have questions please feel free to PM me, I’ve been at Rowan since 2008 as an engineering undergrad/grad student. </p>
<p>** I also have posted numerous times on these boards information regarding our Engineering programs and what to expect. I noticed this coming up a lot in this conversation. I hope to make a post detailing information in one location soon, but in the meantime seek out my posts and PM me if you want. Clearly I am a passionate Rowan student! Love the Prof 
**</p>