My son got 4k in merit from TCNJ and 1.5k in an engineering scholarship. Pretty good for TCNJ… He has 1400 SAT top 6% of his class. Three varsity sport all the other stuff they look for…
he was accepted to honors
So, your son has to pick between TCNJ or Rowan Honors College at about the same price?
What specific field of Engineering is he interested by?
Getting 5.5 K in scholarships at TCNJ is indeed very good.
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Rowan Electrical Engineering is rated #17 of colleges with no doctorate: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rowan-university-2609/overall-rankings
Rutgers, who does offer a doctorate, is rated #48 for Engineering. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rutgers-new-brunswick-6964/overall-rankings However, the ratings are based upon doctorate/non-doctorate
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We had are 2nd visit to Rowan yesterday and daughter is close to committing - very impressed with labs, clinics, teachers etc. Wondering about internships and job placement though - I know this year is tough EVERYWHERE from what I’m hearing, but I did hear that Stevens and NJIT have better job placement? - Debnbill do you have any insight?
@jmansky I don’t think that you should be too worried about Stevens or NJIT having better job placement than Rowan. It is true that Stevens and NJIT are better known, but at least in NJ all firms looking for Mechanical engineers will know about Rowan and the value it offers.
However, in your daughter’s case, I am not sure why you apparently ruled out Rutgers which would have the best job placement of all those four schools.
Also, you mentioned that cost is a factor but not to which extent. With you daughter’s stats, I think that Rutgers and NJIT would offer better than 9K in merit.
You might want to post your original question in the College Search & Selection subforum at College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums to get more feedback. Make sure you tag it with “help-me-decide” as explained at How to post a "Help Me Decide" College A vs College B Thread
I have to disagree with Rutgers having a better job placement than all four of the schools-these stats were found on each of colleges individual engineering sites: 95% of the Stevens Class of 2020 secured highly competitive employment opportunities, admission to prestigious graduate programs or other intended outcomes within six months post-graduation. Rutgers has an 83% career placement six months post-graduation. Rowan has a placement rate for 2012-2020: 90-100%. NJIT: 77.4 % of baccalaureate degree recipients reporting full-time employment within the
first six months of graduation.
Here’s my thought-Stevens is in a prime location, I mean who wouldn’t want to go there. They have internships with some of the most prestigious companies working out of NYC. However, even after giving my son $32k, we would still owe $45k. I am not taking loans for $180,000 to finance an education. Every $10k you borrow ends up being roughly $100 per month-so that’s $1800 a month in student loan payments–not what a I want to do.
I highly doubt Rutgers would give your son/daughter $9k. As I posted before, my son’s friend applied to Rutgers (engineering) with a perfect SAT and close to a 5.0 GPA, he got $0 from Rutgers. And, it should be noted, this kid has already earned 15 college credits during high school. None of my son’s friends, all of whom have higher stats than he, received $0 from Rutgers. And many of them who did not apply to the engineering school were wait-listed. Seems crazy, but it’s the truth.
I would agree that Stevens has better job placement–look at the location and the beautiful two towers they are building to house the freshman come Spring of next year. My son applied and was accepted to NJIT because they were trying to recruit him and gave him a waiver code for the application fee, so he applied. But, I honestly do not know much about the school except that it is Newark, a place my son would rather not be. Stevens would be my son’s first choice if we were able to afford it, and we are not. I will not allow him to go into $180k student loan debt for school–while he may come out making more money than someone from Rutgers or Rowan, but it wouldn’t really matter because he would have a $2k a month loan payment for the next 20 years. So, right now, I had to take a financial stand with my son and he is 100% on board. He loved Rowan, loved Steven’s and found that Rutgers is just old and gloomy (which it is). He loved the brand new engineering building at Rowan (the white boards everywhere), etc…he loved Stevens. But, the choice is made–Rowan it is. And yes, Stevens, NJIT and Rutgers are better known, but of all the parents I have spoken to on our Rowan University site said their grads had no problems getting internships and they are all working in their field. So here are the stats on Rowans Electrical & Computer Engineering Program:
2021 ECE Facts & Figures
2021 US News & World Report national ranking for best UG programs: #16
Number of incoming students for Fall 2020: 120 (highest in the College of Engineering)
Number of applicants for Fall 2020: 349
Average SAT for 2020 Admission: 1320
Average high school GPA of admitted students: 3.84
Number of undergraduate students as of Fall 2020: 350
Number of graduate students: 50
ECE placement rate for 2012-2020: 90-100%
Average class size: 25
Max class size for lab courses: 24 (most of ECE curriculum are lab courses)
Max class size for lecture-based courses: 40
Number of faculty and staff:
16 full-time faculty
8 supporting faculty
2 technicians and 1 administrative support personnel
Number of clinic projects available to every undergraduate student every semester: 40 for ECE only,
160+ collegewide - all of which are available to ECE students
Percentage of UG students working on real-world, unsolved problems in multidisciplinary settings: 100%
Retention Rate: 90% (national average for engineering programs is 55-65%)
Average 2020 starting salary for ECE graduates: $72,000 (highest in the College of Engineering)
Highest salary offered to an ECE student at the time of graduation with a BS degree: $118,000 (highest in the College of Engineering)
Debnbill I wondered if I could ask you a couple more questions about Rowan privately - happy to give you my email or phone or FB, whatever you prefer. Thanks!
