Civil Engineers: TCNJ or Rowan?

[Section124]

You can always tell the people that don’t have kids, put their kids thru college 30 years ago or haven’t been through the process yet. My kids are junior and seniors in college. The college application process is no longer fun. Rutgers is not easy to get into and there are not a lot of great realistic options in NJ. For most kids, Rutgers is too urban or too close. The other state schools fall into that same category or are a notch below. The competition is tough since my kids went to private school. Private colleges can cost similar to Rutgers. It was in my case. Don’t rule out other options.

My advice to the OP is to go to VT if your son wants to go out of state. It’s only 6 hours away. It was the back up for my son. Colorado sounds great until he has to take all those flights ( and expense). If he wants to stay in state, go for you and you can save some $.

 

[rutgersdave]

Just to clarify, for the PE we are talking about 4/5 years of full-time work experience in demonstrated engineering capacity after the bachelor's degree in order to qualify to sit, not just the # of years (or credits) of education.

I thought the CPA was also certain # of years experience (in public accounting/auditing type work) as well, not just years/credits of education.

Yes, it also include years of experience but it’s strange how they increased the credit load to be able to take the exam which now requires 5 years.

 

[Knight Shift]

They would be better off buying him a home.

Maybe they can do both.

 

[rufancoe00]

VT has decent OOS scholarahips in the past. Woukd have been the same tuition as RU if i had chosen to go there.

 

[RUnTeX]

Also don't get the thinking of not even applying to Rutgers but putting an app in for Rowan/TCNJ

To the extent that Rutgers would not be a safety in that scenario while irish said the other two were in fact safeties, I could see that. Self-selected not to apply to Rutgers....it could easily be viewed as a good thing.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Section,while geography can never change,a lot more kids are applying to Rutgers and visiting campus.SAT scores are up as well.Between the Medical School merger,getting into the Big Ten,the Engineering School expansion,the new Business School building,all the new dorms with more on the way,the upcoming Camden campus expansion,the New Brunswick Honors College,the new Nursing buildings at New Brunswick and Camden,the two new theaters which will bring about new fine arts majors,and other things I am forgetting,Rutgers is certainly more of a choice than even seven years ago. As far as being urban,that aspect is there for kids who want it,but we also have cows and barns and many acres of woods and spacious suburban areas. Our recruits are often saying how much they like the campus.As someone mentioned,Rutgers is as small or as big as you want it to be.All of that being said,for my nephew it is really coming down to geography which is why it is coming down to Florida or Penn State for him.If he picks Sandusky Statemy sister told me I am supposed to act happy for him. lol

 

[RUnTeX]

Rutgers is too urban

Rutgers-NB (granted this is not the case with the Newark or Camden campuses) can be entirely suburban if you want it to be and that is how many college guidebooks characterize the entire NB-Pisc campus (aggregate) when they have to choose just one descriptor.

Not to mention, if it was heavily rural/small town in nature or too quiet, then there's the dynamic of Rutgers sometimes losing out on good quality students to entirely urban campus schools such as NYU or BU.

Rutgers-NB actually has the benefit of being more than one thing to more than one person, all at the same time.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Mr Twister,as far as kids going home,my nephews know kids who go to TCNJ and Rowan. The ones said TCNJ has a fair amount of kids who go home on weekends.It is a very nice campus and has football on the weekends,but they are right in the middle of the state so anyone can get home quickly.At Rowan,it is now a large,state school with kids from everywhere and it is pretty far South so it would be quite a drive to get to Sussex,Warren,Bergen,Passaic,etc. The kids they know from Howell rarely come home since there is so much to do.The school will hit 25,000 in about five or six years.

 

[e5fdny]

E5,Are you saying the people on the tour did not talk much about the new a engineering building? I would think every parent and child on the tour would want to know what is on the horizon for them.

That’s what I’m saying. Was never really brought up while inside and was certainly not pointed out while we were walking around outside.

And as I mentioned before considering how underwhelming the Civil facilities were at RU compared to other schools we visited I’m not really sure why Weeks Hall was not pushed and mentioned more.

 

[RUnTeX]

Frankly, I'd like my son to see and experience another part of the country

Not to be too critical, but he has his whole life to go see/experience/live in another part of the country (and potentially on his own dime instead of yours). This can be in the form of his first (or second) job out of college and/or if he decides on graduate school, where the decision to focus on a field is usually more definitive so there's less risk in forking over lots of tuition dollars as compared to the 4-year "experiment" of undergrad. I understand he's pretty set on engineering...and civil, in particular....but things can change, and particularly more likely for 18 year olds as compared to mid 20-somethings that at least have the benefit of a little more time and life/work/education experience to have figured out what they want to pursue and where.

We're still hoping for VT

As you should be, IMO. As mentioned earlier, in terms of overall reputation and academics/education, particularly for civil eng'g where it has some well known faculty, VPI is a no brainer comparatively....CU isn't quite in the same league. In the "big flagship school, OOS" category, U of Illinois would have been another very strong civil eng'g dept. but would be much harder to get into its engineering school than the others.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

E5,that is really missing the boat.Did you get the sense that most parents and kids were were of the expansion anyway?

 

[RUnTeX]

That’s what I’m saying. Was never really brought up while inside and was certainly not pointed out while we were walking around outside.

And as I mentioned before considering how underwhelming the Civil facilities were at RU compared to other schools we visited I’m not really sure why Weeks Hall was not pushed and mentioned more.

That does seem rather curious....the dept's facilities for CE at Rutgers have been long overdue for an upgrade and they are finally addressing some of that with Weeks Hall. The tour guides should be shouting about it from the rooftops.

