The College of New Jersey

The College of New Jersey struggles a bit with name recognition. Still in the adjustment phase from the name change of "Trenton State College" to "The College of New Jersey", the progressively competitive admission criteria aren't always recognized by the general public. While Trenton State was always a good solid state school, TCNJ is showing up on top college lists everywhere, but still isn't slipping off the tongue as one of the more competitive institutions. In reality, these days TCNJ is a highly selective school and one of the best deals in the country. National recognition has come to TCNJ from Barron's, which names TCNJ as one of the best buys in the country and as one of the top public schools with a ranking of "Most Competitive" along with the Ivy League schools, and others including Stanford, Duke. Additionally, he Princeton Review name TCNJ as 6^th in the list of "Happiest Students", outranking Yale in the top 20 list. TCNJ was also named as having one of the most beautiful campuses in the country at #18.

The total undergraduate enrollment at TCNJ is just under 6000, classes are small with a 13:1 student faculty ration and the college hands out a decent amount of financial aid with almost half of the freshman receiving some form of need based aid. The total cost with tuition, room and board, fees and books is just about $20,000 for in-state students. Out-of-state students will pay about $7,000 more. Either way, TCNJ is about half the price of a comparable private institution.

Touring the college is the best way to get a feel for the culture and the lifestyle of the campus. Tour guides, or "Student Ambassadors" are extremely knowledgeable, friendly and welcoming. They truly know the college campus in and out. They are able to answer question about just about everything and offer to get back to you with details if you want, or can refer you to the proper office. The campus is large enough to be interesting but small enough to give you the true college campus feel .The campus is truly beautiful with a mix of older builders and newer building built to match the older Georgian architecture. The library is at the center of the campus and rivals anything you will see anywhere else. The library is a new five-story building totaling 135,000 square-foot .The library includes 24 group study rooms, comfortable couches and chairs throughout and of course wireless connectivity. There is also a café, a 24-hour study area, and a large auditorium capable of seating about 100 people.

TCNJ has a variety of dorms and apartments. Freshmen are assigned to the two large connecting buildings, while the upper classman have access to a number of other housing option including rooms, suits and apartments. No cars on campus for freshman but the college makes a serious effort to get freshman involved in campus life, so a car isn't really necessary.

Admission to TCNJ is truly competitive. Average SAT scores are 1300 for the old SAT and the average high school rank is within the top 7%. For now, the great majority of students are from New Jersey and about 40% of applicants are accepted. That will likely change as the reputation of the college becomes better known.