Hey guys. Since all of my decisions have come out I’m trying to narrow down my choices as to where I’ll be attending this fall. I applied and was accepted for Electrical Engineering last week, TCNJ is one of the schools that I am considering the most. I’d like some information as to whether or not engineering at TCNJ is worth it.
Here’s some information that might be of use to you:
I am from around Princeton, I desire to be rather close to home.
My family is under tremendous financial strain, so getting an education for cheap is a must.
-I was also accepted to Rowan and Stony Brook for engineering, however Stony Brook is a bit further away and it is more expensive than I would appreciate so I’m considering eliminating it as an option.
-I got $6500 a year from Stony Brook, and $6000 a year from Rowan.
-While I am considering TCNJ as my top choice, I have heard that Rowan has a much nicer engineering program and it’s more hands-on, which is something that interests me.
-I haven’t heard very much about TCNJ’s engineering program except for at the accepted students day this past Saturday as well as from others on here saying it’s pretty mediocre.
-I haven’t visited Rowan but from what I can tell I like TCNJ much more in general and it seems like a well rounded school in comparison to Rowan which is mainly known for engineering.
-Is TCNJ’s engineering any good that it can even compete with a school like Rowan or Rutgers? As much as I love TCNJ’s campus and vibe in general I don’t want to be stuck in a program that’s not even very good.
I also have a question about music. I am a trumpet player at my high school and I want to continue playing in college. Does anyone happen to know whether or not non-music majors can continue to play at TCNJ, more specifically in a jazz band? I have looked it up and there doesn’t seem to be anything available to non-music majors and when I talked to the school directly they didn’t give me an answer. Whether or not I can play at TCNJ will affect my decision.
Any help is appreciated to narrow down my decision.
Hey! I chose Rowan over TCNJ not just bc they gave me more money but because if you try to strip away the names from nj engineering schools, speak to people in the engineering field, look at stats for each school and how campus life either facilitates or impairs the learning experience, and then factor cost, my parents and I concluded that Rowan’s undergrad engineering program is clearly superior to TCNJ and Rutgers. TCNJ campus is nice, but the new engineering facilities, holly pointe dorms, Rowan blvd and all the other improvements on Rowan’s campus are hard to ignore. What TCNJ has is an overall perception over Rowan but that doesn’t extend to the apples to apples comparison with engineering. I’m glad I didn’t give in to committing to Lehigh or Stevens and taking on huge debt. So many people in the field that we talked to commented that they felt Rowan undergrad engineering is approaching Stevens and Princeton level of reputation among prospective employers. Also, remember that TCNJ does not offer a masters but Rowan does and Rowan’s degree is one of the few combined electrical and computer degrees in the country which TCNJ does not offer. Good luck! Maybe I’ll see you on campus if you change your mind
@willc: hold on a minute. I agree that Rowan is a great choice for engineering for NJ students, but approaching Stevens and Princeton level of reputation among prospective employers??? That’s a pretty bold claim. Do you have any data to back that up?
Last year: 96 percent placement in jobs or grad school AT TIME of graduation (of those 70% employed 30% grad school). When trying to decide, I emailed Human Resources depts at more than one potential employer including PSEG, Lockheed Martin and ATT plus a recruiter at star point solutions who told me that unless you are a graduate from MIT Caltech or Carnegie Mellon, graduates from state schools are also sought after especially if you have the grades. All the feedback I got about about Rowan was positive and that Rowan is as respected as other schools in the tri state area.
I came to the conclusion and realization that I don’t want to be drowning in debt. A BCE and Masters at Rowan will cost me far less than 4 years undergrad at Stevens or Lehigh. This is a tough decision where I tried to look at all the evidence about each school. I visited 10 different schools in the NY, NJ and PA areas. Rowan truly has something special going with engineering and what they are doing has gained the attention of employers and that was happening even prior to the construction of the new facilities which are state of the art and on par with every school in the area. They placed 96% of graduates, not within 6 months, but prior to graduation.
@mzsauce17 Let me offer you some more things to think about. If you lived at home and commuted, it sounds like TCNJ would be a lot cheaper for you. This may not be something you want to do, but it is a consideration.
Rowan has an active honors program and within it there is an active jazz band you can participate in. They rehearse weekly and perform regularly.
There are also single credit classes where you could earn credit to satisfy your arts requirement and continue to play at Rowan.
I graduated from TCNJ and have two kids at Rowan, so I’m well versed in both campuses. I am also a bloom where I’m planted kind of person, so I can say positive things about both
Cost does matter, and please remember to multiple the difference by 4 (or 5 years) as that is the total difference.
My son is currently a senior at TCNJ. He is a computer engineering major with a minor in math. He was accepted to quite a few schools including Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, Lehigh University, University of Delaware and Rutgers. He did not apply to Rowan… He wasn’t interested in Rowan (although our daughter went to Rowan as a math major and was happy there). I will say that TCNJ is a much more selective school. Not to say that Rowan is not an excellent school as well. My son is a very bright student and some of his equally bright friends are in the engineering programs at Rowan. My son chose TCNJ for the beautiful campus, the location, the smaller size, its selectivity and its reputation. He also received a four-year merit scholarship which has helped with costs. He takes many of the same courses as the electrical engineering students. The two majors are very much intertwined. Overall he has been happy with the program. He did come into the program with over 60 college credits through a combination of AP scores and community college credits that he earned through high school classes. That helped ease his college load over the four years. It is a rigorous program - although engineering is known to be a rigorous program pretty much anywhere. He has been quite content at TCNJ. He landed an internship with Amazon last summer and will be working for them starting in July. Some of his college classmates have had decent internships including Google, Microsoft and Lockheed Martin. It’s a tough decision - choosing a college. Good luck to you. I can only tell you that my son has had a good experience at TCNJ.
