Weather

New Jersey’s climate promises a little bit of this and a little bit of that. If you’re coming to Rutgers, you better be prepared to dress for it all. Summers tend to be hot, so at the beginning of the fall semester and the end of the spring semester you want to have warm- weather clothing with you to avoid sweating to death in lecture. Winters, on the other hand, tend to be very cold and occasionally snowy. The wind chill can dip into the teens and 20s, which makes for some very chilly weather while you wait at the bus stop for your bus to show up. And if you have to dig your car out of a parking lot/parking space/etc., you’re going to want to be bundled up (and owning a shovel wouldn’t hurt either). So pack your sweaters, gloves, and long johns.

Athletics

Colleges pride themselves on their sports teams, so ours are pretty big, especially football and basketball. IM sports are quickly making a name for themselves, and as a member of the reigning IM flag football team, I can say that the leagues are highly competitive and highly fun.

Campus Dining

Being an Italian American and having a mother born in the south of Italy, I can attest to quality cooking. Believe it or not, Rutgers food is top-notch and goes out of its way to ensure that each student takes advantage of dining services. They offer vegan and vegetarian stations, an amazing salad bar, and numerous main meals each day—even catering to those on low-carb diets! With a dining hall on each campus, you can gain that extra 15 pounds, and even more, with no problem.

Campus Housing

A lot of the dorms are different styles, so it depends on a student’s preference. Some people say to avoid Davidson on Busch, which are converted army barracks. However, because they are only one floor, people can make close relationships with everyone in their tiny building, and they never deal with broken elevators or tiring stairs. Stonier is the only Rutgers dorm building on College Avenue with bathrooms in each room, and it has a great location. Hardenburgh is a river dorm for sophomores and up, and it has air-conditioning. People really enjoy the suites on Busch Campus, which have their own bathroom and living room with three bedrooms holding two people in each. There are also on-campus apartments on several campuses, and their locations and commodities make them a great deal for upperclassmen.

Campus Strictness

There’s zero-tolerance. Drinking—they’re a little more lenient with. Just don’t do it in front of them or with the door open in your dorm. Be careful in freshman dorms because they’re always on the lookout for first years drinking.

Computers

The computer network is great. Although if you have problems, it might be tough to get someone from the University to actually come and help you. The computer labs get crowded, but it can be avoided by planning on going to the computer lab the night before a class instead of 10 minutes. I feel that bringing your own computer is a good idea because Rutgers puts a lot of information online that is incredibly useful if you live in a dorm (dining hall menus, campus operating status, and many teachers communicate frequently through e-mail).

Diversity

The campuses are diverse, but each of them has dominant populations. It’s like an unspoken thing at Rutgers. College Avenue is mostly Jewish or white, Busch is Asian, Livingston is a mixture of everything, Douglass is all girls, and Cook is mostly black.

Drug Scene

The drug scene at Rutgers, while not an overbearing aspect of campus life, is certainly noticeable. You can barely walk two feet without seeing, or more often than not, smelling someone smoking. There are many cliques whose conversation rarely deviates from the amount of alcohol they drank last night, or the amount of pot they smoked. For those who want to avoid it, however, it is very easy since most do not want to get involved with drugs.

Facilities

There are a handful of gyms with all different styles, hours, equipment, and location. I live in the Easton Avenue apartments, and there’s a gym that is connected to the dorm, which is amazing. The student centers have campus shops, restaurants, convenience stores, computer labs, and lots of tables for studying, eating, or hanging out.

Greek Life

Greek life is here for parties, community service, and other events. It's not that big a deal, though, if you're in one or not. Usually anyone can get into frat parties, which is good.

Guys & Girls

The guys and girls are very diverse at Rutgers University. There's all types of races and stereotypes intermingling on each campus. If you come here, you'd easily find people to fit in with on campus.

Local Atmosphere

New Brunswick is definitely a college town. There is plenty of off-campus housing which is, in reality, as close in walking distance as on-campus housing.

Nightlife

The parties are okay. There are a lot of frat parties on College Avenue, and I guess they're the easiest to get into—especially if you're a girl. I think house parties are better, though. There aren't really any clubs nearby that you can go to. There are bars, but of course those are for students over 21 only.

Off-Campus Dining

Unless you have a car, there aren't really places you can go to within walking distance, except for College Avenue. There are a lot of restaurants over there. Some include Qdoba, Starbucks, a variety of Chinese places, cafes, and pizza places. There are definitely a lot of options for different cuisines and prices. It's easy to find a cheap place with good food.

Off-Campus Housing

Since Rutgers is so big, it's easy to find an off-campus house near one of the campuses. It's cheaper to live off campus than on. Everyone I know who lives off campus absolutely loves the independence.

Overall Experience

I love this school. I never wish I was anywhere else, and if I could do it all again, I’d just wish I had more advice at the start about which classes to take freshman year. But all experience is good, since it helps you learn. Too many people come here with a negative attitude and just want to transfer, since they ended up here because of not getting in somewhere else. I think that I could have been happy anywhere, and most people can. All you have to do is make an effort. If you make an effort, any big school can seem small when you join clubs and make groups of friends. Also, every year at Rutgers, it seems to get smaller. I see people I know everywhere, and find out that friends from different places are interconnected through different things. It’s always surprising to see the connections.

Parking

Parking frustration depends on which campus you’re on. Livingston is great for parking, Busch is decent, but Cook/Douglass and College Avenue parking can be a nightmare and isn’t allowed for the first two years.

Safety & Security

We always get e-mails about the stuff that goes on like rapes, thefts, attacks; obviously, something is wrong at Rutgers. I don’t understand why these crimes are still happening and why the President doesn’t address it as a very serious problem.

Transportation

NJ Transit, the nation’s third largest provider of rail, light rail, and bus transit, has a number of options for students to get around New Brunswick and the surrounding area. It has a number of buses running through New Brunswick. Located conveniently in the middle of town, and right on the edge of campus, is a train station with trains that go to the state capital of Trenton, Newark Airport, and New York City. If you’re at Rutgers and have someplace to go, you can most likely find the public transportation to get there. That’s one of the most convenient things about Rutgers.

Academics

This truly depends on which teachers you get. Some are TAs that feel they have something to prove, and they grade like, well, jerks. Some teachers are just teaching as another means of income on top of what they really want to be doing, so they could care less. However, every now and then, you get a professor who really enjoys teaching and understands all the crap that we, especially as Rutgers students, have to put up with. Some teachers are intelligent, and it comes across. They may not be the most interesting or zealous, but you learn, and they are fair. It’s really a game of roulette.