 

[rutgersdave]

He’s got a lot of financial responsibilities with 4 kids X 4.5 years x $50,000= $900,000 I would take the cheapest way outl

 

[Mr_Twister]

Mr Twister,as far as kids going home,my nephews know kids who go to TCNJ and Rowan. The ones said TCNJ has a fair amount of kids who go home on weekends.It is a very nice campus and has football on the weekends,but they are right in the middle of the state so anyone can get home quickly.At Rowan,it is now a large,state school with kids from everywhere and it is pretty far South so it would be quite a drive to get to Sussex,Warren,Bergen,Passaic,etc. The kids they know from Howell rarely come home since there is so much to do.The school will hit 25,000 in about five or six years.

Only making the point that Suitcase Schools were not the right fit for my offspring.

 

[e5fdny]

E5,that is really missing the boat.Did you get the sense that most parents and kids were aware of the expansion anyway?

I’m not sure.

But from the thread on the Issues Board on this topic I was really looking forward to hear more from Rutgers about the progress and what it is going to be like.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

E5,that is strange that like RUTex said,we should be shouting it from the rooftop. On another note,I hope Gov.Murphy,Rutgers,and NJIT revisit the merger idea.It us crazy to have two different state universities fifty feet from each other.While not an expert on NJIT facilities,I would think they could add to our Engineering School in a positive way.

 

[NotInRHouse]

I really do not get the logic of not going to RU or TCNJ in state but going to another state school that isn't UCLA, Berkeley, UNC, UVA or Michigan.

It is just throwing money away for no reason.

Also, New Brunswick is much different from suburban NJ, and unless the parents are insane the kid will likely see them not much more often than he would if they lived far away.

I could see the logic of going to a major state school if the kid gets denied from RU over going to a Rowan or lesser NJ school, especially if it is an affordable option like some lower OOS schools are like WVU or USCe.

Colorado or VT if the kid is at TCNJ though seems like a waste. Save the money and go to grad school in another part of the US, if he wants more $$ down the line he will need a grad degree anyway and that will count more on his resume.

 

[RUnTeX]

I hope Gov.Murphy,Rutgers,and NJIT revisit the merger idea.It us crazy to have two different state universities fifty feet from each other.While not an expert on NJIT facilities,I would think they could add to our Engineering School in a positive way.

NJIT folks would expectedly be out with pitchforks. I wouldn't see it as an add to the Rutgers-NB engineering school (positive or negative), moreso that the Rutgers-Newark campus would have its own standalone engineering program/school.

 

[e5fdny]

Let them merge and be their own thing. Call it NJ State if you like.

Better to have two smaller opponents for Rutgers in NJIT/RU-N and Rowan than let Rowan keep growing on its own seemingly unchecked down there....

If you’ve been there recently and/or have seen the Rowan master plan you’ll know what I mean. It is getting to the point where we should start to be concerned.

 

[hoquat63]

NJIT folks would expectedly be out with pitchforks. I wouldn't see it as an add to the Rutgers-NB engineering school (positive or negative), moreso that the Rutgers-Newark campus would have its own standalone engineering program/school.

RU has a number of multi campus schools/programs. The business school, the nursing school and criminal justice are all Newark/NB programs. The two law schools, I believe, were recently combined into one and when I worked on the Newark campus in the 90’s NJIT and RU had a number of joint departments and a very simple cross registration process for students at one school to take courses at the other.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

NotinRHouse,Not sure about Penn State,but Florida has offered my nephew so much that the price would be the same as Rutgers,not counting travel.I heard the same thing last year from a parent for their son and Ohio State. It seems like right now the big financial packages are for the Bridging the Gap program at the Camden campus. E5,you have mentioned several times about the future at Rowan.I just don't ever see them getting in a major conference like the ACC or AAC if they go Division 1. Even if they pour a boatload of money into sports,I would think it would take 20 years to get to Sun Belt or MAC level.Maybe the Big South would be a starting point for football and NEC or Atlantic Sun for other sports in the beginning.

 

[e5fdny]

NotinRHouse,Not sure about Penn State,but Florida has offered my nephew so much that the price would be the same as Rutgers,not counting travel.I heard the same thing last year from a parent for their son and Ohio State. It seems like right now the big financial packages are for the Bridging the Gap program at the Camden campus. E5,you have mentioned several times about the future at Rowan.I just don't ever see them getting in a major conference like the ACC or AAC if they go Division 1. Even if they pour a boatload of money into sports,I would think it would take 20 years to get to Sun Belt or MAC level.Maybe the Big South would be a starting point for football and NEC or Atlantic Sun for other sports in the beginning.

I’m not even talking about the Athletics part.

I’m talking about the piece of the Trenton pie. I know it’s already smaller than it used to be but no reason it needs to be shared with a growing Rowan.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Misunderstood about athletics. The pie coming from Trenton is more like a slice at an overpriced,snobby restaurant.Last time I heard,NJ was number 46 in support of colleges,her we have school superintendents in fairly small towns making 180,000. That being said,a lot of states have cut back drastically,although Texas colleges are booming.

 

[e5fdny]

Misunderstood about athletics. The pie company ng from Trenton is more like a slice at an overprices,snobby restaurant.Last time I heard,NJ was number 46 in support of colleges,her we have school superintendents in fairly small towns making 180,000. That being said,a lot of states have cut back drastically,although Texas colleges are booming.

Yep.

Crumbs are crumbs. But there is no need to share them.

 

[RU9205]

Love my RU CE degree!