Rutgers University-New Brunswick Top Questions

Always go visit the school you're interested in if at all possible. You will get a feeling for the campus and the students, see what goes on during a normal day, maybe sit in on a class or get food in the dining hall, and see a dorm. Look through all the facilities, and see if you're excited. If the campus isn't something you can get excited about, why bother going to that school? Every student should be comfortable at their school, and the campus is the first place to start. The greatest academics in the world do not make a difference unless you actually like your room, or worse if the water comes out brown.

I think the most important part of college is to make sure that 20 years from now you aren't going to look back on your college years and think, "I wish I had done that." My advice to is try everything! Join any sport, club or event that you find even the least bit interesting. Go to football games, see a student run production, go to guest lecture events, join an intermural sport. These are the things that make your college experience memorable.

I would not be the person to ask this question to. I do not dorm, I cannot afford it, and I only chose this college because it was cheaper then going to any other one. My entire life consists of studying, doing homework, and maybe having some leisure time if I'm really lucky. If you want to succeed in school you must work very hard at it. A lot of students coming right out of high school and diving into the books is a big shocker. No one person at your university or college is going to hold your hand or offer you help. You must hold your own and find help on your own. College is very difficult, expensive and the best advice I can give is choose a major in which you will find a good paying career and get your money's worth out of your school.

Its hard to really grasp what the experience will actually be like, but the school should fit both the academic and the social aspects of the student's personality.

Make sure you know a lot about yourself. You have to know what you want out of your school and how much you want to challenge yourself. A liberal arts degree can be very easy or very demanding and whta you do after school will reflect how much you put in while you were there. It's important to understand that mediocrity and complacency are easy to slip into with an easy major but if you challenge yourself and do more than just the work you have to you'll end up with greater reward. It's worth it to be hard on yourself but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy college as well. A good amount of self-relfection would be the best advice I could give, you have to know what you're willing to do before you can try it.

Make sure that you pick somewhere that you can live for four years! Just because a school has a lot of name recognition does not mean that you will be happy. Do some overnight stays, talk to students, and make a choice based on what feels most natural, most exciting, and overall best to you!

Never find a school that is scrictly academic. Social life is imporant as well.

Remember that choosing a college is an entirely personal endeavor. No one can tell you what you should like or should not. Make a list of criteria which you think your "dream" school would meet, such as your ideals pertaining to size, geography, and culture. Find schools that meet those criteria on the surface and visit them if you can. In my experience, the vibe you get from a college, good or bad, will be accurate because you are getting the sense of whether or not that school will fit you. Keep your options open when you apply to schools. The feeling that you have diverse choices will empower your ability to make the best decision.

As a senior psychology major who will essentially be starting over as a freshman fashion design major in the fall of 2009, I feel that the best advice I can offer is to embrace the "mistakes" you've made. My "mistake" was being a shy kid who chose to attend a huge university instead of following her dream of studying fashion design. Sometimes I wish I'd been braver and pursued my passion, but honestly if I stumbled across a time machine today I wouldn't change a thing. Being in such a large environment has taught me that life is what you make it. Here at Rutgers I can enjoy my own niche or lose myself in the crowd if I want. This experience has also challenged me to overcome my timidity, which is invaluable. I've also met what I truly believe to be lifelong friends. Now that I'm embarking on a new chapter in my life, I feel a new confidence & capability that I simply didn't possess as an 18 year old freshman. So while I'm not saying that certain mistakes aren't lamentable, I do believe that often they're worth making.

Choose a college in which fits your personality and interests.