Rutgers- why is this almost never mentioned

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son had a 3.6 with 1100 SAT's. We live in NJ and both my husband and myself are alumni undergrad and MBA class of 2008. My son was denied entry this evening. I can't believe our state school didn't admit our son who hasn't received anything lower then a B over 4 years. NJ system is broken.

Congratulations to those who got in.

Sorry to hear your son was not accepted but with a 3.6, he is sure to get in somewhere good and hopefully he will be happy where he lands. In my state (WI) this is not uncommon at UW-Madison. Very frustrating! Hang in there.

similar to UMD if you live in MoCo.

I think the college admissions landscape has *really* changed in the last several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a high school friend who went there and haaaatttttted it. Transferred to UVA in her third year. She said the campus was depressing. It’s certainly colored my view of the school.

One person out of 30,000 going there is like a pebble of sand at the beach.

Big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a high school friend who went there and haaaatttttted it. Transferred to UVA in her third year. She said the campus was depressing. It’s certainly colored my view of the school.

One person out of 30,000 going there is like a pebble of sand at the beach.

Big deal.

+1 I went to RU along with my siblings and DH and his siblings. We all loved it. But I also have a friend who transferred out. There’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like a school, this isn’t unique to Rutgers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is expensive, they give zero merit and unless you're going directly into a career in finance, it's a bust.

Disagree about the bolded. Lots of biotech firms recruit from Rutgers. My niece got a great job just out of college in a biotech firm from there. She is now making close to six figures, zero loans, while her friends who went oos have huge loans, making about the same.

💯

Rutgers placement in pharma / bio is better than finance to be honest

While mass has all the bio vc money, nj has the highest concentration of “normal” industry pharma/bio jobs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is another reason why the US News rankings for publics are bunk: Rutgers with its 66% acceptance rate is not BC, Tufts, or BU, though it is ranked essentially the same. Not. Even. Close.

I’ll never understand DCUM. In one breath it “T10/25/50” blah blah blah and in the next breath it’s “oh those rankings suck and mean nothing and are totally wrong.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son had a 3.6 with 1100 SAT's. We live in NJ and both my husband and myself are alumni undergrad and MBA class of 2008. My son was denied entry this evening. I can't believe our state school didn't admit our son who hasn't received anything lower then a B over 4 years. NJ system is broken.

Congratulations to those who got in.

This is what it’s like at most of the good state flagships. I agree the system is broken, but it’s not just NJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is another reason why the US News rankings for publics are bunk: Rutgers with its 66% acceptance rate is not BC, Tufts, or BU, though it is ranked essentially the same. Not. Even. Close.

I’ll never understand DCUM. In one breath it “T10/25/50” blah blah blah and in the next breath it’s “oh those rankings suck and mean nothing and are totally wrong.”

It's a reference with lots of rooms for interpretation.

It's not a exact science.

Duh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is another reason why the US News rankings for publics are bunk: Rutgers with its 66% acceptance rate is not BC, Tufts, or BU, though it is ranked essentially the same. Not. Even. Close.

How is this helpful? Do you think the kids walking around Rutgers paying a fraction of the kids walking around those schools and having a Big 10 experience at their in state flagship R1 school are sad every single day they're not up in Boston? Just stop it. So snobby.

It is helpful because some people will look at the US News rankings and assume they can get “something for nothing” by going to Rutgers because it is a similarly-ranked school that they can get into and that costs less. Cost may be a very good reason to attend Rutgers over, say, BC. But let’s not pretend they are equivalent caliber schools.

Boston schools were only mentioned because they surround Rutgers on the rankings. But Rutgers and UMass are very similar schools: Amherst is way nicer than New Brunswick, and, yes, many UMass kids do wish they had gotten into BC.

Rutgers does about $700M a year in research and BC is around $100M.

[Anonymous]

I don't know, but I will say that the smartest guy in my office went to Rutgers. He's from NJ though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, but I will say that the smartest guy in my office went to Rutgers. He's from NJ though.

What ethnicity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is another reason why the US News rankings for publics are bunk: Rutgers with its 66% acceptance rate is not BC, Tufts, or BU, though it is ranked essentially the same. Not. Even. Close.

I’ll never understand DCUM. In one breath it “T10/25/50” blah blah blah and in the next breath it’s “oh those rankings suck and mean nothing and are totally wrong.”

Maybe because there are different people posting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I mean Rutgers is just not giving you the "college experience" compared to Penn State or UMD or basically most flagships.

The sports aren't anything special or have a storied history, New Brunswick is a blah town, it's not warm, it's near NYC (but far enough away that it's not all that accessible), etc.

It is getting recognition for its academics and kids have great outcomes...but it is what it is.

Yep, no sports history there. Well, other than a little sports contest on November 6, 1869 also known as the first ever intercollegiate football game.

The team may not be the best, but games were always fun. The train station on the edge of campus makes NYC very accessible to those who really want to go. The student body is also overall smart and motivated. My HS junior will be applying in the fall (OOS) and I would have no problem sending her there.

- NJ native with a graduate degree from RU and a lot of alumni relatives, who was also a faculty member there for several years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is another reason why the US News rankings for publics are bunk: Rutgers with its 66% acceptance rate is not BC, Tufts, or BU, though it is ranked essentially the same. Not. Even. Close.

First, after having finally started using common app, Rutgers' applications increased by ~60% so its admit rate is likely to be closer to 45% this year. Second, as I told my daughter, who was admitted to Rutgers yesterday, the top 6000 kids at Rutgers are at least as talented and accomplished as the 6000 kids who make up Tufts student body and as the top 6000 at BC and BU. NJ has one of the highest NMS cutoffs and is chock-a-block with very smart students. Many of them attend Rutgers for various reasons, including its cost. It is always the most popular destination for graduates of our (top 5 in the state) high school.

That said, the campus (spread out, maybe not so aesthetically pleasing) is probably a bit of a problem that helps to keep it from being mentioned in the same breath as the top state schools in the country.

Ranking is not related to acceptance rate.

[Anonymous]

Rutgers has an honors college. Is that new? Is that a draw for students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is another reason why the US News rankings for publics are bunk: Rutgers with its 66% acceptance rate is not BC, Tufts, or BU, though it is ranked essentially the same. Not. Even. Close.

I’ll never understand DCUM. In one breath it “T10/25/50” blah blah blah and in the next breath it’s “oh those rankings suck and mean nothing and are totally wrong.”

+1. Especially when rankings are perceived as somehow dissing their favorite privates/(S)LACs, even tangentially.