Malformed University Name, Uncategorized Surveys

Date: Dec 31 2004
Major: Economics (This Major's Salary over time)
Wow…looking back after 15 years I still have happy memories of my years at Rutgers. It's a bit of a family institution my father, sister, brother-in-law etc also having gone there.

For me, my 4 years at RU were more of a character-building experience than an academic one. I was fortunate enough to have an athletic scholarship and my teammates and the friendships I formed with them are what I have carried forward with me the most. We still have a fairly large group of us that are in contact and vacation together regularly despite us living across the US and world. All are successful from being Olympic athletes, to Wall Street, to business owners, to US diplomats and on.

I agree with what one student here had commented about was the Ivy League "reject" mentality at Rutgers. Being such an old school (founded in 1766) and with Princeton about 20 miles down the road, there has been literally over 2 centuries of competition between the schools but mainly with Rutgers students trying to prove they are "just as good" as the Princeton students and the PU students trying to ignore the Rutgers ones. This was exacerbated for me in college since my sport was rowing and we regularly competed against Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and all the rest of the Ivies.

All that being said, Rutgers is still a great place to spend 4 years. It's a VERY diverse school with clubs for pretty much ANY interest. And so close to NYC…my freshman year I could see the Twin Towers from my dorm room window…no longer is that view there unfortunately. The social life is pretty darn good although since it's the state university for a geographically small state and with NYC and Philadephia so close, it can tend to empty out on weekends. New Brunswick has undergone a MAJOR transformation since I started school there in the fall of 1985. While it still has its gritty charm, downtown is no longer a place to avoid at night.

You can get a great education at Rutgers but you have to work it…there are a lot of really good professors here, many of whom are frequently quoted in the national news or have written major textbooks in their field.

It is a bit of a machine given it's large size, but being split up into several smaller colleges and campuses (and I don't mean New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden) - Rutgers, Douglas, Livingston, Cook, etc (all in New Brunswick) helps to negate the feel of it being too big. If you can, attend Rutgers College - the original and oldest one also with the more rigorous academic standards for admission and graduation. Only odd thing is that while you may be a Rutgers College student that is held to higher standards, you might sit in the same class next to a Livingston College student who didn't have the same grades in high school…and if he/she fails a course and retakes it, the F is replaced by the higher grade. But you being a Rutgers College student, if you flag a course and retake it, BOTH grades stay on your transcript.

In the end, Rutgers is great if you are willing to take on the task of getting a good education and don't expect the path to be laid out for you. Additionally, find yourself a niche - a club, a sport or something to belong to, otherwise you can feel lost in the shuffle. Looking back, especially with the lasting friendships I have, I wouldn't change anything.