<p>Current TCNJ Sophomore/Junior taking questions. I'm knowledgeable about most of the majors here so hopefully I can give some prospective students some insight. </p>
<p>I'm a pretty blunt person so I'll be sure to tell the truth and not sugarcoat anything.</p>
<p>OK, I’ll take a chance on blunt. Are you aware of any TCNJ students who were notified of their acceptance by mail before the information was available online? I’m going crazy because I thought I was a good match for TCNJ with a 2160 SAT even though my GPA was only 3.41. From what I gather the second wave of notifications has gone out and I haven’t heard a word(do they notify all the rejections at one time or stagger them too?). I 'm guessing its the major I picked(biology) or my gender(female) or my instateness or just my low GPA. Care to hazard a blunt guess? Thanks.</p>
<p>I can’t really comment on chances and I know little about how they send out rejections. I’d ask Dean Rifkin in his thread or call up the office of admissions for an answer.</p>
<p>Was your 3.41 weighted or unweighted? Biology is one of the most competitive departments to get into. I know somebody who had a lower GPA but a high SAT that got in as a liberal arts major if that helps. I’m guessing that your SAT would make up for your GPA (although 3.41 isn’t necessarily bad if it’s unweighted) although I wouldn’t want to get your hopes up.</p>
<p>It also depends on extracurriculars and community service.</p>
<p>However, again, I am more knowledgeable about campus life, majors, recruiting, etc.</p>
<p>how hard is doing a bio major? do you think one has a better chance of getting a higher GPA doing pre-med with a different major?
Though TCNJ claims to have a good med school acceptance rate, do they weed out people by giving lower GPA for some core subjects</p>
<p>itsjai:</p>
<p>TCNJ has a phenomenal med school acceptance rate (something like 85% or something) but that rate only includes those who actually apply. A ton of people get weeded out by Themes in Bio, Eukaryotic Cell, Organic Chemistry, etc. More than half of the premed people I know either switched majors freshman year or sophomore year. Now they have to start over with a new major/new career path (and with a bad GPA to overcome). </p>
<p>However, this isn’t a phenomenon that is exclusive to TCNJ. ANY reputable school will have weed out courses whose curves crush students’ dreams. </p>
<p>This is why I highly suggest that premed people don’t choose Biology as a major unless they’re actually interested in it. Don’t just pick the major because you think it’s what medical schools want. You can major in anything and get into medical school as long as you take the pre-req courses. </p>
<p>Reason 1: Medical schools actually prefer an English or Philosophy or Psychology major over a Biology major because they want a diverse student body. </p>
<p>Reason 2: If you pick something that you like, you will do much better. Grades matter big time in medical school admissions. Biology is a difficult major so if you aren’t into it, you’re not going to get the grades. If you are a Philosophy major taking Pre-med requirements, you can schedule it so that you take Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 without any additional lab science classes your sophomore year. Most Bio students have to take those classes with Ecology and Genetics during sophomore year which is difficult. The facts are that a 3.7 GPA Philosophy Major will beat a 3.6 GPA Bio Major in Medical Admissions. </p>
<p>Reason 3: No backup plan with a Biology major. Biology isn’t a really marketable degree unless you’re going to graduate school for Biology (which is probably a long-shot anyway if you don’t have the grades to get into Medical School). Although, on the other hand, Philosophy and English aren’t very marketable either. If you major in Finance or Marketing or Computer Science or Economics or something, you’d be marketable should Medical school not fall through. </p>
<p>Reason 4: If you’re in a less time-intensive major, you’ll have more time to get involved with extracurriculars, volunteering, etc. Med Schools like this. </p>
<p>Now, I don’t want to scare you. The Biology program isn’t impossible. If you’re dedicated, you’ll be able to do it (although I know a few genuinely hardworking people who just didn’t have the capacity for the material). If your motivations for wanting to go into medicine are money or prestige or something then I would quit now. I know a few successful premed students who are in it for the money but they are also genius Seven-Year-Medical students who were accepted into Ivy League colleges. And even they have an interest in Biology and science in general. If you don’t have an interest and are just chasing dollars I can tell you now that your plan will probably backfire. </p>
