<p>Hi, my state is NJ so Rutgers is my in state school. But I'm just wondering if it will be better for me to go into the Schreyer Honors Program (i get accepted HYPOTHETICALLY) or go to Rutgers?? Besides the annual $3500 and getting to choose honors classes first, are there anymore pros/cons i should weigh on for this Honors Program?? I'd appreciate any speedy advice because my forms are due tomorrow if I am to meet the Nov. 30 deadline. Thanks!</p>
<p>strictly speaking, schreyer is more competitive and prestigous, but it’s up to you.</p>
<p>Can you give me more reasons as to why it’s good and/or why it’s prestigious?? Because Rutgers has an Honors program too, so…</p>
<p>It’s much more difficult to get in to. I don’t want to give info I don’t have, google it.</p>
<p>The Schreyer Honors College is one of the most prestigious honors programs (maybe THE most?) in the nation. I am in the college and found that some of the perks (priority scheduling, honors classes, honors thesis etc) are pretty great and will benefit you in the long run. Rutgers, is, meh, I looked at Rutgers as well and found that PSU far surpasses it. The SHC is just the icing on the cake.</p>
<p>Unfortunately google can’t give personal experiences like CC can. So Thanks cwryan1! 
also, do you think it’s financially worth it?? did you get financial aid along with the $3500?</p>
<p>Schreyer Honors is almost like attending an Ivy League School. I don’t think Rutgers can begin to compare.</p>
<p>Schreyer Honors is almost like attending an Ivy League School…without the great financial aid.</p>
<p>If you can get Rutgers for a significantly lower tuition, I really don’t see why you should bother spending the money to go out of state. Of course asking schreyer vs. rutgers is going to give you some bias in the penn state subforum, so take the comments above with that in consideration. Is priority scheduling and the honors classes really worth it? If you are dead set on writing a thesis, nothing would stop you from doing this at Rutgers. As far as honors classes, just take upper level classes at Rutgers. As far as prestige, you are going to have to consider your target market. If you want to work in NJ, no question you should pick rutgers. If you plan on going to grad school, pick the cheapest option. If you want to go to NYC, there is going to be a measely difference between the two, with penn state having the edge.</p>
<p>The SHC comes with significantly more fin aid. The college is also well known throughout the nation. Plus, wasn’t some article being sent around earlier this year that discussed employers ranking PSU their top choice for recruitment for jobs?</p>
<p>My ds is in the same dilemma as you, and given our impressions from the info session and tour of Rutgers vs PSU, and having many relatives/friends as Rutgers, I hope we don’t have to send him to RU. It might have the reputation, the academics may be similar but the red tape issues from RU, the impersonal nature of the admin to students, the budget concerns due to Christie cutting funding (tuition will rise and aid will decrease), the need to be bussed from campus to campus for every single class, the disparate campuses bordered by questionable neighborhoods…ugh. I’d pick PSU (with or without Schreyers) if at all financially feasible. If it works with your major, TCNJ would be an alternative. Again, I know in the end, academically it’s a good school but it’s the overall experience that I worry about. People who I know at RU say that the “RU Screw” is not urban legend.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>Oh please any school the size of rutgers and PSU is going to have admin problems.</p>
<p>I just want to know if it is worth it in the end. Sure i’m from out of state, but if i factor in the $3500, i’ll be paying about $26000 each year. whereas in rutgers i’ll be paying about $23-24k. it’s only like $2k difference. i want to know where i can get the most bang for the buck. anyone know about studying abroad? they said that psu gives “special opportunities” for schreyer kids. but just how “special” is it?</p>
<p>There are several special study abroad programs just for Schreyer students. Also, the more competitive university wide programs will give selection preference to honors students. The honors college also offers $$ to help support studying abroad (In addition to the university wide and college wide money you can apply for ).</p>
<p>cwryan - to Adam’s comment, have you had any administration issues with psu or heard of typical big school issues? I had only heard that the psu admin runs “like butter” for the most part - I think on ************** or something.</p>
<p>My son is in his fourth year, has done a study abroad, switched classes around, had to take exams early, but has never run into any problems with admin.</p>
<p>(I have heard that Rutgers’ faculty is frustrated by PSU’s ability to poach many of the best students from NJ.)</p>
<p>Thanks 1moremom, my ds will likely be one of them.</p>
<p>Let me give you an example of opportunities available through Penn State and the Schreyer honors college. D1 who was a Schreyer scholar spent a summer studying mathematics at Beijing University, another summer she spent 3 weeks in Kenya working on an eco village as part of an engineering course. As part of a geography class she collected data for 2 weeks in Bulgaria. She made multiple trips to Hawaii for sponsored research utilizing the Subaru telescope at 13,796 ft atop Mauna Kea. She presented a research paper at an international conference in Krakow, Poland. Funding for all this came from multiple sources within the University (departments, Schreyer), some from research sponsors (NSF), and some came from organizations. The point is being in Schreyer opened the doors for a lot of these experiences and she was able to fully fund these endeavors.</p>
<p>I haven’t any major admin issues. I’ve people who have, but typically those resulted from them not taking initiative to correct minor problems before they turn into big issues.</p>
<p>SCBob - that is fantastic… both the opportunities and the availability of funding. I was on the fence about my D1 applying for Schreyers (she’s not on the fence at all, she’s all for it) but after reading this I can support it more fully. I was worried about it being a lot of additional work for not much gain. I see now that I’m wrong about that.</p>