Virginia Tech Honors or Rutgers New Brunswick Honors?

Applying to College
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Dear all;

My son got into both Virginia Tech Honors & got the invite for Rutgers New Brunswick Honors today!! He is interested in pursuing computer science major.

We are in NJ!

Any recommendations? Your point of view based on experience?

Thanks in advance.

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Are you instate at either one?
In any case it’s really impressive. :tada:
Rutgers’ main issue IMHO is how the campus is split and you have to take buses to go from one class or one building to the other. However it is also within easy access to one of the greatest metropolis.
Virginia Tech will have a defined campus, more “spirit”, and of course excellent food. It’s also more remote.
Honors College at Rutgers means a nice, dedicated dorm for the 1st year and (excellent perk) additional housing the following years +personal advising right from the start + experiential learning combined with the Forum experience + some smaller classes for many gen eds.
Honors College at VTech is very experiential/hands on; it offers housing for all 4 years (though students are allowed to live in other LLCs)+all sorts of optional opportunities beside typical smaller classes, such as a maker space/studio just for Honors seminars and an Honors-only semester abroad that mixes real world engagement, research, and cultural trips (FA&funding avalaible).
Academically, they’ve got similar rigor so visiting should really help in figuing what environment is the better fit. CS is employable, as are math&logic skills, from both of these excellent universities.

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Thanks a lot. We are in NJ!

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So, VTech is OOS. Is it affordable without loans?
Are costs comparable or is VTech MUCH much more expensive?
Does your son want to live in another state&another environnment ?

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None have provided the merit scholarship yet…but yes, both will be affordable. My son would like to be close to home (his only deterrent for VT is distance) but also wants to go to the college with best CS program (which might be VT?).

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@MYOS1634 - do you know about merit scholarship for these colleges? I just read this for Rutgers - " All entering Honors College students receive a competitive merit scholarship such as the Presidential, Dean’s, or Dean’s Promise scholarship. Scholarships are renewed for up to four years for students who maintain good academic standing according to their scholarship requirements."

If yes, when do we know of these scholarships?

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Hopefully, you can visit or revisit both for an Admitted student day.
Scholarships should be announced in the letter of admission, have you received the big envelope in the mail?

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If your son was accepted to Rutgers Honors College, that comes with automatic merit money. Rutgers will send a notification in the next few days letting you know how much you’re getting.

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Rutgers honors is a hard admit, congratulations.

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No big envelop yet (for Rutgers).

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VA Tech is in a smaller, more rural town, Rutgers NB is in a mid-size city in central NJ. What setting would your son prefer?

Also, consider the fact that Rutgers NB is closer to big cities (NY, Philadelphia, Newark, etc), so more internships.

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Thank you!

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I think he would like a smaller town but also wants to stay closer to home…so, its tricky.

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Has he been able to participate in admitted student days? In both cases, contact Honors/ask if there’s a Honors tour. Perhaps see w/GC whether seniors '23 now freshmen at either college would be willing to take him around. Eat in the cafeteria, check out the gym, see if he can walk to town and find a couple stores or diners/cafes he likes…

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Do you mind if he submitted tests and what his other stats or big draws were? We are also in NJ and Rutgers honors would be awesome.

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Not to be underestimated!
Some students adapt to this while others hate it.

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It’s more of an issue as freshman. Later year if you dorm in relevant campus and have classes concentrated in that campus you may not need to take bus that often specially at peak time of 5-7 pm.

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So we have a similar choice, but I don’t know much about Rutgers. Have you decided on a school yet?

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We haven’t yet. Going to admitted students day for both and hope that helps with the decision.

To make it more interesting, he also got into Northeastern! :star_struck:

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We are trying to get to Admitted Students Day too. I might follow up with you to exchange notes. I dont know much about the school other than that it has direct admit for business and its near a major city.

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