Rutgers is the flagship campus for the New Jersey state university system. It has a huge campus and is an interesting blend of old (as in colonial) and new. Initially, the college was Queens College, as in Queen of England, and some of the oldest buildings in the country are housed on the campus – one section of campus is modeled after Cambridge in England and is very beautiful. Now Rutgers has five campuses and takes up a large expanse of landscape in New Brunswick, New Jersey: Douglass (all women’s), Cook, Livingston, Mason Gross (Fine Arts and Music), and Busch. A shuttle system gets students around campus and students are encouraged to choose housing based on the environment they prefer versus the majors/programs that are on a particular campus. Freshmen tend to live in freshman housing and there is a pretty extensive freshman orientation program that happens over the weekend the summer before school starts to orient new students. There is an honors program at Rutgers and those students live together and have special programming as a result of their status. We had to tour by luxury bus because the campus was so large.
Our tour guide Alyssa (see video) was very comfortable on the microphone! One thing I won’t forget is the “Grease Trucks” where students can purchase a sub that contains chicken fingers, mozerella sticks, French fries and marinara sauce – fine college dining at its very best! Eeeewww.
The school is located 45 minutes away from New York City and 10 minutes from Princeton, NJ. Some students take advantage of such close proximity to NYC to get internships, but there are a number of corporate headquarters in New Brunswick like Johnson & Johnson (the baby powder and Q-tips). There is the host of majors and concentrations that you would find at a large state school. Rutgers is a Division I school for athletics, you may remember the Scarlet Knights’ women’s bball team and Imus In the Morning’s racist comments of a couple of years ago. These women tend to make it at least the Sweet Sixteen in March Madness (men’s – not so much). But if you want some crazy school spirit, Rutgers is a place to consider (the basketball arena is the LOUDEST in the nation!). Something to note is that NCAA championships provide schools with lots of $$$ – the science campus was pretty spiffy as a result. As the flagship university, graduate-level research is a big focus of academics.
Admissions is competitive. Rutgers uses its own application, it is online and asks that students submit their own transcript (Self Reported Academic Record SRAR) – they do check the grades you submit…Rutgers does have a number of out of state and international students. Prospective Students choose their top three programs when they apply (Liberal Arts, Nursing, Business, Marine Biology, etc.) Financial Aid is submitted using the FAFSA. An independent student, ready to be a little further from home might consider taking a look at Rutgers.
