RUTurbo Wrote:creationstory - I'd like to ask if you have any empirical data to suggest your claims or whether you are just using your personal feelings on the matter to bash Rutgers as well as myself?? This discussion is about Gov. Christie's desire to merge RUTGERS NEW BRUNSWICK - PISCATAWAY and TESC. I am totally aware that Rutgers is a system school - I am a full-time student there! Camden and Newark are separate but equal both have Law Schools, Newark has a nursing school and their alums are treated no different than a New Brunswick school. Rutgers has accommodated me as a NTS accepting 12 CCAF credits (although my situation is different due to my AFSC, - Linguist - Urdu, Farsi), and 48 via CLEP/DSST.

I do not know whether or not you have taken courses at RU - however if you have than are experiences are vastly different. In my first semester I took 2 courses taught and graded by TA's - both were lower level requirements taught in lecture halls. Every other single class I have taken has had less than 25 students and the vast majority having 18 or less.

As for your statement to Rutgers is just keeping pace - if this data is just keeping pace what is everyone else doing??

Eleven of Rutgers' graduate departments are ranked by the National Research Council in the top 25 among all universities: Philosophy (2nd), Geology Ranked 9th Nationally based on NSF funding 9th ,Geography (13th), Statistics (17th), English (17th), Mathematics (19th), Art History (20th), Physics (20th), History (20th) Comparative Literature (22nd), French (22nd), and Materials Science Engineering (25th).

According to U.S. News & World Report, in the top 25 among all universities: Food Science (2nd), Library Science (6th), Drama/Theater (12th), Mathematics (16th), English (18th), History (19th, with the subspecialty of African-American History ranked 4th and Women’s History ranked 1st), Applied Mathematics (21st) and Physics (24th).

The Philosophy Department ranked first in 2002–04 tied with New York University and Princeton University, and second in 2004–06 (NYU was first, Princeton 3rd, Oxford 4th) in the Philosophical Gourmet's biennial report on Philosophy programs in the English-speaking world.

In 2003, the Wall Street Journal conducted a study of the undergraduate institutions that most frequently feed students placements at elite professional and graduate programs, such as Yale and Harvard; Rutgers was ranked 20th in the rankings they compiled for public university's.

Even Forbes Magazine weighed has an opinion on RU, Forbes ranked Rutgers as being the 20th best public university in the United States for "getting rich," as judged by its students' median salaries upon graduation.

Even Rutgers - Newark gets to join in the fun! According to U.S. News & World Report, in the top 25 among all universities: The Division of Global Affairs (DGA) Ph.D. program at Rutgers University-Newark was ranked fifth in the nation in the Benchmarking Academic Excellence survey of Top Universities in Social and Behavioral Sciences Disciplines in the combined category of International Affairs and Development for 2006 - 2007.

As to me and law school - my LSAC GPA is 4.0 a LSAC 4.0 is the same as any other 4.0 whether it's from Harvard or TESC - If you went to an extremely prestigious UG such as HYP (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) you may get a slight bump when ADCOM's review your package in the end law schools care about numbers because they must report them to LSAC and those numbers have a significant factor in their rankings. LSAT is another beast, I'm currently in a PowerScore class - I have taken over 10 real LSAT's as part of the course and I'm averaging a 174 - If I bomb it and get a 158 I'll still be sitting pretty at RU -Newark or Camden for free because they are Yellow Ribbon participants. As a member of the NJ Air Guard RU has not asked me for a single penny - I register for courses buy my books and show up - it's great! So I still have 36 months of Post-9/11 GI bill eligibility remaining.

I feel for the Michigan State grad who cant find a job - I feel for their situation -however that's the current state of the legal market in this economy. Law Schools are graduating approximately 20,000 more students then is necessary, over-saturating the market. The fact of the matter is if you graduate at or below median at a school that is not in the prestigious T-14 you will not have an easy time finding work. Graduating a Tier 3 school such as Michigan State in a region dominated by several T-14 schools (Michigan, UChicago, Northwestern) only compounds to the problem.

Anyway enough thread hijacking - this is about a TESC RU - New Brunswick merger. Because of the facts I have stated above and in previous posts I believe it will be a good thing for TESC and NJ residents!

RUTurbo Wrote:creationstory - DEBATE FAIL - you lost all credibility when you said you'd rather go to Princeton - have fun there!! You'd be the first graduate EVER!! LOL Princeton hasn't graduated a law class since the before the Civil War!!! Also a LSAC 4.0 from any school is a LSAC 4.0 plain and simple! Maybe you should use google.com and learn bout the Law School Admissions process or visit one of the many law school forums! And who said anything about wanting a Top Firm job?? My interest in law has will not be found in any V-5 V250 firm. I plan on going into Public Interest and in my very specific case whether I graduate from Columbia or Cooley the goal is to get a JD not to get rich. As far as you continuing on about rankings - Rutgers is currently ranked number 66 in the nation out of 2913 4 year degree granting institutions, the schools you mentioned all in the Top-25 with UCLA being the lowest at 24. Using my fancy Rutgers math that ranking puts Rutgers in the 99.92 percentile - not to shabby. For you to argue anything other than that Rutgers is a Tier 1 first class research university is ridiculous. Your argument boils down to this - to use your car analogy - Rutgers is a kick butt fully loaded top of the line Mercedes - however its not a Rolls Royce so therefore it can't be great. Blatant anti-Rutgers trolling as many on the law-school forums would put it! And you still fail to mention why this merger is bad for any reason.

Quote:Applied Friday even though I need to CLEP out a few more classes. Hopefully a new academic policy doesn't create problems for me and delay my progress. Rutgers, hmmm That could be alright..

RUTurbo Wrote:And you still fail to mention why this merger is bad for any reason.

Ruddigore Wrote:I think for most of us, the main concern is that TESC will no longer be able to offer the option of 100% testing out - i.e. no residency. Even if they increase their residency to one class, tons of people who go this round will rule them out simply because they don't want to take a class. I wouldn't mind it, but my goal isn't to get my degree done as quickly as possible (though I do want to get it done somewhat quickly).

Also, the Rutger's name isn't as amazing as I think some of you are playing it up to be. It was just a vague name in my head; it took my mom a minute to recognize it at all. Really, the name recognition depends on your location. In some places it may be great (out east, for example), in others less so (chilly Minnesota).

As far as aesthetics go, the very name "Thomas Edison" beats "Rutgers." But I don't think the merger folks are taking that into consideration!

As Shoto would say,

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Jason800 Wrote:I think if you live in the NY/NJ/CT/PA area the name Rutgers is going to be pretty well known. How it rates among employers probably depends on the major. Of the NJ schools their engineering department is going to be looked at as lower than Stevens and NJIT. Id think their business school would rank 2nd to Seton Hall. There are probably categories where they rank below MSU and TCNJ. So I think if you are attending TESC and live in the NY/NJ area the Rutgers name will definitely be much more well known than TESC.

But outside of the area I doubt too many folks know Rutgers. Contrary to what someone else said RU does not have a well known sports program. Their football program has been a joke for years and it has not been until the last few years that they have begun to make some of the 2nd tier bowl games. Their basketball program is terrible. I think sports are important in getting a school name recognized outside the area and RU has never been a factor in that category.

But if someone is really worried about the name simply go for a graduate degree at a more well known school, if they can afford it. There are a number of well known schools offering more and more graduate level degrees online every day.