Should I go to Rutgers or TCNJ?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, I got accepted to Rutgers New Brunswick SAS Honors and TCNJ Honors and I am having trouble deciding which one to attend. I live in New Jersey, want to be a doctor and am going to be a Chemistry or Biology major. I'll tell you a little info about myself.</p>

<p>I am in the top 3% in my high school and got a 2100 on the SAT. By the end of high school I will have taken 7 AP classes. I like "nerdy" stuff and I am willing to study hard and excel in my studies(I don't have much senioritis!). I will tell you the important pros and cons for me of each school.</p>

<p>Rutgers
---Many research oppurtunities (pro)
---More well known outside NJ (pro)
---More activties/majors/courses (pro)
---Better food (I think)
---Honors Program has higher standards and is pretty prestigious (pro)
---I think housing is guaranteed all 4 years (correct me if wrong)
---Got some scholarship money (pro)
---Ethinic diversity and different kinds of people so easier to make friends (pro)</p>

<p>---Campus is very big (con)
---Have to take buses (con)
---Large class sizes at times (con)
---Classes late at night/segmented (con)
---Much more students and less attention (con)
---Can get lost in the large system (con)
---Less ambitious students in whole school (con)
---More parties and distracting oppurtunites (I don't like parties. I just want to study and go to Med School. I am very academic)</p>

<p>TCNJ
---Beautiful and small campus (pro)
---Smaller class sizes (pro)
---more studious environment (pro)
---Great library (pro)
---Lower acceptance rate/better students overall (pro)
---Biology department is pretty good (So I've heard...)
---Much less time wasted on transportation and more continuous class schedule (pro)
---Got 6500 dollars per year scholarship (somewhat more than at Rutgers)</p>

<p>---Less research oppurtunities (con)
---Not well known outside NJ (even in NJ too!)
---Less clubs/activites (con)
---Apparently empties out on weekends (not that bad but I don't want to be bored)
---Much less ethnic diversity (con)
---Food is less diverse and slightly worse than at Rutgers (not a big issue though)
---Housing is not guaranteed all 4 years (This is kind of important because I don't really want to leave campus and travel)
---Honors program is not as prestigious as Rutgers Honors (con)</p>

<p>So to summarize it I am at a block. I like the environment and atmosphere of TCNJ (and it better fits my shy, studious personality) but I like the academics and oppurtunities of Rutgers. Is feeling comfortable at the expense of some academics a better choice or should I sarcrifice comfort and locality for more oppurtunities? I don't want to be overwhelmed at Rutgers but I don't want to get bored at TCNJ. Which one should I pick?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your analysis is very good–although is Rutgers Honors really more prestigious?
It comes down to a decision you have to make. You might wish to ask each school about the difficulty of getting into required pre-med classes and their rates of success in getting applicants into med school.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

3

<p>I am exactly in the same boat. It is so scary that everything you wrote is exactly same for me including SAT 2100 & 7AP classes, chess, Piano and premed. After visiting both schools several times I decided to go to TCNJ. As you said you waste time and energy traveling around in Rutgers and what we need is time to study as a premed. I think TCNJ pros are better than Rutgers Pros. Regarding cons of TCNJ 1) Less or more research you can do only one or two 2) Everybody in academic circles know TCNJ 3)Peaceful to study 4)Even Rutgers SAS honors have lottery system for housing 6)Getting into TCNJ itself is prestigious leave alone Honors. I hope this helps. All the best.</p>

4

<p>“I like the environment and atmosphere of TCNJ (and it better fits my shy, studious personality) but I like the academics and oppurtunities of Rutgers.”</p>

<p>Think you answered your own question above. Academics and opportunities are what get you to med or grad school, not environment or atmosphere. Rutgers has programs in biomedical engineering and other related fields that can give you a leg up for med school (my D is in UVA’s BME program and she tells me that BME majors score much higher on MCATS then traditional "pre-med types). </p>

<p>Also, I wouldn’t let the “prestige” argument sway you since its a wash between RU and TCNJ given Rutgers national reputation versus USNWR’s rankings of TCNJ. In addition, TCNJ is not really known outside of NJ (and many people still refer to it as Trenton State) and in the grand scheme of things, not all that prestigious. If prestige is so important, you should skip both schools because both suffer compared to the obvious privates and publics such as UNC, Berkeley, UVA, William and Mary, UMich, etc.</p>

<p>Also, look at the thread further down that talks about feeder schools for med schools. Rutgers was listed as 26 on the list while TCNJ was no where to be found. Here’s the address to the doc:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/p...ge2_092503.pdf[/url]”>www.wsjclassroomedition.com/p…ge2_092503.pdf</a></p>

<p>Decide for yourself and GOOD LUCK.</p>

5

<p>If TCNJ is offering you more money than rutgers take it. Education wise, tcnj is certainly better, the only thing i could say for rutgers is that there would be more research opportunities. I couldn’t imagine walking more than 15 minutes to get to any of my classes, not to mention taking buses. Pretty much every class is about 40 students, so you get a lot more opportunities to ask questions and such without going to office hours. Finally the intelligence of the students overall is certainly higher than at rutgers (not to say there aren’t smart people at rutgers). I can not stress to you enough that your education here will be better and easier. Literally the only reason for you considering rutgers is research opportunities, but i really wouldn’t worry about it that much, I know plenty of bio majors here preparing for med school. You are almost guaranteed housing all four years, and there are plenty of clubs and other activities to keep you occupied here. The food does suck mostly, but it is bearable. And not that many people really go home on weekends anyway </p>

<p>source: mechanical engineering major at tcnj, took tcnj even though rutgers offered more money</p>

