Which is the better Mech Eng school, Rutgers or NJIT? NJIT claims to be top 20 but not sure if it’s self proclaimed or based on some other conditions (relatively smaller public institution, etc).
I assume RU is better but diff pros / cons, e.g., RU large / auditorium classrooms;NJIT small campus in bad location; RU-I assume has better facilities/labs, better social life, etc
I'm probably not going to tell you anything you don't know or realize already but here's my take. Freshman introductory courses (chem, physics, calc, etc) will likely have large format lectures at both schools to where I don't think it's a meaningfully different experience. I would assume that once in the major, the class sizes could be generally comparable, though I think that depends on overall size/enrollment of the engineering school, and moreso, the overall popularity of (and thus the enrollment in) the specific major at that school. I think Rutgers Engineering these days is at around 3,000-3,500(?) total undergrad enrollment, which might be larger than NJIT-NCE.
I believe ME was generally the second or third most popular - either that or ChemE - of the eight majors at Rutgers Engineering, while EE was always the top, in excess of 300 or 400 students in each class level. ME and ChemE were typically both in the 200s. Whereas for Civil, I seem to recall it was only in the 125-150 range in the mid-90s with my graduating class in that major. These numbers have probably climbed a bit across the board as Farris has grown the engineering school during his tenure as Dean over the past decade. Rutgers Eng'g used to be about 2,500 undergrads 20+ years ago.
Due to general popularity of the field and career options, I'd venture a guess that the ME major at NJIT, like at Rutgers, is also going to be in the top 3 of their engineering programs in terms of # of students, though I have no idea what that headcount is. So you can assume some sophomore and junior year major courses that all students in that major have to take will be the size of the full headcount, whereas by senior year, the electives get smaller as those same total # of students choose different areas of focus and courses accordingly. Senior year ME elective classes at both schools for could be as small as 15-20 students or as many as 75-100 depending on the popularity of the course and/or professor.
I'd definitely visit both schools to get an idea of and comparison between the research/testing facilities, lab spaces, etc. at each respective ME department. And, while on the tours, have your son keep an open mind about the other departments as you never know even if his heart and interests currently appear to indicate that he'll definitely go the ME route, perhaps something else sparks an interest and he decides while he's a freshman/sophomore that a different engineering field might be what he wants to study instead.
Lastly, ME at Rutgers is generally the engineering school's most highly ranked department. I think it's the only one that consistently comes in just inside the top 50, but that's USNWR and I think it's for the graduate level, not undergrad. NJIT's ME dept is not ranked higher than that so I'm not sure the claim of top 20 has any basis and definitely sounds dubious. Doesn't mean you won't get a comparable education, just that the perception and name recognition of Rutgers ME is likely to carry farther.
