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The College of New Jersey. My son is thinking of attending for engineering.

What are your experiences? What were you children’s experiences? Is TCNJ everything that it's hyped-up to be? The good as well as the bad please.

By Musicmom (Musicmom) on Saturday, May 01, 2004 - 07:27 pm: Edit

S will be student at TCNJ this fall.
I am interested in responses to your post also.

He attended Gov. School at TCNJ last summer.
The bad: The dorm he stayed in was the 'old fashioned' kind with small rooms off the main hall and bathrooms down the hall. Food was pretty bad, he said.
Not much in immediate proximity off campus but he did locate an awesome mini-golf place and Pennington Pizza up the road a few miles.

The good (that we saw first hand):
beautifully landscaped campus with manicured grounds and two small lakes; mostly newer buildings that resemble traditional federal architecture; a 'right size' campus- walkable but not claustrophobic. Proximity to Philly. I guess the Gov School program serves to showcase the host schools. In our son's case, it was effective. He made some very positive connections with the profs on staff and is looking forward to continuing his studies there.

TCNJ has the most selective entrance requirements of the NJ public schools, I think.
It is also consistently listed in those "best value" lists.
Pretty sure our S will find all the ingredients he needs there and we will have a few dollars left to help him with grad school,if that is something he wants latter on.

I hope someone will be able to comment on engineering at TCNJ.
Best of luck to your son!

By Spiffybrownboy (Spiffybrownboy) on Saturday, May 01, 2004 - 10:26 pm: Edit

Don't know about engineering (it may have a good program, but most of the people I know going there are going for its excellent education program). The reasons to go there are obvious - cheap, great education, getting more and more selective, blahblah. The only bad thing that sticks out is that it's known to be a suitcase school that empties out on the weekends. Also, it's not well-known outside of NJ (it's a small liberal arts state school after all).

By Barrons (Barrons) on Saturday, May 01, 2004 - 10:31 pm: Edit

"The only bad thing that sticks out is that it's known to be a suitcase school that empties out on the weekends. Also, it's not well-known outside of NJ (it's a small liberal arts state school after all). "

Other than that how did you enjoy the play Mrs Lincoln??

Sounds like you miss about half of the college life at TCONJ

By Toblin (Toblin) on Tuesday, May 04, 2004 - 12:10 am: Edit

Barons said: "suitcase school"

Having gone to college during the 70's I know full well the difference between a school you only “appreciate” and a school you BOTH appreciate and don’t want to leave on the weekends.

I believe most of one’s college education and maturation process occurs on campus and outside of the classroom.

But the monetary liability inspired crack-down on non-PC activities has eliminated this vital element. To be fair, I think most schools now fall into this “no fun allowed” category. However it does seem that TCNJ has decided to particularly embrace this destructive philosophy.

Those of us who attended college before the ‘90’s had a better and more maturing experience in our college years then our children will ever have. And that is sad.

I wish we could sue the all the lawyers.