Absolutely…send me a friend request on FB and then we can exchange #'s or emails privately thru chat–Deborah Carney-Gumpper is my FB name.
And, I received even better news from Rowan yesterday. As I said, they originally gave him $8200 in Merit Scholarship $$$. Well, I emailed them and asked them to take another look at his academic record; citing the colleges he was accepted to and the offers from them along with the fact that I will now have 2 at Rowan. Well, they replied and upped his award to $10k along with an additonal $1k (Friends of Rowan Scholarship)-bringing the total to $11k in renewable scholarships as long as he maintains a 2.5 GPA—with that said, he will be declining Rutgers, Stevens, NJIT and withdrawing from GWU’s wait list. So excited!!!
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Nice!
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Doesn’t hurt to ask, right? I’m happy with it. Makes college completely affordable–no loans!!!
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Both my kids graduated from Rowan debt free (we have no parent loans either). Two years out, paid off cars and living in their own apartment, happy as clams, although my daughter would be a lot happier if she could spend some of her savings on live concerts LOL 
Someday soon, we hope!
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My son has a 4.0 weighted, 1450 SAT and a bunch of AP classes under his belt. We just applied 3 weeks ago per the advice from many knowledgeable folks on this site. He got into his ONLY choice, Electrical & Computer Engineering. They gave him a lot of money in merit scholarship–he will end up paying for Rowan what it would cost for 1 year at Rutgers. I am so happy he made this choice. Rowan Engineering is rated #17 in the country for ENgineering schools without a doctorate–so yes, they are very competitive and the best is that their class size will never go over 24 students–meaning they will be able to get their hands on all the equipment and technology in their 4 year old state of the art engineering bldg.
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That’s what it’s all about–debt free. My son’s education at Rowan will end up costing pretty much what 1 year at Rutgers costs. I am happy with his decision.
Hi, I saw a couple posts about people deciding if they should go to Rowan so I thought I’d give my input!
I’m a civil and environmental engineering major at Rowan and (i may be a little biased) but in my opinion, Rowan is one of the most underrated colleges in the country. I am also in the Honors College. I had a 4.4 GPA in HS. I also took 6 honors classes and 6 APs. I was in the National Honors Society, Math Honors Society, Science National Honors society and held positions in the environmental club and key club in hs.
I picked Rowan because of a couple of reasons. The first reason being its engineering program and how they prioritize engineering and honors students. As an engineering or honors student, you get the best dorms which are only about 5 years old so they are very nice. I have the best memories living in Holly Pointe Commons because the eng and honors departments put you in the engineering and honors pods so you’re surrounded by your friends all the time. They also give you priority registration as a honors student so you get to register for classes before everyone else which relieves a lot of stress. So, as an engineering AND honors student, your life is pretty good at Rowan.
Another reason why I picked Rowan is because of its small classroom sizes. I am going to be a junior and I have not had a class larger than 30 students, not even. This has allowed me to meet some of my best friends in my classes because you are always interacting with each other in our engineering classes rather than a professor just lecturing at you for 2 hours. Also, you get to know your professor and they get to know you. I was deciding between Penn State, Bucknell and Rowan and the deciding factor was the classroom sizes. I knew I wanted to be more than just a number. Getting to know the professors is also very useful when you need recommendation letters for internships and scholarships.
On that note, Rowan’s engineering school continues to gain more and more respect as a great engineering school. I am going into my junior year and have my second internship this summer. I had one last summer for an environmental engineering company and during both interviews, the person conducting the interview has mentioned what a great engineering program Rowan has.
