<p>Hello, I'm entering my senior year of Highschool this year, and I am in need of some help. I'm currently looking into some colleges. Interested in majoring in Medicine, I live in New Jersey, and TCNJ was one of my choices. How would you classify this school as far as rank and prestige? Any similarly ranked colleges would be very helpful too as I need more choices and my time is running low. </p>
<p>Many Thanks!</p>
<p>I can't speak for people outside of NJ, but as a lifelong resident, I think it has a really good reputation. My brother-in-law's brother went there and is now a nurse practitioner. (He didn't apply to medical school, so it's not like he was rejected and decided to go the NP route). </p>
<p>My Senior year of high school, the one kid who scored a 1600 on his SAT (this was back in the dark ages before the writing section was added) went to TCNJ (which was then called Trenton State). </p>
<p>U.S. news ranks it as #5 (University/Master's/North) out of 85 schools they ranked. Similarly ranked colleges:
USNews.com:</a> America's Best Colleges 2008: Universities-Master's (North): Top Schools</p>
<p>Last year, a very talented student of mine turned down some highly competitive schools (Wash U in St. Louis, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, etc.) to do the accelerated MD program at the College of New Jersey (you do 3 years at tcnj then go on to Rutgers medical school in your 4th year). She has been happy with her choice, and very challenged by the science courses she's taking at the College of New Jersey. She has not regretted her choice at all.</p>
<p>It's a suticase school with nearly all people from NJ. If that's what you want it's fine.</p>
<p>There are plenty of kids who stay on campus on the weekends. More and more out of state kids are attending TCNJ. It is a nice campus and offers an excellent education. It has greatly improved since the days it was called Trenton State.</p>
<p>According to my sources it's still 95% instate UG. If that ain't most, I'm not from NJ. </p>
<p>My daughter has also looked at TCNJ and it is high on her list. She likes the size, the campus is very nice, it is just the right distance from home (about an hour-and-a-half from our home in Delaware), it has the right mix of programs for her interests (maybe engineering, maybe math/physics, maybe communications/journalism - hard to find a school in the 5-6K enrollment range with good programs in all of those areas), and it appears to have a good mix of academic rigor and practicality. </p>
<p>We did not get the impression that it is a suitcase school, although its heavy in-state population makes it likely that many or most students are close enough to get home easily. However, our impression was that plenty of students stick around on weekends. It is located in a mostly residential area with little shopping/nightlife immediately adjacent to campus, which might not appeal to everyone, but does not seem to bother my daughter. </p>
<p>As to the heavy in-state population, it was about 94%/6% last year, although there is a push to attract and enroll out-of-state students. We are in Delaware (about an hour and a half away) and my daughter goes to a very highly regarded math/science charter school and TCNJ has been courting her - she goes to some sort of luncheon/reception thing in a couple of weeks for a scholarship they are offering her (amount and details to come at the function). In TCNJ's plans to move from the old Trenton State College to the TCNJ state honors college/academically well regarded small/medium liberal arts university, increasing its OOS enrollment is the next step. That can mean some advantages for well-qualified OOS applicants (such as being offered scholarships even before applying). </p>
<p>My daughter and I were very impressed with TCNJ and can see why it is considered one of the best bargains among public universities. It seems to be the right fit for my daughter, who has been unimpressed by several Top 20! and other highly ranked schools (Duke, Emory, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Villanova, Yale).</p>
<p>I don't know if she will end up there - she has three other schools on her short list with a couple more to visit in the fall, but I would be comfortable with her choosing TCNJ.</p>