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It's because the school is poorly maintained and it's party scene has been ruined by degerates. Academics are quite strong.
Well, that's kind of what I'm getting at. While it shouldn't mean that you can't criticize the school at all, academics are still the most important part by far so generally speaking it should trump most other criticisms including the two you listed.
In terms of the school being poorly maintained I agree that traditionally that has been the case but Rutgers is currently in the middle of a building boom. Livingston Campus underwent a huge renovation and is unrecognizable from its old self. College Ave. is currently being renovated too. You can see plenty of pictures and renderings in the link below (Devco's Facebook page).
As for your second criticism, look you can think whatever you want but in my experience every big university across the country is more or less the same. Drunk students that are otherwise upstanding people during the day but become obnoxious at night. I haven't seen anything at Rutgers to suggest that it's worse than any other university. Rutgers is never on the biggest party schools lists. Do you know what schools are listed this year? Syracuse, Penn State, Lehigh, Bucknell. People in New Jersey tend to overlook this aspect of the schools listed above. For some reason they don't do the same with Rutgers because…reasons.
Well, that's kind of what I'm getting at. While it shouldn't mean that you can't criticize the school at all, academics are still the most important part by far so generally speaking it should trump most other criticisms including the two you listed.
In terms of the school being poorly maintained I agree that traditionally that has been the case but Rutgers is currently in the middle of a building boom. Livingston Campus underwent a huge renovation and is unrecognizable from its old self. College Ave. is currently being renovated too. You can see plenty of pictures and renderings in the link below (Devco's Facebook page).
As for your second criticism, look you can think whatever you want but in my experience every big university across the country is more or less the same. Drunk students that are otherwise upstanding people during the day but become obnoxious at night. I haven't seen anything at Rutgers to suggest that it's worse than any other university. Rutgers is never on the biggest party schools lists. Do you know what schools are listed this year? Syracuse, Penn State, Lehigh, Bucknell. People in New Jersey tend to overlook this aspect of the schools listed above. For some reason they don't do the same with Rutgers because…reasons.
Looks nice but it's going to take more than a building to really improve the overally experience. I remember the dining hall being extremely bleak looking.
There was the whole thing back in the early 2000s that RU created it's own strand of STD. Remember that?
Looks nice but it's going to take more than a building to really improve the overally experience. I remember the dining hall being extremely bleak looking.
There was the whole thing back in the early 2000s that RU created it's own strand of STD. Remember that?
Well the bolded part I certainly agree with but just to clarify, it's not one building that is being constructed. The university is replacing that entire block, which was generally thought to be the worst part of campus. There's also another huge development on the old grease trucks lot and plans to revitalize all the other campuses as well including the ones in Newark and Camden. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.
In response to the STD thing, I do remember that. It's so hard to find actual information on it though. When I search "Rutgers STD rate" on Google most of the results are forum posts or websites like Uncyclopedia or Yahoo Answers, which are hardly reputable sources. The few websites that do seem reputable seem to suggest that this whole thing was a myth. In addition, Trojan and College Magazine both rank Rutgers as one of the sexually safest schools in the country. I'll post the links.
Trojan: Rutgers is ranked 13th (you need to scroll to the bottom to see the full list).
The only people with negative perception of RU are people who are angry with how much money they paid to go to a lesser quality out of state school.
RU was recently ranked #33 in international rankings- higher than perennial NJ Soccer Mom faves UDel and the Pedophile Concealer school in Central PA...talk about getting positive reception on your resume.
The STD thing is a fake. Top 20 public school in getting into the best grad schools is real.
And of course it's a Big 10 School, aside from men's basketball has several top sports programs, and has a great but sane party scene.
The campus is "poorly maintained"...lol OK checkout Rockoff Hall or the new Honors dorm, they are in such disrepair!
And as far as cost, RU costs less for NJ residents than all the neighboring state schools.
RU is a public ivy to people outside NJ, and professionals- lawyers, doctors, finance (ranked the best public finance program in America recently)...it's ranked last among people from unsurprising, select other Northeastern institutions and a segment of the uneducated populace who thinks their tax dollars funded Greg Schiano's house or someother made up crap.
Agreed with the above that Rutgers is a fine school. So is TCNJ, depending on what you're looking for. I did undergrad at TCNJ. Classes were small, professors were excellent and attentive. The campus itself is beautiful with one of the best library buildings (collection, not so much) in the country. Yes, it is small and isolated, so you aren't going to get the exposure to a big city that you would at an urban campus. The school itself is pretty diverse too. If you are not quite sure what you want to do in life but want an attentive faculty with rigorous coursework, TCNJ is convenient and affordable option. Downsides? Aside from the aforementioned sheltered location, the school's small size meant that most clubs and activities were pretty low-key. The school also has a reputation for being pretty cliquey, so making friends outside of Greek life can be hard. As for academics, the professors are great, but departments are small, so if you're looking to go on to graduate work it can be tough to find someone with a research interest matching yours. On the other hand, in my experience, people had no problem getting good internships in New York and Philly.
I did my masters in the Rutgers system so I got a bit of an exposure to a bigger school. Rutgers has much bigger departments, so you have a much better chance of finding a professor to mentor you. Greater resources obviously. New Brunswick has more going on that Ewing. More opportunities for joining clubs and doing activities. Downsides, sprawling campuses, sometimes large class sizes. Basically the classic contrast between big schools and small schools. What I like most about Rutgers is that as the state's university, it offers networking opportunities within NJ for public jobs at the state or local level, as well as non-profits.
People also miss that Rutgers has multiple campuses. I don't have too much direct experience with Rutgers Camden, but have spent a lot of time at Rutgers Newark, which is an excellent school in its own right. It's home to a good business school and law school that is probably the best in NJ. It's also been the most diverse campus in the US for something like 15 years straight. It's also right next to NJIT so there's a real sense of academic community in University Heights. The campus itself is safe, and offers easy access to Jersey City and NYC.
Right now I'm at Temple, which offers a useful contrast to Rutgers as another major university in the region that does feature some New Jersey kids in its student body. Temple obviously has the advantage of being in a big city, so the student population gets an exposure to urban life. The campus feels less safe than Rutgers Newark because it's located in a poor residential area rather than in the business district. The faculty is excellent and it is a major research university, so there are a lot of resources available. On the downside, the school relies very heavily on graduate students, more so than Rutgers. In many cases, professors will never be reading or grading your work or providing you with feedback. In some cases, grad students even teach senior seminar courses. The school also has an awful 4-year graduation rate. If I were paying 25K for my kid to go to college, I would rather not have an overworked 23-year old evaluating all of their work.
Anyways, just a bit of perspective on a few schools in the region.
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