<p>I would appreciate it if any of you could tell me about William Patterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. I was told that it has an excellent faculty but I can't find it on CC's college list.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>The faculty of all colleges has been on the rise, given the glut of extremely intelligent PhDs who can't necessarily find work in the college of their choice. However, the reason WPU isn't on the list is because it isn't that well regarded of a school in terms of the types of students who go there. In New Jersey, it is considered considerabaly weaker then Rutgers and probabaly even Montclair State. It is more of a 3rd tier type school - nothing wrong with that, but not the destination of choice, or even the safety of choice, for the highly motivated students who tend to frequent this board.</p>
<p>OTOH, my cousin graduated from WP, went to law school, practiced law at a North Jersey law firm, landed a faculty spot at a school I've never heard of (because I don't live in New Jersey), and is very happy and doing well teaching law, doing some part-time private practice legal work out of her home, remodeling her home and raising her two kids. Her goal wasn't Wall Street. It worked out great for her. Your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>I agree with Icargirl, but WP recently has gotten their business school accredited by the AACSB, which is not an easy achievement.</p>
<p>I know of a couple of students who a have decided to attend WP instead of Montclair, Ramapo, and Rutgers.</p>
<p>At our hs, the default colleges for the students who aren't at the Rutgers/TCNJ or even Ramapo/Stockton level are Montclair and WPU. Of those, the better students generally go to Montclair. WPU seems to attract the one-step-above community college students. That being said, they seem to get a solid education there.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your replies. I was discussing colleges and universities located in New Jersey with a friend and WP came up. As a child, I spent most of my summers near Lake Hepatcong, and I mused about how the area must haved changed since the dark ages. All I know about Wayne, N.J. is the time I got lost looking for an outlet shopping mall years ago. In any case, this time around the college search process I am asking different types of questions and getting different answers. </p>
<p>I took a look at WP's website - the faculty boast impressive credentials, have their share of awards and accolades, and the departments and course offerings cover a gamut of academic and pre-professonal areas. With everyone trying to find viable safety schools at affordable prices these days, I find myself asking just why state schools, such as this one in New Jersey, don't attract a better applicant pool. From all your comments I get the impression that, on the whole, prestige over-rides both location and "solid" academics. New Jersey is a great state - any more thoughts on the subject?</p>
<p>They may begin to attract a better applicant pool. The one student that I know who opted to attend WP over Montclair (he was only debating these two, b/c he wanted to commute, and for whatever reason was not considering Rutgers-Newark, or Ramapo), picked WP over Montclair. He is a strong student, but his family could not easily afford a private college.</p>
<p>Wayne, NJ, is a nice suburban town but certainly not a college town. I lived in Wayne for a while some years back, and I wasn't even aware that there was a university there until after I had moved away.</p>
<p>It's Paterson with one t, by the way.</p>
<p>It is located in a nice suburban area, but definitely not a college town.</p>
<p>I am editing this post to add that they only graduate 13% of their students in 4 years. Their 6 year graduation rate is 48%. 25% of students have below a 450 verbal, and 460 math score. These are eye opening numbers. All I can say is, wow!</p>
<p>Yeah, at this point it's not so much a prestige thing as a competitive thing. There are a number of schools with stronger student profiles in the area (such as Montclair and Ramapo, possibly even Kean.) William Paterson has the feel of a CC physically--acres and acres of parking lots, few resident students, not close to anything but strip malls.</p>
<p>Ramapo is a very residential feeling college and Montclair is turning into one; plus, it's in Montclair, a huge advantage.</p>
<p>Pretty much every college these days is going to have strongly credentialed faculty, but the rest of the picture for WPU is not as stong.</p>
<p>BTW, asteriskea, I adore Lake Hopatcong and have been going there since I was a kid, too!</p>
<p>Actually Kean has a weak student body. 25% of students scored below 430 in both verbal and math. Their 4 year graduation is 14%, 5yr. is 38%.</p>
<p>Montclair-25% scored below 470 verbal, and 490 math. Their 4 year grad rate is 23%, 5 year is 50%.</p>
<p>Ramapo has students with better stats- 25% have below 510 verbal and 520 math. The 4 year graduation rate is 34% and 5 year is 56%.</p>
<p>Wow, indeed! Thanks for all the great input. From the website, I learned that William Paterson (thanks, Marian - this thread is obviously not highlighting either my spelling or typing skills :)) was founded in 1855 - and obviously has seen better days. It would be hard to argue that the university might be an undiscovered jewel in the crown of the NJ state system. The stats are really shocking - but just the same, I am impressed by what WPU has to offer. Even if the school caters to a very low-end applicant pool, it has impressive resources. Says something about New Jersey, if you ask me.</p>
<p>Garland - I absolutely loved the summers I spent near Lake Hopatcong and Dover! :)</p>
<p>wpu does have a world reknowned jazz program though-- NYtimes jsut did a piece about it.</p>
<p>It does have a fantastic jazz program. Unfortunately, it doesn't attract kids who are academic jazz musicians, since the school's reputation in academic rigor isn't very high.</p>
<p>I grew up in Wayne about 2 miles from WPU and worked there for 4 years (but that was many years ago!). It probably would depend what program you are interested in. I know it had a great reputation for its music, nursing, speech path., and communications programs back when I was there. However, we checked out the communications department (radio/tv production) for our son last October and were less than impressed. This was at an open house. The faculty they had presenting were not prepared and the equipment they had was not up to date - son said they are using higher quality equipment in his high school.</p>
<p>kitty, That is sad. It seems like everything at TCNJ is great. By looking at it you would never know that it is a public school. There is so much money that was spent at TCNJ, and the building is still continuing.</p>
<p>Our son attended a summer jazz program at WPU while in hs.
He loved the program, faculty and other students involved. But the physical facilities appeared worn and sad. We kind of chalked it up to 'it's a state school after all'. But so is TCNJ and TCNJ's campus and buildings are immaculate and state of the art. Go figure.</p>
<p>WPU is a 4 year institution that is considered a CC that caters to locals. My M-I-L returned to college at age 45 to complete her degree in Elem Ed. She lived in Totowa (less than 5 miles form WPU) and it was convenient and adequate to her needs.</p>
<p>Since Montclair is nearby (about 3 miles from Totowa) and has build a good reputation, the funds go to Montclair, which has many commuter students, but also some residentials.</p>
<p>New Jersey send many students on to college, Kean and WPU (in the opinion of the education and general public) fall to the bottom of the varied public colleges. Rutgers has three campus' located in three of the larger cities and the main campus is centerally located and the other public colleges, universities are regional located, NJ students who chose or must go to the public institutions treat WPU as the 'safety' in the northern area and Kean as the 'safety' in the middle.</p>
<p>WPU has made upgrades, but it is solidly at the bottom of the barrel in the public opinion.</p>
<p>New Jersey's better students (grades/gpa/testing wise) flow out of state for college. I believe it is the state with the largest % of its college bound children attending OOS institutions.</p>
<p>"New Jersey's better students (grades/gpa/testing wise) flow out of state for college. I believe it is the state with the largest % of its college bound children attending OOS institutions." </p>
<p>I can definitely see why. My son is one leaving the state to go to college.</p>
<p>Add my kids to the list of NJ res. going OOS. DD is graduating this month from a PA college after considering an in-state private (which ended after the tour) among others. DS is a HS junior who had WPU and an in-state private on his original list and both have since been cut. The remaining schools on his list are in PA and NYS.</p>