<p>If you truly want to do Biology/premed, my advice would be not to fall behind and NOT to cram. Honestly, if you do this, you’ll be ahead of most of your classmates on the grade curve, especially Freshman year. When I took Chem/Physics, the library was filled with students the night before each exam and many of them were learning the material for the first time. Don’t be like them. If you really want to be a doctor make sure to read lecture slides and chapters before they are taught each class, do all practice problems, get labs done ahead of time, get a planner/organization system that works for you, DON’T PROCRASTINATE and go to the tutoring center if you’re feeling lost. Be obsessive and thorough. Make friends with your classmates and make study groups. Also, make sure to get A’s in your first year science classes as they will be the easiest ones that you will take. If you can get a 3.8 GPA Freshman year then if you end up getting a C in Organic Chemistry, you’ll still have that cushion from the previous year. If you get a C or B+ in some of your freshman year science courses, then you won’t have that cushion. And (this will be difficult especially Freshman year(especially first semester Freshman year)) keep partying to once a week. Strive for A’s in all of your classes. You need at least an A- average to get into a good medical school. </p>
<p>Also, ask around or look online to find out who the good professors are. This is one of the biggest things I can tell you. There are some outstanding professors in the Science department at TCNJ who teach the material well and are fair graders. There are also a few Bio/Chem professors who are sadomasochists with awful pedagogical technique, thick accents and unfair grading practices. (BTW this is true at nearly every college in America. My friends at Princeton complain about the same thing). Most of the successful premed students I know are knowledgeable about which teachers to take and which not to take. The seven-year-med kids and those with good registration time-slots (due to a lot of AP credits) nearly always fill up Theo/Kavic/Davis’ classes before all of the others because they are the easiest professors. </p>
<p>I don’t want to be discouraging. If you really want to be a doctor (or more importantly, are willing to put in the work to be a doctor) then by all means go for it. But just know that there are plenty of starry-eyed, idealistic (or money-hungry) medical school aspirants who get crushed by Orgo (again this is at any school) or find out that the work isn’t worth it and then end up screwed sophomore year.</p>
<p>i’m seriously considering going to tcnj, but i want to go to a school where people have fun on the weekends & don’t go home. i sometimes hear that tcnj is a suitcase school. do you think this is true – do many kids go home on the weekends? and do you think there’s plenty to do on the weekends (parties, school-sponsored events, etc)?</p>
<p>laurapaigetm: </p>
<p>It’s not a suitcase school. The vast majority of students stay at TCNJ on the weekends. Freshman year, there were maybe 40 people on my floor and maybe 2 or 3 went home every weekend. Sophomore year, nobody on my floor does this. </p>
<p>However, I know a few people who drive up to Rutgers for parties on the weekends. </p>
<p>“and do you think there’s plenty to do on the weekends (parties, school-sponsored events, etc)?” </p>
<p>There are frat parties/sports house parties nearly every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday night. If you know people, you could find a party on Wednesdays, Thursdays, etc too. Freshman year, I went out pretty much every weekend and was never really unable to find a party or friends to go with. </p>
<p>That said, the conventional wisdom on campus is that the parties aren’t Rutgers or Penn State level. Honestly, I’m not that picky as I don’t go out that much now anyway. Since the parties are usually pretty close and since the frat brothers usually give free rides, you don’t have to worry about getting a designated driver like you would at another school. But a lot of people think the parties are crappy. I’ve had a lot of fun at them though. Bottom line: Parties are fine but don’t expect the level of quality that you would get at a bigger school.</p>
<p>Re School-sponsored events: They have events every weekend but I and most people don’t really go to them. The movies that are shown in the Stud and the TW lounge don’t often have that many people. And there are a lot of themed events that nobody really goes to. </p>
<p>One thing that might be a con is that there is no college town at TCNJ so that restricts your options especially if you don’t have a car. There are stores that you can drive to but, in general, you are more limited in your food options/entertainment options than if you went to UMaryland or something.</p>