As I mentioned before I was deciding between PSU, Bucknell and Rowan. I always thought I was going to go to PSU since I was younger. I am a diehard PSU football fan but Rowan really came out of left field. My dad actually made me go on my first tour at Rowan just to see if I liked it and I loved the engineering building, I thought the dorms were so nice and it was close to home which my dad appreciated. Not to mention Rowan gave me a generous about of merit money so it was significantly less than the other schools.
Picking Rowan was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made. These two years have already been the best two years of my life. Yes, engineering is very hard and Rowans program is no joke. It’s very competitive. I probably have had about 40 to 60+ hours of homework a week but that’s probably the same at every engineering school. However, Rowan makes sure you have your other engineering students to lean on. I have a friend group of about 10 people all different engineering majors and we do all our homework together and study together. The only reason why I met them is because of Rowan’s small class sizes and the engineering and honors pods in Holly. Professors are also always available for office hours which is also a great resource.
Sure Rowan has the reputation of a “party school” but don’t forget, college is also supposed to be fun. There’s nothing wrong with going out as long as you get your homework done first! Right now, I have a 3.97 GPA, I am involved in multiple campus clubs and I am going to have two paid engineering internships under my belt by next semester. And I have been well prepared for both jobs with the classes I have taken at Rowan.
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Wow thank you so much for that honest opinion. Rowan was out of left field for my son as well–his brother is currently a freshman and he really didn’t want to be in the same school as him. He applied to Rowan a few days before the May 1st date and was immediately accepted. Although he is too late for the Honors Program, he did join the ECL. I am positive he made the best decision and considering how much $$ they gave him, you can’t go wrong. Thank you for your well, thought-out description of what life will be like for him come September. I think he is going to be happy there as well. Good luck to you in your journey and may all your dreams come true!
First visit here in awhile and this post is six months old. But I’ll plow on…
Where can she best envision herself succeeding and enjoying herself and not be saddled with debt which will limit her choices for the next 10-15 years? That’s where she should go.
Will she measure herself by the paycheck number or by the projects she works on?
Is she interested in engineering because of her scholastic achievements (kudos to her and you), or are her scholastic achievements due to her interest in engineering?
Those answers lead to a bigger unanswerable question right now: Where is she most likely to graduate in four years? Instead of considering Annual COA, you should be also considering the cost of a 5th year or a 6th or a 7th. Some kids change majors. Some can’t get all the classes they want/need in 4 years (I’ve found that with Rutgers and others). Some choose grad school over getting a job.
Is she OK with taking buses to class or would she rather walk to class? Would she rather be in lecture halls led by a TA or a smaller class led by an adjunct professor? Can you walk into a professor’s office as an undergrad or do the professors prioritize grad students over undergrads?
Me, an old guy who has recruited engineers whose son (similar credentials as your daughter) is now a professional engineer (civil) with a house and two kids and a job he loves after choosing Rowan over Cornell and Virginia Tech plus many of the schools you mentioned? (His choice was also during the height of the 2008 recession - Rowan Engineering offered 4 years full tuition and housing provided he kept his grades up). Doesn’t second-guess his decision a little bit.
His same-age cousin went to Rutgers; he’s a Mechanical Engineer doing quite well. They’ve compared notes. Visited each other on campus while they went. Cousin wishes he chose Rowan, which was too close to his home (15 minutes) for him to respect it. He didn’t get the aid my son did, plus needed an extra semester to fulfill all the requirements. But he did get to see Big 10 football and basketball games.
There’s a flavor for everyone. Depends on priorities.
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My son 3rd in his class, eagle scout and weighted GPA of 4.8, got denied mechanical engineering this year. He is a senior. We were told to go to Rowan at Gloucester for 2 years and transfer into mechanical program his junior year. Has anyone heard of this before?
Rowan’s popularity, combined with its absorption of the local “county colleges” (Gloucester County College (@Gloucester as you noted) or Burlington County/BCC) has definitely become a way for Rowan to expand the footprint/class sizes in the early years. I think the idea is that they can “weed out” those who will change majors, and provide the facilities for upper-class engineers without having to build.
There are some requirements to doing so…but the Rowan Gloucester site says that ME is an option.
I would check the stats of “transfers” to Glassboro, but it definitely provides an option for saving money and getting a Rowan degree in Engineering. If you look at the requirements…it’s a LOT harder to transfer for engineering than any of the other majors.
PS…I selected the Gloucester campus for Rowan Gloucester…if you are interested in the Cumberland campus…you should double check.