Transferring to a new school. I need some advice.

Transfer Students
1

Hello, Im John. Currently, Im enrolled in a community college. This coming semester (Spring) will be my last in this institution, and Im in the process of selecting a university to transfer. However, this process has proven to be extremely overwhelming and I am having a lot of difficulty deciding what I want to do. I need some advice or opinions from other people that might had experience the same situation. I live in south Jersey, the universities closer to me are Rutgers University-Camden (5-10 minute drive from my home); Rowan University (30 minute drive from home). When I enrolled at the community college my plan was to transfer to Rowan University, I attended two summer programs at this university when I was in high school and I really liked it. The school seems nice and is in a good location. The only downside is that if I attend Rowan, I will have to commute. It does not seem logical to my parents to pay about $10,000 for room and board when I live 30 minutes away. But the thing is that I been commuting to community college for two years now and I really hate it. I have to get up early to make it to school on time. Also, many of the times, Im not able to schedule my classes back-to-back for various reasons, so Im force to stay in campus with long periods of wait. So if I attend Rowan my decision would include staying on campus, but this would create a conflict with my parents. They are not helping me to pay for college, but with their guidance and other types of help (allowing me to live with them rent free, proving food and a car for transportation, I feel obligated to take into consideration their opinions. Right now Im debt free, and because I been working ever since I graduated high school, I have some savings, but not enough to cover all expenses. I will have to take out some students loans but not too much. However if I stay on campus the amount I will have to borrow will be much higher.

As I mentioned before, Rutgers University-Camden is 5-10 minutes away from my residence, it would be the best school financially speaking, since I would be living with my parents, I would not have pay for room and board and the driving distance is really short. However, there are some concerns with Rutgers-Camden. First of all, the campus is located in a very dangerous city. I`m aware the school has its own security but still there is a real possibility that something might happen (Many people around the campus area had been rob at gun point). Also, I been to the campus, and I really do not like it. The campus is small and there are not many people. For the few times that I been there the campus feels lonely and empty. The majority of the students are commuters, and I have seen that many of them just go to their classes and go home. It feels more like a community college than a university. Another thing that concerns me is the reputation of the school. Rutgers University is divided into three different schools. Rutgers- New Brunswick, Rutgers-Newark, and Rutgers-Camden. According to what I had have heard, Rutgers-Camden is the easiest of the schools to get into and it is not as good as the other campuses. Is there any differences between the campuses? Does each campus gives its own diploma different from the others and is Rutgers-Camden worth the tuition cost?

So basically Im not sure if I should attend Rutgers-Camden, go to class, do all my work, get the diploma and get out of there and save as much money as possible. Or go to Rowan University, take out much more money in student loans than anticipated and stay in campus. Or Just suck it up and drive to school for two more years. I was hoping to get the “full college experience”, and make a lot more friends, do the stupid things you do when you stay on campus, but I dont think that will be possible if I want to save money.

What do you think? Or what would you do if you were in my position? I need some advice.

2

Rowan University has a 56% acceptance rate and 0 national presence. I personally wouldn’t take on debt to enroll in that kind of university.

It also depends on your major and GPA. If you can maintain a 3.6+ GPA in Accounting then I could see splurging on a tuition. Since the likelihood of paying it back is much higher than if you do a Liberal Arts + get a low GPA.

3

I would go to Rutgers NB if I were going to borrow money for the two remaining years. Rowan is good only for its medical school.

4

What kind of advice have you received from the Transfer Advisor at your CC? Depending on your grades, major, and financial situation, that person might have some more suggestions for you. For example, could you afford Rutgers at the main campus, but share an off-campus apartment with friends?

5

You don’t say what your major will be but I would choose Rowan over Rutgers-Camden. Rutgers-NB is a stronger option, of course, but you must have a reason for not considering it.

I have friends on the physics faculty whom I respect at both Rowan and Rutgers-NB (I did my post-doc at Rutgers). If your degree is in a science then you could do fine at Rowan. If it is in business, you might be better off at Rutgers-NB. In any case, you need to contact the placement office at Rowan to see how their graduates do in getting a job after graduation.

As for the living situation, you probably won’t get the “college experience” coming in as a transfer student since that is the time most serious students pull back from a lot of the social activities and concentrate on their studies and career options. The classes are more demanding too. So really it is a question of convenience and ability to succeed in your studies. In my experience, students who commute have a harder time in their coursework as a general rule (of course there are very successful commuter students). Therefore, if you have to work this out with your parents, you need to put it in the context that your studies will suffer if you have the commute.

6

You don’t say what your major will be but I would choose Rowan over Rutgers-Camden. Rutgers-NB is a stronger option, of course, but you must have a reason for not considering it.

I have friends on the physics faculty whom I respect at both Rowan and Rutgers-NB (I did my post-doc at Rutgers). If your degree is in a science then you could do fine at Rowan. If it is in business, you might be better off at Rutgers-NB. In any case, you need to contact the placement office at Rowan to see how their graduates do in getting a job after graduation.

As for the living situation, you probably won’t get the “college experience” coming in as a transfer student since that is the time most serious students pull back from a lot of the social activities and concentrate on their studies and career options. The classes are more demanding too. So really it is a question of convenience and ability to succeed in your studies. In my experience, students who commute have a harder time in their coursework as a general rule (of course there are very successful commuter students). Therefore, if you have to work this out with your parents, you need to put it in the context that your studies will suffer if you have the commute.

7

Update- My major right now is Business Administration. But once I transfer, I will try to double/dual major in Accounting and Finance. And yes, I was considering Rutgers-NB, but Im wasnt sure if there is really a big difference between Rutgers-NB and Camden. If I attend Rutgers-Camden, I will only have to pay around $15,000 dollars per year, and save the room and board money by living at home. I live 5-10 minutes away from the Camden campus. Compare to Rutgers-NB, where I will have to pay around $25,000 dollars for tuition and room and board. Also, at the moment, I`m considering other universities in different states with low out-of-state tuition.

8

goto whichever university gives you big 4 accounting recruitment.