<p>How are the dorm rooms? Do you make friends with people on your floor?</p>
<p>“How are the dorm rooms?” </p>
<p>It depends. </p>
<p>Freshman year you either live in Travers, Wolfe or Cromwell. I lived in Wolfe and I found it to be decent. Cromwell is supposed to be worse than Travers and Wolfe but some Cromwell people would disagree. </p>
<p>Sophomore year dorms can vary a lot. If you live in Eickhoff or New Res, it’s like a hotel room. Very nice dorms. Norsworthy is ok-ish. Decker has great dorms. Centennial is pretty awful though (although livable). Where you live depends on a random lottery drawing. So if you want to room with 3 of your friends, whichever one of you has the best lottery timeslot chooses from the available dorms.</p>
<p>Junior year: You aren’t guaranteed housing Junior and Senior year which kinda sucks if you don’t want to live off campus. There is a waiting list for those who don’t get housing but inevitably, there are people who wanted on-campus housing who have to rent a house or apartment off-campus. This isn’t a huge deal though for most. </p>
<p>A lot of people go off campus voluntarily junior and senior year (I know some who went off sophomore year). Some who are forced off-campus end up liking it better than living on-campus. You’re still within short-walking distance of campus but you don’t have to deal with CA’s, fire-drills, etc. You’re pretty free to do what you want. </p>
<p>However, if this isn’t your thing, it kinda sucks that there isn’t guaranteed on-campus housing Junior and Senior year. </p>
<p>However, if you do get housing Junior/Senior year, there are some nice options. The Apartments are absolutely sick. Insanely nice and spacious with a full kitchen and living room. The Townhouses are really nice especially Townhouses South. And Eickhoff is also insanely nice. </p>
<p>Senior year: Same as Junior year. </p>
<p>“Do you make friends with people on your floor?”</p>
<p>Yes although there are a lot of opportunities to make friends. Freshman year, you can walk up to a random stranger, start a conversation and become instant friends. I would suggest making as many friends as you can first semester since that’s when people are most open.</p>
<p>You can meet people by joining clubs/sports/etc too. </p>
<p>If you’re decently sociable, you shouldn’t have a problem making friends with your floormates</p>
<p>do a lot of people go to princeton/laurenceville on the weekends to go out since they are pretty close and seem to have more of a nicer town?</p>
<p>also, what is greek life like? are sororities and fraternities popular? if you join a sorority, do you live in the house?</p>
<p>Blue016:</p>
<p>“do a lot of people go to princeton/laurenceville on the weekends to go out since they are pretty close and seem to have more of a nicer town?”</p>
<p>I don’t personally know anyone who goes to laurenceville on the weekends. There are some girls I know who occasionally have gone to princeton for some restaurant there but it’s not that common among people I know. </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean that you can’t though. I’m sure you could get some friends to go to princeton since it’s pretty close by.</p>
<p>“also, what is greek life like? are sororities and fraternities popular? if you join a sorority, do you live in the house?”</p>
<p>There are houses for every frat but none for the sororities. The sororities have mixers with the frats though.</p>
<p>They’re pretty popular on campus although the school isn’t as frat-oriented as a school like Dartmouth or Penn State or Duke. You don’t have to be in a frat to have a good time although you do have more access to fun parties. While I’m not in a frat, I’ve gone to mixers (this isn’t that common. I knew a lot of people in the frats. Usually it’s just the frat and sorority allowed) and they seem more fun than the open parties because they were all themed (Glow-in-the-dark or Paint or ABC (anything but clothes) or sports themed, etc).</p>
<p>During homecoming week, the frats and sororities have mixers every night and drink a lot. My friend is in AXP and there were times when he was out almost every night (I wouldn’t advise that you do this).</p>
<p>I’d say (This is a rough estimate) maybe 15-20% of the college is in greek life.</p>
<p>All the people I know that are in frats and sororities seem to like it a lot.</p>
<p>Hi, I read your earlier (and really informative) post about med school and the benefits of going into TCNJ with a non-bio-major choice.
In fact, TCNJ sent me a email earlier this week advising me to change majors (an offer that most students don’t get according to them) since there are 1300+ candidates.
So as far as other majors go (since I definitely then want to take advantage of this offer)…</p>
<p>1) How is the journalism dept?
