Hi, I’m an incoming college student and would like some advice about which school I should select. I plan to major in computer science. I was also accepted to Boston U but eliminated it because of price, which was upsetting because I love Boston. I would have to pay 29k/year for Rutgers, 18k/year for Rowan, and I am currently negotiating pricing with RIT but as of now, it’s 38k/year. Academics, job outlook, campus life, and comfort/convenience are all important to me.
Some more information:
-RIT is somewhat daunting to me because it’s 6 hours away. However, I appreciate how the campus is easy to navigate and the fact that caters to a lot of my interests (for example, photography is one of my passions, and it has a lot of resources for photography). Also, I’m aware that the student body is mostly guys (I’m a girl) and I’ve heard that the people there are “antisocial nerdy” types. I could see this going either very well or very badly for me. While I’m somewhat nerdy myself and school is very important to me, my social life is important and I want to make sure there’s some nerds I can become close friends with lol. Rochester is nearby and I like the idea of having access to a small city.
-Rutgers is well-regarded out-of-state but not so much in-state. I’ve heard horror stories about the Rutgers buses and how it takes forever to get from campus to campus. When I visited, it seemed like a very big school that could cause me a lot of issues with receiving academic support. At the same time, a big school should offer a lot of opportunities. New Brunswick offers a lot of activities but the area gives me bad vibes and I don’t know how much I could reach out of my comfort zone there.
-I don’t know as much about Rowan as the other schools, but I’ve heard it’s a party school along with Rutgers. I also know it’s not ranked as well in computer science as Rutgers and RIT.
-It’s unclear to me as to whether RIT or Rutgers is more competitive in comp sci and I’d like some information about that.
Any information will be helpful towards my decision. Thank you!
Rowan is the clear choice out of the three. At 18k, youre saving over 44k plus interest over 4 years over Rutgers and 80k plus interest over RIT. Rowan’s comp sci is abet accredited. Unless you are paying out of pocket and have money to burn, it’s pure insanity to choose Rutgers or RIT over Rowan. Rowan’s campus is very pedestrian friendly you can walk to anywhere on campus within minutes no bus necessary. Holley point dorm is beautiful. These are three schools in very different areas each with a different feel. But the price differential makes the choice a no brainer
Do you have the cash to pay for Rutgers? I would pick the least expensive between Rutgers and RIT and say no to Rowan. Rowan has no name recognition and the students are much weaker overall than Rutgers. Its in a really small town 20 miles south of dangerous and unsavory Camden NJ. You could get over to Philadelphia from Rowen U. for occasional night out, but there is nothing to do in that part of southern NJ.
Also, Rowen’s 4 year graduation rate is only 40%. Rutgers 4 year graduation rate is 60%. Even if you do finish at Rowen in 4 years, chances are 60% of your freshman class will drop out of college or take a few extra years to finish, so you will not have a good network of alumni to help you find a job. You may want to add at least one year to the Rowen total price tag, given the low 4 year graduation rates.
On location, Rutgers, you can get a train to Hoboken/NYC. New Brunswick will take some getting used
to,but you can plan your bus rides, and get to class. Rutgers is the name brand and a very good price $29K is a bargain basement price for the quality of Rutgers computer science education. Look across the country at computer science degrees that are well ranked, and few cost as little as $29K, with room and board.
RIT offers a co op five year degree program, so if you can get the tuition down to the the same as Rutgers consider that school. You may need a car to get from RIT into Rochester, which is a city on the rise. Weather is colder up there compared to NJ, much more snow.
Rowen University was founded as a teachers’s college in 1923, and is known for an excellent special education program and teacher’s education exclusively with some business and communications classes up through 1992.
, The school was known as NJ Teacher’s College, later Glassboro State College, and finally Rowan University only since 1992 when an MIT graduate and engineer in NJ, gave Glassboro State a huge endowment and added the engineering and medical programs.
Since Rowen’s name changed two times, it was and still is, a well known teacher’s college, and engineering and CS is a very new curriculum for Rowen, compared to Rutgers, engineering and high tech employers may not know the school, outside of southern New Jersey.
The influx of money from Hank Rowan equipped the University with top notch labs and professors. Rowan is well respected in the tri state area.
Frankly, any ABET school will provide a solid education and plenty of job opportunities.
I’d advise Rowan
I fear some of the comments made above regarding Rowan paint an inaccurate picture.
Rowan in not a no-brand school and it will only become more of a name brand over time because of the investment that’s going on. It’s been around the top 20 nationally in undergraduate engineering programs for the last few years. The facilities and quality of life are fantastic and that will continue to attract great students and faculty.
The stats at Rowan have to be seen in context. Almost thirty years ago, Glassboro Stare College got the $100 million gift from Henry Rowan–an MIT grad who could have very well given his gift to MIT–to improve the educational needs of the people of South Jersey, whom he rightly believed had been underserved–with the condition that they build a world class engineering program. Rowan is staying true to this mission.
Not only is their engineering program highly rated, but local kids continue to go, encouraged by a president who has frozen tuition to try to keep it affordable. So while lots of honors college students from all over the state and beyond attend with high merit scholarships, lots of local middle class kids are attending, too, commuting and working their way through a couple classes at a time because that’s what they can manage without getting into horrendous debt. Given the long term crippling impact of debt, this is actually a very smart choice, rather than a sign of failure as the stats might suggest.
It’s not really fair to present Rowan as a place where sixty percent of kids drop out.
Meanwhile, if you look at the stats of kids in the honors college, they are on par with those at more elite universities. Those kids had many excellent choices but chose Rowan for all that it offers, not just the money.
I am most familiar with engineering, and I know the engineering freshman retention rates are very high, as are career placement rates and starting salaries.
It is hard to imagine kids at Rowan having little to do and becoming bored. I would say if you asked most parents here with kids at Rowan, the bigger issue instead would be students learning to balance their busy schedules when there are so many good opportunities and so much going on.
Seconding with @MACmiracle. S17 is a sophomore and hubby & I are also 1991 grads of Glassboro State College. Rowan University is almost unrecognizable from my days there! Including the party school reputation.
Yes, you can find parties. I think anywhere with 15k+ undergrads will have parties. There is Greek life, but not needed to find your spot. My son does a club sport and opted not to pledge a frat.
On campus housing can’t be beat. It’s expensive, but gorgeous! S17 will move off campus next year and we’ll be saving about $5500 a year. Walkable campus, endless food options (that all take your Rowan bucks). And class sizes aren’t bad. S17 is an education major, but has never had more than 25 or so in a class. Several of his friend are computer science majors. It’s quite rigorous.
Camden has no impact on the day to day at Rowan. The area is safe. Are there incidents? Absolutely, but no more so than any other college. Personally, I’d take Glassboro over New Brunswick as far as safety but i don’t have figures to back that up - just knowing both areas from living in the state. Rutgers is a great school, but neither of my kids would look at it because of the bussing. I know kids who say it’s not an issue- you can maybe look into that for your major.
As a NJ resident, I’d also say that Rowan is now known as an engineering school, not a teacher’s school anymore (although my son is an education major!). TCNJ was also a teacher’s college, and still the leader in that field in the state. But I’d be surprised to find a CS/Engineering firm in the tri-state area not aware of Rowan. That $100m went a long way providing free rides to many, many top students to get the program noticed, and it worked.