<p>Does anybody knows anything about this school? My niece actually went there but since we are not that close at all, I don't know much about it but... it seems to have a really interesting multimedia program that my son might be interested in and they also offer this pre-law, political science and philosophy program that he seemed real interested in too when I showed it to him.. </p>
<p>Btw, I really love this forum and the site in general, wealth of information and I have to say I feel a bit overwhelmed by it all.</p>
<p>My nephew is a soph there right now (out of state) and is having a good experience. I will tell you that it is somewhat of a suitcase school and many kids go home on the weekends. That said, there is plenty to do (parties, concerts, sporting events) for those that stay. There are excursions to Phila and NYC, too. He loves the campus and has found the academics to be plenty challenging. He’s a business major. The school has gotten a lot more selective in recent years. It IS a public school, and there are funding concerns in NJ right now, but so far all is well for my nephew.</p>
<p>My D applied this year and loves, loves, loves it. We are out of state and it goes back and forth with Muhlenberg as being her top choice. Gorgeous campus, friendly people. My D1’s sal went there and is happy as a clam. I understand some majors are hard to get into for space reasons, but I can’t speak to that pesonally. I can say that the admissions folks are friendly and extremely helpful.</p>
<p>I posted a couple of years ago one humorous incident involving my nephew. They were anxiously awaiting his ED notification, and a thin envelope came from TCNJ. He ripped into it and was devastated at the rejection only to realize he was being turned down for a job in the Admissions office! He had sent his resume in as a supplement to his application and somehow it got put into the pile of resumes responding to an open position in Admissions.</p>
<p>Sounds too much like a certain frozen yogurt shop. I think its ranking would shoot up 20 places if they renamed it “Pennington College” or something equally impressive.</p>
<p>How about Ewing College (being that it is in Ewing). Might have people associating it with the wealth and prestige of the Ewing family on the Dallas series, lol!</p>
<p>TCNJ is a very good school and as others have said is getting more difficult to get into.</p>
<p>My S applied to TCNJ this year but withdrew his application after being accepted ED elsewhere. It is a very well-regarded smaller in-state public LAC (~6000 students), but doesn’t have too much name recognition, although the name recognition is improving. It is especially known for education and pre-professional programs, especially biology/pre-med. </p>
<p>Tons of students from my S’s suburban public NJ high school applied there this year. Admissions is getting more and more selective - S had a friend deferred ED this year which really surprised us that he wasn’t just automatically accepted. The average SAT scores have been steadily increasing, and now are higher than Rutgers. He knows some freshmen there who all really like it.</p>
<p>The campus is really pretty. I think it is definitely worth considering if your S is interested in a school that size, and TCNJ has programs that he is interested in.</p>
<p>Don’t laugh, but I have my own pet theory that college names do have that kind of influence! Heck, in Missouri, look what happened when Northeast Missouri State (I think it was NE?) was renamed Truman State. Suddenly its reputation rose. If they could take off the State part and just call it Truman University, it would do so much better.</p>
<p>Regarding the name, the school used to be called Trenton State College. When it changed its name to The College of New Jersey, Princeton U got mad, since Princeton initially went by that name.</p>
<p>I think that with the name they are trying to go for the “College of William and Mary” vibe.</p>
<p>I had a bunch of friends who went to Trenton State College back in the 80’s! and I visited there quite a bit (I am a Montclair State grad.) TCNJ is probably the 1st or 2nd most respected public in NJ, going back and forth with Rutgers. I have never heard a bad thing about it.</p>
<p>It probably is a suitcase school to some extent, as NJ is a compact state and most students are in state. Emily, do I remember that you are in the Philly area? TCNJ is just off 95 and is probably less than 1/2 hour into Center City Philly. </p>
<p>If we were still in NJ, I’m pretty sure TCNJ would have been high on DDs list.</p>
<p>My son strongly considered applying (since we’re in NJ), but ended up applying to the Rutgers honors program instead – he just thought there was more available in terms of course offerings.</p>
<p>As a NJerseyan who’s taught at SH and knows a bunch of kids who went to TCNJ, I’d take the latter in a second. I think the level of academics overall is higher at TCNJ.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. I don’t want to hijack this thread, but would like to hear more about SH.
The only thing that makes it attractive at all to D now is the $$, and the fact that she was accepted in to nursing program. It seems to be a commuter school, and the surrounding area seems a bit unsafe. The campus is ok, but we have no idea about the quality of the education other than what we heard during the tours, or read in the college guides and school brochures.</p>
Not sure. We’re really and truly struggling. D has been treated with great kindness at Seton Hall and the finances can’t be beat, but (I know this sounds terrible) we’ve been sort of bombarded with negative opinions about Seton Hall for my D and she’s beginning to think that (a) there may be something to what she’s heard and (b) she might not feel proud enough to say that she goes there. She’s desperately hoping for either Muhlenberg or TCNJ to come through. I’m not sure what Plan C would be.</p>
<p>So this is dated information, but I started my undergraduate career at Seton Hall back in 1982. I lasted 2 years, then transferred to Montclair. My experiences then are what makes me so motivated today as a parent to make sure that my kid understands the culture of the colleges that they’re applying to; the idea of “fit” was not even thought about back in my day, and SH & I definitely did not fit!</p>
<p>My opinion of SH is that it is a conservative campus, with students that come from privileged backgrounds. I think the suitcase campus is pretty apt; I commuted but the students that lived there didn’t seem to spend most weekends there.</p>
<p>I always think of it as the Catholic version of Monmouth University, but again, take this with a grain of salt as I didn’t have a good time there 25+ years ago. Times & places change ;)</p>
<p>That’s good to know RobD. Really good. I see a lot of people on CC talk about kids not being disadvantaged if the family isn’t poor, even if there’s no college. Now, it’s not the same kind of disadvantage, of course, but when you have no history of college attendance or experience to rely on, people like me are a little lost. On paper Seton Hall looks great for D, but there’s a nagging feeling that it’s a wonderful school that isn’t right for her and we’re both so confused. Someone that I know used to be a professor at SHU and I can’t fully articulate how much she loathes and detests the students there. She is something of a radical (by her own description) so I can’t figure out if it’s the fact that the student body is conservative, well-off, white or whether there really is something that we should know. Point being, even dated information is helpful because it points us in the direction of the next question to ask.</p>