6

<p>I am a graduating biology senior at TCNJ. I was considering Rutgers. I had a 1500 (old SAT) and ranked #4 of my high school class of 700. </p>

<p>If you are worried about prestige, everyone I know who applied to medical school has been accepted. I am going to graduate school and so I know more about where students are going for a variety of biology graduate programs. I know multiple students who are currently attending or have been accepted and plan to attend Fall 2010 at: Princeton, Yale, UChicago, UPenn, Cornell and Johns Hopkins. And there are many more students going to other excellent schools I can not think of at the moment. Some biology students have also received highly prestigious national scholarships/fellowships (Goldwater, Udall, NSF GRFP) that will only boost your chances of getting in to the best. </p>

<p>Research opportunity- TCNJ has its own summer research program (it started just in the Department of Biology but has since spread to include all schools at TCNJ) where students work one on one with a faculty mentor during the summer. Students are provided a stipend, summer housing and organized activities during the program. Independent research for credit is readily available (one - two full years of research is common). Clearly you will find less diversity in research opportunities at TCNJ, but the faculty that are here are tremendous. Remember, although Rutgers has “more research opportunities” those faculty members don’t necessarily have any interest in having you become involved in their research— they have masters and doctoral students. At TCNJ, you get the full attention of your research adviser. Because of this, the research that is done is quality. Publications are common, even with the students as the first author. Faculty encourage students to attend conferences. Funding for national and international conferences is available to students who have produced— i can think of at least a dozen students in my year that have presented at national and international conferences through the research that was done at TCNJ.</p>

<p>There are so many students that do off campus summer programs (such as REUs) that there is an organized class BIO399 you can take to receive TCNJ credit. Each year the class probably has 30 students. For this class you present the research you have done during the summer as a short oral presentation, a poster presentation, and work one-on-one with a faculty member to produce a finished paper of publishable quality. Students have attended REU programs across the country and many other programs more oriented for pre-med students.</p>

<p>I have friends from high school that attended Rutgers and dropped out of the Biology major essentially from the lack of advisement and difficulty in registering for classes. They are amazed at the amount of extra-curriculars I manage to do, because all their spare time is spent sitting on a bus trying to get to classes. When you do get to class, it could have 100+ students. The largest class I ever had at TCNJ had 40 students (the largest ever offered is around 60, but those are easily avoidable). Most of my classes have 10-20 students. </p>

<p>The campus does not empty out on weekends, I feel that may have been the case in the past but I really don’t see that. There are plenty of things to do, and quite diverse. The diversity on campus is lower than my high school but I can see it growing with each incoming class. Several groups that are very active on campus are the Asian American Association, Black Student Union, Haitian Student Association, Hillel, Indian Student Association, Japanese SA, Chinese SA, etc. There will be more clubs at Rutgers, but will you ever have time to join them? Look at the cub list here: [Student</a> Organizations :: The College of New Jersey](<a href=“http://www.tcnj.edu/~stuactiv/studentorg.php]Student”>Student Activities & The BSC Redirect)</p>

<p>As far as biology, Tri Beta Biological Honor Society is extremely active- lots of service activities (Hands on Science night at a local elementary school), just held the Tri-Beta district convention, rafting and hiking trips, etc. </p>

<p>ASMA and MAPS (minority association of pre-health students) are also very active… but don’t know much about them because i’m not a pre-med. </p>

<p>I’m in the TCNJ honors program and I think its great, can’t say how it compares to the Rutgers program.</p>

<p>Housing I believe is guaranteed your first two years. Generally enough students choose to go off campus that nearly all students that do want to stay on campus don’t have trouble getting a room. The new apartments just opened, but Decker is being renovated. When Decker opens up again, I don’t see this being much of a problem at all starting in the Fall.</p>

7

<p>With these two choices, I think you should go where you feel more comfortable, and that’s clearly TCNJ.</p>

8

<p>Now I wonder how truthful these forums really are…First of all, TCNJ does NOT hard sell their so-called pre-med program. You have to have at least a 1450 on the Math/Critical reading sections of the SAT, and then UMDNJ, which is the only med-school TCNJ is affiliated with, has to approve you for the program as an incoming freshman. According to the biology department rep at TCNJ last Sunday, fewer than 10% of all pre-med applicants to TCNJ get accepted, and UMDNJ does the selection. With criteria like these, why wouldn’t you just apply to Harvard or Princeton, or UPenn? Rowan University’s pre-med program runs circles around TCNJ’s - they’re affiliated with 11 - that’s right, 11 different medical schools. </p>

<p>Rutgers has the whole package - and TCNJ is definitely a suitcase school. I’ve been there twice now and the place is a total morgue on the weekends. Loved the way my genius tour guide said “ax” for “ask” -</p>

9

<p>straightfax, the program which you wrote of is the 7-year medical program. It is highly selective, and seperate from being an undergraduate pre-med.
TCNJ has biology and biomedical engineering programs. Both are good. They boast an 84% chance acceptance rate to medical school.
And my sister goes to TCNJ. She’s partying every weekend and she’s on both the juggling team and the rugby team. She thinks it’s super social and very active on the weekends. I honestly, could care less about parties, but this is what I’ve heard from her.</p>

10

<p>My nephew is on the rugby team and certainly doesn’t suffer from any lack of weekend activities or parties. A lot of kids DO leave, but there are plenty left on the weekends and plenty of parties on and off campus.</p>

11

<p>You will find the same amount (or even more) of intelligent and studious students at Rutgers that you will find at TCNJ. It might just take time to find your niche of friends. Rutgers will give you more opportunity, that’s for sure.</p>

12

<p>phosphate, I hope you went to TCNJ, because I’m at Rutgers now and just found out how bad the whole biology department is. Seriously, I think this is the bigger deal breaker.</p>