2) and then the Women’s & Gender studies dept?</p>
<p>Not as rigorous as the bio courses, surely? :'(</p>
<p>starflavored:</p>
<p>My friend on the journalism major: “I have enjoyed every class that I’ve taken. The journalism program has a lot of opportunity for specialization. There’s a lot of flexibility in your course selection. But the downside to it is that, if you want a journalism job after college you have to write for the school newspaper which is a huge time commitment. Even if you write for the signal, you aren’t really guaranteed a job either. There aren’t many jobs for journalism majors because the industry is dying and the pay is pretty bad for the jobs that you can get unless you catch a break with a huge magazine/newspaper.” </p>
<p>Also, the Journalism major is really easy. My friend smokes weed every morning and barely does work. He said the classes are really easy.</p>
<p>I know a few people in Women and Gender studies and I don’t think it’s too rigorous. It’s often taken as a second major. Certainly not as hard as Bio. Although I’d say that there even less job opportunities for Journalism and Women/Gender Studies majors than Biology majors (not just at TCNJ but at most schools). </p>
<p>Honestly, if you didn’t get into the Bio program here and you really want to do Bio, I would go to Rutgers. I know somebody who is transferring there because he wasn’t admitted into TCNJ’s bio program. TCNJ really needs to hire a few more professors and expand to meet the demand for bio students. Another transferred there because Rutgers has a bunch of Biology subfields that you can major in like Genetics, Molecular Biology and Neuroscience.</p>
<p>Edit:
Also, Biomedical Engineering, while it is one of the absolute toughest majors, is a really marketable major if you’re into science and the premed curriculum is built into it. You can get some high paying jobs with Biomed.</p>
<p>Also, ask TCNJ admissions if you can come in as an open-options science major and then apply to switch into Biology later. You could tell them that you’re also considering Chem. Inevitably, tons of your peers will drop Bio and there will be openings in the department if you have the grades and can get a recommendation from a Biology professor. If you come in and take Bio 185 and Chem 201 first semester, try to petition to join the Biology major afterwards (this will require you to get really good grades)</p>
<p>If you can get like a 3.7+ your first year you can probably switch into Bio (I’m not sure about exact GPA cutoffs or anything but a 3.75 or something is probably safe). But you would have to get approval to get into Bio 185 first semester which might be tough. Talk to your advisor about possible options.</p>
<p>Hi R1B1F1,</p>
<p>My daughter is a pre-med hopeful and was recently admitted to TCNJ as an Open Option Science major instead of her desired Bio major. Could you please let us know what Open Option Science kids could major in, are there any statistics as to what is the most common major upon graduation for students accepted as Open Option? She was also considering majoring in Psychology, but we are not sure if this major is in the same high demand at TCNJ as Bio? Can she just take “pre-med” classes that are required by other pre-med programs without declaring a major?</p>
<p>[Medical</a> Careers Advisory Committee :: Department of Biology :: The College of New Jersey](<a href=“http://www.tcnj.edu/~biology/career/medadvisory.html]Medical”>The College of New Jersey | Department of Biology)</p>
<p>“The Medical Careers Advisory Committee (MCAC) exists to assist TCNJ students and alumni who are interested in applying to medical school or any other post-graduate health professional school. Although the committee is housed within the Biology Department, students from ANY major who are interested in pursuing medical school are encouraged to meet with and be couseled by members of the committee as to courses of action to take to gain admission to medical school.”</p>
<p>Thanks for the speedy reply!</p>
<p>But then I wonder if the journalism major is worth it. While easy classes sound incredibly attractive, I also want to challenge myself at college (but not at the level of rigor I know that the Bio major offers).</p>
<p>Plus, while I do enjoy journalism/writing for the paper at my high school, it’s not something absolutely huge for me, as in I’m not sure if I want to go down that career path, especially with your friend’s account about the terrible lack of job opportunities.</p>
<p>And I really should’ve mentioned this earlier, but it’s actually med school I want to get into first and foremost which is why I applied for the bio major in the first place. So, in reality, I don’t have to major in bio at all to get into med school as you said earlier…? And so this way I can save my parents and myself the hassle of transferring, etc. (though that is info I will definitely keep catalogued should I decide if I really want major in it). Also since I don’t desperately want to major in Bio either, I’m willing to major in something else since, as you said, diversity is something med schools look for, and I want to take advantage of that. With that said, which dept (journalism vs. womens/gender) would be most favorable for a premed student who equally enjoys both subjects?</p>
<p>And yes, I will talk to my advisor later on this week, as well. Thanks for the awesome, awesome advice thus far!!</p>
