<p>Hello
Accepted to NJIT, TCNJ and Rowan for civil engineering.
Does anyone has any input as to the pros and cons of each school?
Love TCNJ's campus and I know it's a great school, NJIT has the reputation and Rowan offered a lot of scholarship money.</p>
<p>Wow, cost aside each school represents a totally different value proposition. It depends on what you value. My son, who is deciding between TCNJ and NJIT (along with Rutgers, Stony Brook, Case and UMBC) has visited Rowan as well. Full disclosure – Rowan was the only school, of the fifteen he visited, that he cross off his list after the tour. He simply did not like the vibe he got from the students on campus. Your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>Setting –
Rowan: suburban / rural – a campus in transition
TCNJ: suburban, completely self contained campus
NJIT: definitely urban, but mostly self contained within a very large city block (definitely a different feel from Drexel, where you’re constantly crossing different streets).
Summary: if you want to the shortest walk to class, pick NJIT; if you want the classic campus feel, pick TCNJ.</p>
<p>Engineering program:
Rowan: unique designed based curriculum seems to provide the opportunity to be hands on from freshman year
TCNJ: similar to Rowan in small class sizes, but hands on opportunities will come more from research projects and internships
NJIT: class sizes also small, but it is a research university, so that’s where the professors focus will be. However, has the greatest opportunity to participate in cutting edge research and co-op programs (something missing from Rowan and TCNJ); NJIT will also have more engineering disciplines as an alternative if you decide you don’t like Civil Engineering.
Summary: unlike a large school like Rutgers, all three give you an opportunity to get more personalized attention as an underclassman – they just vary substantially as to how</p>
<p>Campus feel (based on perceptions from my son and me):
Rowan: kind of a jock / “where’s the next party?” feel.<br>
TCNJ: little bit of an introverted, but friendly and happy feel. (TCNJ tries to recruit that upper middle echelon of incoming freshmen, so there is much more homogeneity in the scholastic credentials of the students); this school has the greatest “residential” feel of the three
NJIT: mostly male; definitely a nerdy, techy feel – and a very diverse student population; this school has the greatest “commuter” feel of the three, though they are taking steps to change that.
Summary: if you really want a diverse student population, pick NJIT; TCNJ will have the most consistently studious population</p>
<p>A few more comments:
- My son was accepted into the Dorman Honors college at NJIT – will definitely provide more personalized experience, with smaller classes and greater access to research. NJIT would probably not be on his list without the Honors College, but with it, it probably ranks above TCNJ.
- TCNJ would be most attractive, if you decided you didn’t like engineering at all and wanted to do something along the lines of the humanities and social sciences.<br>
- The dorms at NJIT seemed to be the nicest of the three schools. TCNJ’s freshman dorm (Travers-Wolfe) is a bit dingy.</p>
<p>Has visited NJIT twice and will be making a return trip to TCNJ this week to tour the engineering facility (Armstrong hall). If you haven’t visited these schools, you really must do so in order to make the decision based on the greatest information and personal experience.</p>
I went to TCNJ undergrad and NJIT for grad school in ME. I am also familiar with Rowan. I think the assessment above nails it. I have to say that I did love the TCNJ experience. The old Ely/Allen/Brewster dorms by the lake are really classic. The new downtown area that they are building should make the weekends a bit more interesting…
I graduated from Rowan in 2013. Two of my best friends were chemical/civil. Both are currently pursuing PHD’s paid for by their employers. Go Profs!
@LittoralAngler Out of curiosity, what were your experiences like at TCNJ and NJIT? Would you recommend both/either? If you had to go back and do things over, would you make any decisions differently? My fiancé is getting out of the military soon and wants to study ME as an undergrad, then focus on Mechatronics after that. We’ve had a lot of trouble finding opinions from people who have experience with both schools, since those are the two he’s choosing between. Thanks in advance!