Storrs has no town. Newark, DE is not Madison, WI but it is a very good college town. They have built many new retail buildings in town with modern apartments above. Many more new off-campus new apartments than at RU.
UD is a good choice for a student wanting a mid-size school environment. Total enrollment of 23,000.
Not an undergrad or prospect but a two time Rutgers grad (Cook '86, MBA '98) and UNC grad ('86) but here R some observations I've made time and time again for the most part:
THE GOOD
1) (New) Not sure at this point sans athletes that any prospective student is turning down RU based on Not having something. Facilities such as dorms may be old but there's been a LOT of new construction (especially on traditionally laggard campus Livingston) that has HAD to had raised quality of life.
2) A "Lack" of research oriented profs. Experienced this more in grad school in Chapel Hill where the undergrads in my Public Health program likely received a better education than the grads because the profs as a whole had many research grants and didn't really care to teach. Many were also very hands n from the field. The grads wouldn't receive text books and some prof's subject matter was so "out there"
(i.e. specific complicated matter say in org theory-(had a straightforward text in my general org theory class in my Ru MBA program) that many ddn't klnow what was going on. Undergrad classes in our dept at UNC had texts. ON THE OTHER HAND WITH MEGA RESEARCH DOLLARS AT WORSE ANY STUDENT WHO WANTED HAD A HIGH PAYING 10-15 HOUR JOB MINIMUM AND MANY HAD RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIPS THAT PAID FOR TUITION THAT MADE THE OUT OF STATE STUDENTS IN STATE. MANY STUDENTS WERE BREAKING EVEN FOR THE YEAR IF NOT DOING BETTER (AT LEAST IN 1986-88)
THE BAD AND UGLY
2) The campus is for the most part a negative. New Brunswick, though improved is for the most part a half ugly city that's frankly dangerous in some areas. Not a traditional college town. If one is accepted into UNC at Chapel Hill, UVA, Dook and has no preinclination for RU there's no choice. ***ALSO VERY FEW STUDENTS LIKE RUNNING AROUND FROM CAMPUS TO CAMPUS BY BUS OR CAR (sometimes with 20-30 minutes between classes while parking spaces are tough and parking decks are filled). Lots of students don't want the hassle of running around and want to be on really nice campuses.
3) DIVERSITY. Less and less of an issue over time (probably less just since this message board existed) as society changes but an issue usually controversial-and attempted to be buried. Frankly I've been banned no less than 4 times here bringing the issue up (and once for stating my opinion that Hart? should be starting over Teel?).
***RUTGERS LOST PROBABLY THE RESPECT OF MANY BABY BOOMERS+ WHEN LIVINGTON COLLEGE WAS CREATED AS AN ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS WHO COULDN'T SCORE WELL ON THE SAT'S/CAME FROM A DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENT. Livington's reputation dragged down Rutgers' rep and scores fro many many years. That's one major/THE why there has been so much construction (and B-School expansion). Now I heard Livingston is the school of choice/toughest admit of all the campuses.
3B) Rutgers "radical" reputation- Most people really couldn't tell you what a political liberal vs conservative is-esp an 18 year old. However, Rutgers has been the site of much protesting over the years and has often been called the "Berkeley of The East"
Rutgers made waves in the 80's with Divestiture (not so bad) and sit-ins as late as halftime of a basketball game where RU was upsetting and looked like they could beat #1 UMASS. A little black girl lied on the court, wasn't stopped and others joined (there was word the athletic admin knew and could have prevented pregame with adequate security but let it go down) . Game cancelled. RU had bad press on sports TV, regular TV, had to refund 9,000 tickets and got their butts kicked during the rematch. A potential PR bonanza turned into a national PR disaster (one can also argue President Lawrence (see below) did similar with his comments (technically correct to some extent????) that were very politically incorrect, if maybe false.
3C) Whether it be blacks fighting for their rights or, say, (Muslims?) fighting for equal student fee funding there always seemed to be diversity type fighting when attended 1986 to as late as 1998.
4) POLITICAL HIRINGS AND FIRINGS. Rutgers is THE case study on who not to hire, who gets a job because they knew someone, was a Rutgers hero/played for RU, or had a good/bad relationship with the Governor, horrible hires (i.e. Several BB coaches, Terry Shea-not a good fit), and political hires (though a stellar pre RU career Stringer was hired post racist comments by our President and a then poll 90% of respondants, not myself, said she was not worth the high salary of a "Non-revenue" sport).
For many recent years I laughed (but part of me mad) that Doug Kokoskie (saved a win for RU vs Michigan State) until recently survived years and years of controversy and administration firings (more impressive than any win since season 1 on "Survivor" and was recently the last man standing. This was an average student at best C+ student in my entry Cook Microeconomics class (I received an "A", "hall of fame student" recommended from the prof yet would probably never receive an interview, yet alone a job offer from RU despite two masters, 1st of a kind services marketing class and consistently beating RU to intellectual property they should want "from day one".
I've seen MBA classmates working for the RAA yell at people entering Winants Hall not knowing who they are. Could be a big donor. Most recently my fiend on here's friend was hired right off the bat in a KEY alumni/donor position. Educated and deserved a position (so do many others) but really not the best fit and the typical requirement of a fundraising background or at least class oft told to any ENTRY level RAA/ RU Fund position. Mostly clueless as to the comments in this thread to the extent others in our crew have commented on similar. When I emailed him with a tip on the big Minnesota donor (RU grad) someone here on he board met at that game I didn't even receive an acknowledgement (note did similar when in PA for Doug Graber and received thank you notes in Red highlighter). Not his favorite person but one needs to be professional.
5) The "RU Scr*w". in past many don't seem to have had a good experience at RU. From Home Depot founder/former CEO (Pharma grad) to many other famous and infamous no real bond is former=that person did not enjoy their time at RU or see the need to give back. ***Many in past have wound up at RU because they can't afford
to go elsewhere-these include top students who transfer back from top schools making pre ultra competitive (Vet School is a nightmare from NJ to begin with as NJ is not contracted with any Vet schools-at least it was that way). At least when I was there admissions needed to be changed-I was a Cook student and to begin with about 400 of our class of 800 was pre whatever. This resulted in preplanned ultra weeding out that only added to the resentment of students. Compare to other majors at where I never saw less than a 3.5 GPA. My philosophy major roomie was so board while I was studying 100+ hours a week that he transferred for a year to Hawaii Manoa. 10+ years after graduation I applied to law school with the wrong GPA (making me look like liar) after I discovered a programming error that changed thousands if not more GPAS. Dean Hills was still at Cook and still had that I could care less attitude.
In sum even if a much facility improved RU wins the hearts of all, due to the above the university lost (never gained) the support of 1-2 generations of New Jerseyeans.
