Rutgers University-New Brunswick Update
Rutgers University recently suffered an embarrassing football defeat two weeks agoat the hands and feet of the Oregon Ducks. The Scarlet Knights won the following week, beating Purdue and, as I’m writing this, are about to take on my first grad school llama mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. But when it comes to the 2025 US News college rankings, there is much for the Rutgers community to cheer for.
The main campus in New Brunswick is a “better school” than some might think.
As very big state schools go, Rutgers does a great job of retaining a freshman class (93%) and graduating a freshman class within four years (69%). Education writer Jeff Selingo named Rutgers one of his 75 Dream Schools. That might raise the number of applications this cycle. Those who read that book will be more cost-conscious shoppers, much like those who read my book, The Good College. Rutgers gets a plus there, too.
For the Class of 2028 the yield rate was 29 percent.
In prior years it was closer to 20 percent. I’m a Rutgers grad. So, I’m glad more people are taking notice of the university. In addition, there are very large alumni populations not only in the New York area, but also Philadelphia, Washington DC and California. If Rutgers produces a huge winner in basketball or football, the watch parties will be as good as any gathering for any other Power Four conference school.
Rutgers ranks 42nd among National Research Universities and is tied for 16th among those that are public.
The university is now tied with, the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of Maryland-College Park among the big public research universities. Both of those schools are also members of the Big Ten..Rutgers is also tied with Boston University, often a first choice among Rutgers applicants. Yet Rutgers is not viewed as an aspirational school like these other three universities.
.Among the large public universities ranked ahead of Rutgers, I would say that all but three (UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Irvine) are aspirational first-choice schools. UC-Berkeley, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara are more likely to be aspirational for Californians. The Golden State is, interestingly, one of the top five sending states for Rutgers
Rutgers is not aspirational, yet admissions are not easy.
The university received 77,000 applications for the class that entered thus fall. Thirty-five percent were accepted. For the Class of 2028 it was previously 41 percent. That’s actually lower than acceptance rates for some schools that ranked higher in US News such as:
- UC Davis (ranked 32nd and 9th)-42%
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (ranked 36th and 12th)-42%
- Ohio State (ranked 41st and 15th)-61%
Acceptance rates are not always the best way to measure the “value” and “quality” of a school, especially a very large university like Rutgers.
True, they are a function of supply of seats and the demand for them. However, when you look at larger schools, you must also consider answers to three questions.
What are the schools within that university?
To its credit, Rutgers publishes admissions data by school. So does Illinois. Most other very large public universities leave one guessing. I’ve generally found that some very large state universities have more selective admissions for architecture, business, engineering and nursing. For Rutgers one can substitute pharmacy for architecture. Admissions for the schools of arts and design are partly based on talent, though strong academic records are also expected of applicants to schools that rank with, above and even slightly below Rutgers.. Schools of agriculture, education and journalism are often easier to gain admission.
Not every large state university has the same undergraduate schools. Rutgers, for example, does not have an undergraduate school of education. Interesting to me: neither do any of the top five state schools, except Michigan, which wants prospective freshman to contact the school first. Only one of the top ten, UC-Davis has a school of agriculture, as Rutgers does.
In addition, not every large state school has a large school of arts and sciences are Rutgers does. Some split up the humanities and social science majors into separate schools from the ,math and science majors.
Other schools put Computer Science within their engineering school, or give it its own school. Others, like Rutgers, put the major in their school of arts & science. It might be easier to become a Computer Science major at Rutgers than it would be at any of the higher ranked flagships. I see many schools that ask for a second-choice major, because high-demand majors are capacity constrained. Rutgers allows applicants to choose more than one undergraduate school.
What is the admissions philosophy of that school?
Some schools place a much higher emphasis on test scores than others.
Rutgers, for example, states that standardized test scores are Considered. Admissions are test optional. Half of the Class of 2028 submitted SAT scores; only five percent submitted scores from the ACT. The range for the SAT middle 50 percent was 1310 to 1500, wider than it was for several schools ranked higher. My guess is that the true range was wider still.
Scores are also Considered at Illinois but they are Very Important in admissions to Ohio State,, which also has a much larger freshman class than either Rutgers or Illinois. Among the schools ranked highest Michigan, UNC Chapel Hill and UVa place more importance on test scores than most public universities. The University of Florida and University of Texas-Austin have test-mandatory admissions.
Like all of the UC campuses, UC Davis does not consider test scores at all. But their admissions office considers your answers to the Personal Insight Questions (PIQs) to be Important. Rutgers, Illinois and Ohio State place less importance on admissions essays.
What is the philosophy towards affordability?
Rutgers has a rather high cost of attendance of just over $40,00o for in-state students, who make up 85 percent of the undergraduate student body. Yet the out-of-state estimate of $61,000 is lower than out-of-state costs at many highly regarded public universities. Rutgers wants more out-of-state and international students. Two-thirds of the applicants from each of those markets were accepted into the Class of 2028 according to data supplied to US News.
Some schools, like the University of Florida and Georgia Tech are more biased towards affordability than Rurgers through low resident tuition and fees as well as state scholarship programs. Others, like the UC system, have generous state aid programs that could never be implemented in New Jersey.
What has hurt Rutgers versus its peers? To me this has come down to:
The impression one gets when they visit the campus.
Rutgers is divided into neighborhoods. The campus is separated by downtown New Brunswick and the Raritan River. Parking is tight while classes are in session. Rutgers students are more reliant on buses to get around than any other very large school I’ve visited, with the possible exception of Michigan State.
The perception of New Jersey as a state.
I’ve heard the phrase “Louisiana of the North” when it comes to state politics. But that moniker is undeserved. I’ve also heard the perception that New Jersey is “ugly,” because of views from the Turnpike. That moniker, too, is undeserved.
Less of an athletic tradition when it comes to the smajor revenuer sports.
Rutgers has been a member of the Big Ten since 2014. While I would never argue that Rutgers is in the perfect academic neighborhood, it is not quite in the athletic neighborhood. The major revenue sports: football, men’s and women’s basketball are in a down cycle, though men’s basketball will sell out when the Scarlet Knights are competitive. There have been very good teams in baseball, lacrosse, women’s soccer and wrestling. But they don’t get the props they deserve.
People believe misleading information about rankings.
Too often I hear that schools like Clemson and Penn State, among others, are “better” than Rutgers. If they want to watch a better football team, fine, I wouldn’t argue. Same if they want a major, like architecture, that Rutgers doesn’t offer. Otherwise, most of the “higher-ranked” flagship state universities are not “better” than Rutgers.
Conclusions
US News placed Rutgers in the upper third of the Big Ten and among the nation’s 20 best public universities. To me that’s impressive considering that Rutgers is not usually a first choice among the Garden State’s best and brightest who are seeking a large university for college. That’s a shame, in part, because Rutgers’ students and alumni have better access to New York City, where so many college graduates would like toward after they finish their education, and the beaches when they want to take break from it.
Report Card: Rutgers University-New Brunswick
- Four-Year/Six-Year Graduation Rates: A/A
- Freshman Retention: A
- Costs: B
- Curriculum: A
- Community: B+
- Comforts: B+
- Connections: A
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