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<p>OK, but this presents a classic chicken-and-egg problem. Do RU students prefer to hang with their HS friends at home on weekends because there’s nothing to do in New Brunswick, or is there nothing to do in New Brunswick because RU students prefer to hang with their HS friends at home on weekends? And more broadly, do top-performing NJ kids elect not to attend Rutgers because it’s not a place where you’ll find other academically talented and motivated kids (as reflected in its entering class stats), or do you not find many academically talented and motivated kids there because most of them decide to go elsewhere? </p>
<p>I realize this all becomes a vicious cycle at a certain point: a school develops a certain reputation, and that reputation tends to perpetuate itself. But I think we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of what caused that reputation to arise in the first place. Clearly many NJ kids are looking for the full, 24/7 on-campus experience, to the point they’re willing to pay substantial sums of money to attend private colleges and universities or not particularly inexpensive OOS public schools to get that experience. More power to 'em. But I suspect that if only a fraction of those heading out-of-state could be persuaded to give Rutgers a chance, they could form a critical mass that starts to make Rutgers a more vibrant and attractive place.</p>
<p>So why doesn’t this happen? The answer can’t just be geographic proximity to the state’s population centers. UCLA is in Los Angeles and UC Berkeley is in the East Bay, just across a bridge from San Francisco. Michigan is 40 minutes from Detroit and 20 minutes or less from some of its western suburbs. Wisconsin is in the heart of the state’s second-largest population center, and, what, 90 minutes from Milwaukee, less from its western suburbs? And you have all these NJ kids saying they want a full, 24/7 campus experience, and they’re all going out of state to find it? Still puzzling.</p>