<p>I have mentioned my son has gotten into TCNJ amd no one (except someone who has recently gone trough the admissions process) seems to recognizes TCNJ.</p>
<p>Typical conversation goes
"yes , he was recently admitted to The College of New Jersey"</p>
<p>"Oh ,you mean Rutgers?"</p>
<p>"No TCNJ"</p>
<p>"Is that Ramapo?"</p>
<p>No (heavy sigh..........)</p>
<p>I am beginning to see that TCNJ seems to mostly be recognized only by people in New Jersey.</p>
<p>its too bad…a great school that no one knows.</p>
<p>Here are two conversaions I had recently that I found amazing!!!</p>
<p>Scene 1
someone with a Phd from a NY school who has worked the past 3 years as a psychologist/counselor who works for another NJ university in the northen part of the state </p>
<p>“where did your son apply to”</p>
<p>me…"blah, blah, blah and TCNJ.</p>
<p>PhD… “what is that”</p>
<p>me “College of New Jersey”</p>
<p>PhD…“never heard of it”</p>
<p>Scene 2
second conversation, at a dinner with other couples whose kids go away to college on the east coast.</p>
<p>dinner person…“what schools does your son like?”</p>
<p>me…“blah and blah” and TCNJ"</p>
<p>dinner person: "where exactly is it?</p>
<p>me: “in Ewing, near Trenton/Princeton”</p>
<p>dinner person “why go all the way there to go to a community college, when Bergen County has a real good community college”</p>
<p>I think there are acouple of reasons for this:</p>
<p>1) TCNJ used to be called Trenton State (I think) and was largely a regional school for those who are of “our age”</p>
<p>2) It is only the past 5 or so years that it is considered a public LAC</p>
<p>3) imo, they should have found a better name for it since Rutgers calls itself “the NewJersey flagship”</p>
<p>I am a recruiter and I can tell you it is well-regarded but keep in mind, many fine small liberal arts colleges are not well-known. Most people know the big state schools. With small LAC if you go there, you have to be ok with being somewhat below most people’s radar. The College of New Jersey to their credit, works hard at promoting themselves. Time will tell how successful they will be. I personally like the name. reminds me of The College of William and Mary, easy to say, remember as is TCNJ</p>
<p>It’s silly for someone to compare TCNJ to a community college. It is the hardest of the state schools to get into, and has the greatest percentage of top 10% students, on par with Gettysburg, Bucknell, Colgate. The risk with TCNJ that I can see is if the state stops promoting and investing in the school as far as growing the name and reputation. Otherwise, they have a nice plan in place. My S will most likely be going there. Looks like great place to prepare for grad school, and he would be around other smart nice kids.</p>
<p>A lot of people compare TCNJ to what Villanova was 20 years ago. Just give it time.</p>
<p>When I was looking at TCNJ, I asked my nieces who lived in NJ and they did not think very highly of TCNJ. One went to NYU and two to Rutgers. </p>
<p>jlutley: You mentioned “The College of New Jersey to their credit, works hard at promoting themselves.” That was I thought but apparently no not the case. I have read, TCNJ was trying to promote themselves with better name recognition by reaching out to out-of-state students. I encouraged my S to apply and he was accepted. NJ students were offered scholarship with their acceptance. He would need to apply and write 3 more essays. He did not bother as he already received full tuition scholarship from an in-state school and scholarship from other better known schools. It remains to be seen how successful TCNJ will be in promoting themselves when they do not offer incentive to attract qualified out of state students.</p>
<p>Hi Davh01</p>
<p>Congratulations on your son’s full scholarship ! What school did he get it at? Would have been interesting to see what TCNJ would have given him. I as a rule do not pay great attention to teenager’s college opinions as I find them lacking including my S. I look to how smart the kids attending, rigor and variety of courses, quality of campus and teaching, happiness of students, cost, post-graduate opportunities, post-grad preparation. TCNJ ranks well in these catagories.</p>
<p>jlutley: Sent you a message with response.</p>
<p>can you resend it to <a href="mailto:jeffreylutley@yahoo.com">jeffreylutley@yahoo.com</a>? thanks Jeff</p>
<p>found it. Congrats they are all good schools you must be proud. Just got back from my TCNJ tour, 90 chance my S will go there though I agree they overstate their worth and are not doing enough to attract out of staters but good value for in state kids looking to major in science. S got into Ursinus, Villlanova, Dickinson, Penn State, Rutgers and a 50% scholarship to Montclair State. He’s a small school kid chem and Ed. major so suits him well. I would go to Rutgers or Penn State personally. Waiting on Lafayette, U of Richmond, and Bucknelll but money too much will not mortgage his or my future for an undergrad degree that does not start with Yale or Harvard. Good luck love Virginia and Virginia schools great history there. Your nieces should consider if they are in a position to interview some of TCNJ’s students. I interview for a living and while not doing job interviews did some “interviewing” during my visits and came away impressed. Would not say it is better than your current choices or worse, a lot of fungibility to me. TCNJ is a mellow low-key school.</p>
<p>My S. (from Mass.) has been accepted at TCNJ and will go down to visit this weekend. Any opinion about the computer science program there? I know it is considered very strong for the sciences, especially biology, but I don’t have a sense about comp sci. He’s a smaller school kid, and the school looks like it might be a great fit (even though they are making him write three more essays n order to get scholarship $$$).</p>
<p>Most people in NJ still refer to the college as Trenton State and those in the know snicker at the TCNJ moniker as a way to glom onto Princeton’s history.</p>
<p>many people who have been impressed to hear that i attend the college of new jersey. those who have heard of it know that it is a great school. i don’t think that you should be so concerned with whether or not people have heard of it.</p>
<p>jlutley: Talked to my niece, she said her department is not hiring new graduates this year. She also said budget is tight and travel for recruiting is limited. She knows some are going to Rutgers but not TCNJ. They feel that Rutgers has enough qualified applicants in its pool.</p>
<p>everytime i tell someone that im going to tcnj they’re all incredibly impressed…i think its just who you talk to because this is an incredible school just not well known to everyone</p>
<p>Son is in a good HS in Northern NJ. He knows lots of good student that are choosing TCNJ that in prior years might have considered private schools - but the recession has definitely changed people’s thinking.</p>
<p>Asian people: “Oooh that’s a good school”
Everyone else: “Where is that?” or “Is that Rutgers?”</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>I’m a freshman who goes to TCNJ, I’m from NY so I get the whole reputation deal a lot. The people that know it know that it is a good school and that it’s fairly difficult to get into. If I speak to anyone whose opinion mattered to me that hasn’t heard of it, I’ll tell them about it. If their opinion doesn’t matter, who cares! I’m chill with it :D</p>