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I'm planning on going to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, but I have very little understanding of how things work in America compared to here.
I'm planning on moving with my partner. She would like very much to live in NYC and for me to commute to New Brunswick, but I have some concerns. I looked up the train schedule, and it said it takes around 1 hour 10 mins to get from Penn station to New Brunswick. I looked at some other discussions on the internet, and the consensus seems to be that the commute would take around 2 hours each way. Is this an arrangement unfeasible?
Provided it will take 1.5 - 2 hours each way, where would be a good place to look for accommodation? We're looking for a balance between convenience\safety and affordability. Not so much how nice things are.
Obviously this depends on how much time I need to spend at uni. How are undergraduate subjects structured there? For instance, in Australia, each subject has 1 - 2 1 hour lectures weekly 1 1 hour tutorial. Therefore, 3 subjects here amounts to 7 - 9 hours. Can I expect the same in America?
I'm a huge baseball fan, as much as is possible in Australia. Is it easy enough to find a bar or something like it airing the games of an evening?
Thanks a lot for your help! I feel like I'm out of my depth without being able to ask these things.
If your purpose in coming to the US is for school, then you should live a convenient distance to it. Live in/near New Brunswick and visit the city when you have time. Your education is your priority.
All the New Yorkers I have known who got into graduate school at Rutgers have moved to New Brunswick for school and then moved back to NYC after they graduated. If it had been realistically feasible for them to commute to Rutgers from NYC, I believe they would have.
I also suggest living near Rutgers and visiting the city when you have time. Is there a student services or housing office at Rutgers that you can call for advice?
And yes, there are plenty of baseball fans who watch games in bars.
Rutgers University is a highly regarded public university. Congratulations. FYI, it also houses the historical documents and papers of Thomas Edison.
It is not practical to live in NYC and commute to Rutgers on a daily basis. It is much too far. The area around Rutgers is more suburban than urban, altough there are some buses and there is a train station nearby, but it is not within walking distance. The campus is fairly large.
If you are an undergraduate, you are better off living in the dorms. If you are looking for off-campus housing, then I am sure the student housing office can assist you.
How often a class meets and for how long depends upon your course and the policy of the college. Usually a 3 credit English literature class will meet for 3 hours per week, usually 3 times a week for an hour each session or for 1.5 hours per session twice a week. Most liberal arts classes work this way. Sometimes science classes or advanced psycholgy classes have a tutorial which meets in addition to the lecture, often without credit. Science labs are often 1 credit classes that meet for 3 or 4 hours each week in one session. Check your university class schedule and bulletin for more information.
It would be very expensive for a college Student to commute back and forth. So its best to live in New Brunswick,NJ. You can still visit NYC , most college students and locals do on the weekend. New Brunswick is a safe city.
My colleague's grandsons both go to Rutgers and come visit her in NYC a lot (at least in the summer when they aren't really busy with school). I believe it's about $23 roundtrip now to go from Rutgers to NYC, so it would cost you $400 a month just to go to class if you lived in NYC and commuted to school (not to mention housing is MUCH more expensive in NYC and you'd need another $100 for a metro card for the city). I know several people who went to Rutgers and they enjoyed living there while they were in school. If you are actually enrolling in the school for a full degree and not just coming over as an exchange student for a semester, maybe you can get an internship in NYC over the summer and live in New Brunswick during the school year and spend the summer in the city. That way, you'll get to experience both.
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