08/28/2026
Rutgers University Campus Visit!
The GTA team was on campus at Rutgers in New Brunswick, NJ this week and intrigued with its unique blend of old and new, historic and modern. Rutgers is a five-campus system with buses that travel between them all.
Historic revolutionary-era buildings surround a leafy collegiate quad, Voorhees Mall. This part of Rutgers showcases the beautiful Old Queens building on its Queen’s College campus which was a part of the colonial colleges established by a royal charter in 1766. A historical marker reminds you that Alexander Hamilton was here. Rutgers is the 8th oldest university in the nation.
The heart of this campus is tucked away in red bricks and historical landmark signs yet immediately adjacent to the vibrancy of the city of New Brunswick. Right across campus are fraternity and sorority houses with all the lively energy of move-in week, the train line to New York City, cozy little historic pubs and modern apartment buildings. Dozens of restaurants are an easy walk with all kinds of food offerings. We were surrounded by students traveling in large packs who seemed to be in the throes of getting to know each other during orientation.
Rutgers is a Top 50 public university and ranked #1 for research and development. It’s a big school with over 49,000 undergraduates and diverse with over forty Top 25 programs including Philosophy, Urban Planning, Social Work, Business, Physician Assistant and Food Science. It claims #5 in the world for job placement.
With so many different types of academic programs, Big Ten sports, diverse student population, proximity to New York City and its New Jersey and northeast touchpoints there are many different ways to do Rutgers.
This is a school for a confident independent student who is drawn to the idea of city living yet with a beautiful campus setting. A Rutgers student needs to be comfortable with and embrace its bus system connecting campuses, excited about how it is interwoven into New Brunswick and the opportunities of the greater area overall.
There’s something for everyone at a large school like Rutgers!
