The Ramapo College of New Jersey

Date: Dec 27 2011
Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
I just completed my first semester at Ramapo. Like anywhere else, some days were good, some were bad. I'm writing from the persective of a Commuter and a student from the Theoretical and Applied Science Department!

Ok, well first off the campus is beautiful! Lots of green trees and green grass, squirrels and all kinds of animals running around. Some times I would walk outside puprosely in the cold winter days to view nature. It's a great and pleasant walk.

The buildings are interconnected meaning you could get from building A to building G without ever going outside or switching buildings. Just let the halls guide you! It's very relieving on the rainy and cold days!

There are 2 types of faculty: 1 who are very approchable, friendly, challenging at times, helpful, and caring. 2. who are ununderstanding, inconsiderate, wrongfully pompous, and downright rude. You'll see more of catergory 1s than 2s. You'll know whose who by going on RateMyProfessors(VERY HELPFUL) or by seeing how quickly certain classes fill up and which classes have overrides. If you have AP credit from high school(13+), you will be at a great advantage with having the good teachers with the rest of the academic careeer. Also, there are academic challenges and teachers who will grant As to whoever's still breathing by the end of the semester. It is your choice to pick who you want, just remember, it is your education and your money.

The People: Ok, here is where it might start to get negative. Let me start out by first saying, it feels like a neighborhood school-pretty relaxing and present for me actually. Since it is a state school, you'll usually find people from areas you know and kids who come from the same school. There are few international students. Yes, loads of people I've met had a high school snooty attitide, but they also had a high school mentality so they don't usually last long in the science deparment. They're snobby and they think they're cool because they drink. And don't get me started on their high pitched girly voices! Grow up! It tended to be more girls than guys like this so girls-Beware. There is some diversity, but not like what you might see at a private school. I've come across loads of Spanish/Blacks from the EOF department and Koreans. The white people are more accepting and open minded, so there is not a lot of racial tension.

Academics: Hit or miss. Challenging or waste of time busy work easy. The science department is a bit competitive but not over the top. However, a lot of students in the program are in joint programs with UMDNJ or NYU, so they have to take the required courses with a particular GPA(usually 3.5) to become dentists, physical therapists, physician's assistants, clinical laboratoy workers, etc. This is what will make getting As and Bs in those beginning classes difficult, but if you took AP courses and have a good science background, you'll be more than fine. Most students have this nonchalant i dont care attitude, which sometimes I wish I could trade for a more studious and highly motivated student body-the 1 thing we're truly lacking. There are some Bergan County Accademies kids and they're the curve killers! So intelligent, neat to compete with :p. Most students are the average Joe's, no one's done anything ridiculosly insane, so if you're going to college to meet lots of cool people and do more thank ocassionally drink and party—this school is definately not for you!!!!

Scholarship: Ramapo gives scholarships based on your SAT's mainly so aim for higher than 1250+ on them! If you do, you're guaranteed close to full tuition, even if your ec's stunk(like mine). Ramapo tries to get the smartest students to come to their school so they could increase their reputation, but they're forgetting the more motivated students who did research, took loads of AP courses, not just 1 or 2, worked in jobs close to their intended major, etc. By basing a student's intelligence and sucess on their SATs ultimately helps the mediocre students who did not try hard in high school, but got a 1200+.

Commuter's Perspective: The best thing I could do is commute!!! There is nothing that goes on campus over the weekend. The crappy speakers and comedians come on Tuesday nights. Although we did have a Kennedy member come speak this fall. The students are not that appealing to have to stay on campus for. There is a free shuttle which goes around the Mahwah/Ramsey area contingent upon the train schedule, which is very helpful and always of time!! While the campus is beautiful, it gets boring quick and you soon realize what Ramapo lacks.

THE LOWDOWN: Ramapo is a decent school to go to to get a decent education. 95% of faculty have pHDs and the professors have gone to schools such as Princeton, Rutgers, Leigh, Columbia, and some have done amazing research. However, the lack of the students' ambition is what ultimately deterioates this school. Often times, because the school is so small, the advanced courses that you really need to graduate are not always offered because people are not taking them. Also, not many lecture options are offered and everything fills up quickly. Why? Because there can be 100+ people wanting to sign up for a class that seats 40. I'm sorry, but this is a school that prides itself on making students think and expand their minds, but if they want to take a certain class, thy better pray and hope they might get an override? CAAFYE, the people who have been HIRED to help you expect you to magically know everything—then what are they there for? They get bothered if you ask too many specific questions and are so focused on whats in the curriculum, they don't know how to help you when it comes to after college and your career. Ramapo makes it seem like they're helping you by making you only take 4 classes a semester and giving you 16 credits. If I want to take more classes, I risk having to pay an extra 600+. Meanwhile my friends in other schools are taking 5-6 courses a semester for the same amount of credit, so really Ramapo isn't as rigorous and for me, a student potentially considering medical school, its only hurting me. When I went to those scholarship Luncheons Ramapo offers for science students, they made it sound like kids do great research, go off to great schools, and are a warm community of intelligent and caring professors. It really is far from the truth. Getting a research opportunity is very hard in a liberal school, especially in Ramapo where only 3 professors of the entire science community do research which is limited to 3 students!! The professors are helpful, for the most part, but my first semester, all I could sense was a feeling they want students to drop!! Yes, some students go odd to decent grad schools, like UMDNJ, Rutgers, Seton Hall, etc, but others are stilly trying to graduate. Can you say Ramapo has a 48% 4 year graduation rate???

I was a very smart student in high school. Took all of the AP and advanced courses my school offered and excelled above and beyond. Took SAT I and IIs and excelled. Was in the top 5% of my class. My poor extracurculars is what ultimately made me choose Ramapo which gave me full tution. Don't get me wrong, but I love to learn and pride on learning. I love culture and diversity. I love to meet a person with an interesting background. I love to walk across a campus and see someone interesting speaking and people actually going. Are these things wrong to want?