Rutgers University - New Brunswick

I chose Rutgers because it is an old school -- founded before the Revolutionary War -- and because my parents went here. (My mom went to Douglass, which is the women's college of Rutgers.) When they went here Rutgers was a terrific school. They were both English majors and the English dept was packed with famous professors who all taught undergrads and really cared about teaching and learning. My dad took courses with prof Poirier and prof Fussell and other famous professors, I was really excited when I came here. I got into Conn College and Penn and came here because my parents went to RU and loved it, I thought it would be the same for me and my little sister.

It is all changed. The English dept is "cultural studies" all you do is talk about sexual identity and race and none of the profs ever read any books, all they want to talk about is "TV theory" and being gay and "patriarchy," it is like a brainwashing camp for idiots. Almost nobody teaches literature, it is horrible.

The school is horrible. Nobody cares about the bright kids, it is all "party animals" and morons who don't really want to be in college, they just come because its the next thing to do. The campus is like a slum, anybody can get in, the faculty just try to get away from the place at the end of the day, it is horrible.We had a new president, it was supposed to get better, but its not getting better. All the new president cares about is the football program, which never wins a game anyway, and hanging around with politicians at basketball games. It is not bad for people who hate college, you can drink beer and hang out, it is like high school. I'm applying for transfer to Columbia and Tufts, I will go like a shot if they take me. Rutgers is cheaper, but its like saving money on a car by buying a wreck that drops its muffler on the highway when you're leaving the deal, its not worth it.

1st Year Female -- Class 2004

Friendliness: C+, University Resource Use/ spending: D-

This school sucks. I transfered in as a junior and wasn't even given a dean until after Christmas. They have classes of 450 students and because of all the adjuncts [professors who are temporary] office hours are slim. I've never been able to make it to anyone's office hours because of slow buses and random times. The buses suck I've waited for an hour to get to my class before and what is up with the stupid bus drivers kicking you off if the bus is to full if you can get on you are fine we all have places to be. When you do finally have smaller class sizes the professor always has some cracked out attendance policy where if you are late 4 times you automatically fail; don't they realize we leave 45 minutes early as is to travel to classes.

1st Year Female -- Class 2004

University Resource Use/ spending: A+, Education Quality: F

I started out as a biochemistry major at Rutgers and quickly learned that it wasn't for me. My first indication was when I got an A- on a lab project that I worked really hard on, and the TA had to collect them and lower all of our grades because he was told he was too generous. Also, my chemistry classes were spent fighting with the TA because we couldn't understand her and she couldn't understand us and all hell would break lose everytime someone asked her to repeat herself. English speaking TA's are hard to come by.

A big problem with Rutgers is that it is too big. Don't expect to receive any personal attention unless you can make it to the one or two hour window of office hours (usually scheduled in some obscure location like the hallway of the Johnson and Johnson building in my case.)

Also, just a tip, make sure you put all of your classes on your home campus if you can. It may not seem like a big deal to have to take a bus around, but consider this example: I had a chemistry review session that I needed to get to because I had some questions about the material. I got out to the bus stop about an hour before the session was supposed to start. Gradually, the stop filled up with people and by the time 2 buses came and went, I was still stuck standing there. I got to my session about 20 minutes late and didn't get a chance to ask the questions I had because I was all the way in the back corner of the auditorium. If you plan on commuting, start saving for parking tickets now. You may literally drive around for hours without finding a spot in your assigned zone. And a course in heiroglyphics may help you figure out the parking signs (employees only in red zones, students with permits A and C in yellow zones between 6am and 6pm, no parking overnight, open parking after 7pm except on weekends, etc.) God forbid they should build another parking deck.

1st Year Female -- Class 2006

Useful Schoolwork: A, Faculty Accessibility: D-