The New Jersey Institute of Technology

Date: Dec 06 2008
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
NJIT is like any school you get what you put into it, BUT I would not recommend it outright based on my experiences with administration, faculty, etc. Instead I'd suggest completing your basic requirements at a community college or even online to save money, verifying of course that your credits/classes will transfer.

I came in with weak math skills, goofed off senior year, and was placed in easier math courses that was frankly too easy, it cost me a year to get into the real courses. This was done with my computer class as well setting me back a term. I spoke with the Computer science department head about this, since I had 2+ years of programming in high school, but was still forced to sit in a remedial computer class where I got A's and was bored beyond belief along with my simple math classes. I was not able to speak with anyone in the math department as they interrogate you at the door then decide if you will see anyone, which you won't, if you manage to get in they'll just tell you 'that's the policy”the end'.

In my time at NJIT the majority of teacher's could not speak English very well and were also not familiar with the course work. They were mostly working off of one of the real professor's materials and teaching from them the way a puppet speaks the lines of its master. If you were lucky to get the original professor as a teacher you had a better opportunity to get a grasp of the material from someone who can answer your questions/concerns at the moment, not after checking on it. Even still some professors simply cannot teach, do no want to teach, and resent their students.

More than a few professors, mostly in the Computer Science departments were arrogant, unhelpful and rarely available to provide direction or answer questions. Grading was mostly done by a TA who we were not allowed to speak to or challenge on issues with our grades. Having something graded one way and explained another in class or through the text is common in classes, where the teacher says the answer comes one way and the grader doesn't seem to know this.

Courses are offered when the instructor(s) feel like teaching it, which can make your semesters a real pain to schedule if you don't peer into the past course offerings to see when a class is generally taught. Plenty of classes are over filled shoving 25+ students in rooms that should hold 20 or 30 in 25, many rooms have pathetic chair desks from the 1980's and look like they came from defunct high schools, mostly Faculty Hall.

Administration in the Computer science, and math departments were not helpful and in some instances condescending, they don't care what you think or want, you follow the school's rules/policies no exceptions. If you make a scene in someone's office, or have a breakdown then maybe they will try to help you by speaking to a professor or another department head/chair for you otherwise if you behave like a logical responsible adult you can forget about them doing you any favors. The same can be said for the registrar, financial aid, bursar and even public safety, everyone loves their piece of the pie and aren't interested in trying to help you resolve problems or issues. Keeping you from speaking to the person or persons who can or might be able to solve an issue is a game they like to play.

I also had dealings with Dr. Gentul who straight out lied to me when he said he would work to help me with an issue and then did not, ignored me and finally passed me off on a department head who wouldn't do anything and directed me to the departments with whom I 'had to take up those issues'. The point of my seeking the Dean's help was those departments won't do anything for students and higher intervention was needed.

Cheating was very prevalent in my time at the school, many foreign students openly spoke to each other in what I presume is their native tongue and professor's/proctors do nothing, they pass notes, share calculators and no one says anything. Do not misunderstand me, it is not only foreign students cheating but from my experience they do it much more openly, perhaps they are not as skilled as their US born counterparts. A Public Relations campaign was initiated on campus to combat cheating and plagiarism but I didn't feel anything really changed. If and when you see this happening make note of the students, and tell the proctors/professor occasionally you may find they are actually watching them but the majority of the time this was not the case.

As noted the social life and scene are what you'd expect at a predominantly male attended campus, you are better off hanging out on the Rutgers campus just across the street. Women are few and far between, many young men form 'adoration gangs' and follow them around campus like lovesick boys, especially the more appealing ones. Also meeting people is as hard as you make it if you ignore people you'll be on your own if you say hello and open up you are likely to make friends.

NJIT is not a party school or for people who are confused about what they want to do, undecided students should take a semester off working in a mall or warehouse and think about what they want to do with their lives before attending school. College is expensive and unless your parents are rich and paying for everything you would be better served getting real life motivation to think about your future before going to college to hang out and waste time trying to figure out what you want to do.

NJIT is a decent school, especially when compared with similar schools in the area Stevens. But honestly no one really cares that much about which '2nd rate' school you attended if you aren't getting into Yale, Princeton, NYU etc do you think that NJIT's reputation will get you that job over someone else with more experience or better people skills? Some people in the area know NJIT by reputation or think they do when they hear “Institute of Technology they think 'that must be a hard school'.

If I had it to do over I'd stick with community college, get A's because most are academically less challenging, or work with a university that offers online classes/degree programs and either transfer to another school for my junior year or complete my degree purely online to save money and having to deal with commuting, paying for parking, the residence halls, meal plans etc. I had too many run ins with unfriendly, unhelpful bureaucratic administrators/faculty/staff to ever want to set foot on that campus or pay them another cent again.

If you are into science, math, architecture and want a real college to go to and meet/interact with people NJIT is a good value in the NY/NJ metro area but it has its problems as noted by myself and other reviews. They have expanded their programs so it isn't just for technology majors as it was mainly geared for when I first attended.