@carpoolingma LOL re BF visit. My older son and his GF seem to have more visits to each other now that they each have private rooms at their respective colleges. What happens at college, stays at college. ?
And I tell #2 that if TCNJ is his final choice, purposely make some OOS friends! They will not be able to go home all the time.
Thx for the feedback.
@Sparcky You should note that just over 7% of students are OOS so it can be hard to find OOS kids to befriend!
TCNJ seems to be actively working on increasing this number so stay tuned…
@carpoolingma I did not know it is so small.
He is a likely honors candidate, so I’m hoping that maybe those students are more stay at school/OOS types.
wow Sparky you really don’t get it. This is NOT a suitcase school period! Son just graduated and did it in 3 1/2 years .
Hardly ever came home. As for transfers, well ??? what transfers? the school has one of the highest freshman retention rates in the entire country public and private schools included. Also one of the top graduation rates, like top 10 in the entire country. This has absolutely , nothing to do with OOS kids, boyfriends or girlfriends, jobs, non of it matters. the overwhelming majority of kids over 95% freshman live on campus, and freshman retention is over 94%, so do the math . Kids stay on the weekends , overwhelmingly. Only time my S wasn’t there was holidays or if he was on the road with his team. also this board makes way too much out of honors. Its not that relevant. S turned down honors housing and still out in 3 1/2 years with over 3.83 gpa and full time job offer in hand from fortune 100 company. Its a great school and other than the obvious Princeton, its the best in NJ and very very competitive nationally.
@stones3 Holy smoke, why are you so defensive about this topic?
I did not call it a suitcase school. I was weighing in with reasons why some people might see it as a suitcase school and with real reasons why some students go home frequently. And I do know students who go there, so I’m not speculating.
I agree that next to Princeton, it is the best school in NJ. I never said it wasn’t.
As for honors, or any factor whatsoever for that matter, what is relevant to you and your child is not necessarily relevant to me and my child. I am attempting to have as much information on each school as possible so that my son can make the right decision FOR HIM.
TCNJ is a great school, but Stevens Institute of Technogy and Rutgers New Brunswick are better. I would say TCNJ is the 4the best in New Jersey.
Rutgers-Newark?
Any school where the students live within an hour or 2 from a college, has the ability to be a “suitcase school”. I graduated TCNJ 30 years ago. It was a “suitcase school” but there were plenty of people that stayed on the weekends. I always stayed and had the best years of my life there and met wonderful people. School is what you make of it -you can sit in the corner and be negative or go out and meet people and make the best of it. A positive attitude can go very far in life.
All subjective, but in NJ right now TCNJ and Rowan (for engineering) are the best values followed by everyone else. This doesn’t mean Rutgers and Stevens aren’t “good”. Stevens cost of attendance is absurd — over 70k— Rutgers NB campus is too big, too spread out, and run down. NJIT campus is terrible. Princeton really isn’t in the same category as only the select few attend. TCNJ graduates and Rowan engineering grads are getting employed right out of school or attending graduate school at rates the same and higher than Stevens and Rutgers and Princeton and NJIT ——- . TCNJ and Ramapo (to throw in another school) nursing students for that matter make them starting salaries than UPenn or Rutgers nursing students. It’s all about —- value—- quality at a good price. Why send your kid to Stevens even at half price and incur large debt when you can send your kid to TCNJ or Rowan engineering for even less and they will enter the workforce making 65k-70k average starting salary just like Stevens??? You do that if you have money to burn I guess
ABET mandated? Do you know what ABET accreditation is? Have you looked at student outcomes for computer science and each engineering discipline for both TCNJ and Rowan and compared them to Stevens, Princeton and Rutgers?? There is little difference in student outcomes comparing apples to apples (major to major). Like I said, if you have money to burn go to Stevens or Princeton (if you manage to get accepted) and knock yourself out. Your comparable electrical/computer, civil, mech and chemical engineering major from TCNJ and Rowan is faring just as well after graduation—— with faaar less debt
TCNJ Freshman Reviews 2019:
“TCNJ is very focused on academics. This means the professors, classes, and class size are great, however the college lacks in a good social scene. No one told me it was a commuter school but the majority of students go home on the weekends and for the people who stay there is nothing to do on campus. I also find that certain programs lack the funding they need.”
Note also that TCNJ itself has a dedicated Office of Engagement and Off-Campus Life offering programs for “commuter students” (the school’s term, not mine).
You can call any state school a commuter school. I went to Rowan back in the GSC days and it was a commuter school - and I never went home and had plenty to do on weekends. A lot of this is on the kid and what they make of it.
hey Sparky, I have absolutely no need at all to be defensive. In fact , why are you so aggressive in your assertions.
If you have all the Facts you need congrats and move on. If you are open to actual real life experiences , and the numerous factual sources like the over 93% retention rate etc great (among many other accolades). Our son has a very full social life from TCNJ . In fact he will once again be travelling abroad with his TCNJ friends. His experience is in fact the norm not unusual at all. There are many events each weekend in addition to the typical frat parties. The comment posted above that “most” are not on campus for the weekend is simply not based in fact.
@stones3, retention rate has absolutely zero to do with whether a school is a suitcase college. In fact, I would suggest that most suitcase colleges run a very high retention rate as students pick those schools for the very reason that they are close to home and therefore convenient.
Be that as it may, your experience and opinion is noted, though I would hope you would recognize there are several differing thoughts that also based on experience and opinion.
@eb23282 Thank you. Exactly. And I would like to add that cost is also a factor. At more expensive schools, some students have to transfer out due to cost. For instance, my older son’s friend was very happy at their OOS state U but it became too expensive and she had to transfer to a state college in her home state. Had nothing whatsoever to do with the school.
Cost was one thing that really had me leaning towards TCNJ, but now that I have weighed all of the factors THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO US, NOT ANYONE ELSE, I’m hoping my son chooses his other school.
Bahahah , you guys are just hilarious and so transparent. Whatever, facts are freely available to those that want to consider them . ours turned down several NESCAC schools and athletic scholarships (we thought him crazy) but it resulted in graduating in 3 1/2 years with over a 3.83 gpa and great degree, and a full time job with a fortune 100, top 4 consulting firm. So there’s that. Oh and two trips over seas, many friends and professional contacts. No issues here at all.
@cathmark Interesting thread on how NJ colleges rank http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1883646-rank-all-nj-colleges.html
Stuff to do at night: https://recreation.tcnj.edu/recreate-your-night/
@njdadjets has it right, IMO. Judging which NJ college is “best” doesn’t make sense unless you specify the context by which you compare them. For engineering, it doesn’t matter a whole lot where you get the degree, as long as you have one. (Unless you plan to enter academia rather than the workforce, in which case it would matter more.) So claiming SIT is somehow better than Rowan, for example, because their tuition is higher or they have a lower acceptance rate is not valid if you can get the same job holding a degree from either institution. If you pay half as much for the Rowan degree, then it’s better.
The same applies for other academic disciplines. How little a degree costs and what you can do with it determine it’s value, not the “prestige” or whatever acceptance metric of the institution that gave it to you.
While discussing degree costs and what you can do with it, remember one must first get the degree. Which is to say, you might want to also look at graduation rates.