<p>P.S. If you do have additional info about the Womens/Gender studies dept, please let me know : )</p>
<p>R1B1F1,
I noticed what you said about the journalism major. Do you hear similar things about communications and English courses? I’m not interested in journalism, but I do like to write and I may choose one of those majors. Thanks!</p>
<p>starflavored:</p>
<p>Whichever one you think you’d do well in. Journalism probably has a tiny tiny tiny bit more job prospects than Women and Gender studies should you choose not to go to med school or if you end up not being able to handle the work.</p>
<p>Also, one thing that I should note is that, med schools require:</p>
<p>A year of Freshman Chemistry along with the appropriate laboratory courses
A year of Organic Chemistry along with laboratory courses
A year of Biology along with laboratory courses
A year of Physics along with laboratory courses
A year of English
A year of Calculus or other advanced math classes, including Statistics</p>
<p>However, some say that you should take a couple upper level bio courses as well to look better to med schools.</p>
<p>Sit down with an advisor before you even pick your classes and fill out possible schedules for the majors you are looking at. Along with those premed prereqs and suggested added bio courses, you have to take your liberal learning requirements, major requirements and minor requirements (If you end up taking upper level bio courses, you should probably just minor in Bio because you only need 5 courses to complete it and you’ll have to take at least 2 anyway).</p>
<p>Depending on the number of AP credits you have and the number of requirements in the major that you choose, you might be tight in being able to complete everything unless you plan stuff out. You don’t want to take too many extraneous elective courses without looking to see if you can do them or not.</p>
<p>If you don’t see any FSP’s that really interest you, I would just take an FSP that fulfills something that your major requirements don’t fulfill. It would be great if you got one of the gender, race or global requirements out of the way with your FSP. (And try to find an easy FSP. It’s hard enough trying to juggle 2 difficult science courses your first semester since you’ll probably want to party and spend a lot of time getting to know people. You probably don’t want to have a ridiculous FSP giving you extra stress. But that’s just my personal opinion.)</p>
<p>However, if you are WGS or Philosophy or a few other majors, you only have to take 10 major courses so you should be fine. If you wanted to do a BS in Econ, you might be tight and would have to do a BA.</p>
<p>It all depends though. The point is, you should go to your advisor and plan things out now.</p>
<p>Another thing to keep in mind is that the premed requirements (except for Physics 2) are required for the Bio major. Look at how many Bio courses you would want to take. </p>
<p>A Bio minor is 5 Bio courses and a Bio Major requires 9.5 Bio courses plus the Premed requirements (minus Physics).</p>
<p>So you really would only have to take a few more courses above the Bio minor to make it a major which in that case would mean that it might be not that much extra work to just do a Bio major (although it depends).</p>
<p>However, if you are just going to take the premed requirements with no extra Bio courses, it would be 7.5 Bio courses above the minimum requirements to do a Bio major. So in that case, it would be easier to do a liberal artsy major.</p>
<p>I want to be clear that this all isn’t set in stone. It all depends on your goals. My advice isn’t a perfect substitute for an advisor’s so I would visit your future advisor or email somebody on the medical careers advisory committee that Brave Ulysses gave a link to.</p>
<p>About the Women and Gender studies major: I only know that the people in it seem to like it. It’s probably more difficult than Journalism but that’s just speculation on my part since I haven’t taken a course in either. I hear a few of the WGS professors are rather difficult. I bet if you emailed the head of the department, they could get you in touch with a current WGS major and you could ask them questions.</p>
<p>fruttivendolo:</p>
<p>Communications: I don’t think communications is difficult at any college. Never taken a class in it here though so I wouldn’t know from personal experience. Friends who are in it say it is very easy.
English: I think it depends. Some people I know are just very good at English and so they do well with not that much effort. Others seem to have to work a lot harder. I think it’s probably harder than Communications, Journalism or Women and Gender Studies but definitely easier than Bio.</p>
<p>For some reason, I have this feeling that Communications might not look good in the Med school process. I have no idea though. I would definitely ask on the premed board on CC before you choose.</p>
<p>By the way, if anyone has questions about the pre-med process in general (not specific to TCNJ’s program), I would go to the pre med board on CC and ask there. I am not premed. I only know all this stuff because I did a ton of research last year to see if I wanted to do it. I wouldn’t take any one person’s advice as gospel.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for your perspective! I appreciate it.</p>