I recently got accepted to both colleges. School of Arts and Sciences for Rutgers, and Humanities and Social Sciences for TCNJ. If I go to Rutgers then I will major in Human Resources Management with a minor in Psychology. If I attend TCNJ then I will major in Psychology with a specialization in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
I was wondering if any of you know which has the better program and which is the better school in general? Rutgers has been my first choice since the beginning of the year, and I did not expect to get into TCNJ so I never made it an option. Now that I’m in, my decision is very hard.
I love mostly everything about Rutgers, but don’t know much about TCNJ. I love Rutgers because of the diversity, the campus, I heard the food is great, and I have not heard one negative aspect about the social life at Rutgers. I have not visited it yet, though so I don’t know if I’m gonna love the size of the campus.
I’ve heard that TCNJ is boring at times and the food lacks diversity so one gets tired of it easily. I definitely don’t want to live in a place for four years that I will be bored in. I have heard that the education is very good, but the school is not nationally known as Rutgers is. I think this would be important when I have my degree because I’m not 100% sure that I want to live in Jersey all my life.
What are the pros and cons of each school, and which do you believe is the better choice?
My son goes to TCNJ and is a freshman CS major. I went to Rutgers and my daughter who is a HS Senior has RU at the top of her list. So I’m familiar with both schools. Both are great colleges. Some people might have a more optimal experience at RU while others would have a more optimal experience at TCNJ.
Here are the top 5 pros of each school, unique from the other (in my opinion):
RU:
*Wider array of opportunities (academic and social) than TCNJ. Note that Rutgers doesn’t ever really close a major due to enrollment restrictions, while TCNJ does that for many majors. So, if you decide you want to do something other than HRM/Psych, you have more choices at RU.
*Division 1 sports
*Diversity of living arrangements on the different campuses
*Location: New Brunswick is a much more dynamic location than Ewing and Access to NYC and Philly is easier
TCNJ
*Easier access to professors (smaller classes, especially in the first two years) and academic opportunities (my son is already doing research in CS and attending a conference in Seattle) than RU
*Much, much more compact campus with more of a classic college feel and two lakes… no buses and longest walk from one end to another is about 10 minutes. And no red mud.
*Easier access to Club Sports (you’re not competing against all the folks who couldn’t make the D1 team as at Rutgers)
*As good as RU is with respect to freshman class retention, TCNJ is actually a bit better.
*TCNJ has a reputation of being a school where the students are usually happy and my son confirms that (except on the day after the presidential election). Rutgers has been and, to a certain extent, has a little bit of a self-loathing complex. (Much like the rest of us life-long Jerseyans.) Getting beat up by the rest of the B1G athletically isn’t helping that.
Other people can add to this list.
Where will you be happier? It depends on what’s important to you. If I we’re a high school senior, I think I would be happy at both. (If I were going to school knowing what I know now, I would pick RU because I would know how to get the most out of the array of opportunities … but there’s no way I had that wisdom at age 18!) If I had to make the decision over again, I’d still go to Rutgers (but probably because I met my wife at Rutgers, so I’m biased).
I can’t comment on the departments … I strongly recommend visiting each and ask them about placement of graduates.
One note about food. My son at TCNJ has found the food at Eick to be very good. He has digestive issues, is lactose intolerant and is now trying to be gluten free. He says that the food is very well labeled for allergens at TCNJ and the default offerings work for him. Plus, the staff at Eick is very open to suggestions. Plus, they have other places to eat on campus that are pretty good.
I’m a high school senior accepted to Rowan electrical and computer engineering program and have received a 15k merit scholarship renewable for all 4 years which brings the total cost of attending Rowan well under 20k . Also accepted at TCNJ and received 5k merit scholarship. Also accepted to Rutgers and received 2k merit aid… Loved TCNJs campus and it’s generally viewed as the overall better academic school over Rowan and Rutgers but TCNJ engineering is not as highly ranked as either Rutgers or Rowan engineering. Rutgers large campus and class sizes make it less desirable to me. What’s making this an unexpected tough decision is how impressed I was by the Rowan campus, it’s new facilities and it’s new dorm. Is TCNJs perceived overall superiority enough to give it the nod? Or would I be I crazy to turn down Rowan’s generous scholarship and substantial savings over TCNJ? I walked away from from the Rowan tour thinking that Rowan may eclipse TCNJs “name” cache in the near future given all the investment in the campus and it’s STEM programs.
I would say that Rowan is not a bad option at all. My brother goes Rowan for bio-medical engineering and turned down Johns Hopkins with a bit of a scholarship. I do think you will have to think about fit, but I know rowan has come a long way. I’m also pretty sure Rowan’s engineering program is rated higher then tcnj.
