Honestly Rutgers and NJIT are comparable here. I’d choose the money and go to NJIT. Plus if you’re going to go to grad school it’s not really gonna matter where you did your undergrad

If its strictly Physiscs, then go with Rutgers. NJIT is more for Engineering. Believe it or not, we had to go across the street to Rutgers Newark for our Physics classes.

It's not like NJIT is seen as a bad school - it has a very solid reputation.

NJIT alum here. Great school, not a great area, but the campus is pretty nice. Moderately active community. Rutgers may have a more lively student body. but I have my heart with NJIT so I'm biased. Hanging out in the campus center and library is fun, great gym facilities.

Choose the money. Undergraduate reputation means very little in most cases, and in this case will mean nothing. What you do as an undergrad is what's important, not the name of the school on your diploma.

Rutgers is the better school. My graduate school advisor (Rutgers) liked to say that "for undergrad you want the school name\reputation. For graduate school, it is all about who you work for." I think that is largely true. I also do not think that it matters much in this debate. Rutgers is better but it isn't like you are comparing the Princeton Physics Department to RVCC here.

Do you have any idea what type of physics you want to do? Are there any NJIT professors that specialize in that? Any Rutgers profs? Your potential specialty for grad school and your undergrad desires matter in the choice. I didn't look through the undergrad physics catalogs for both schools, those offerings need to play a role here.

So on the surface, pocket the extra $700 and go to NJIT. Need more info to answer fully. Also, should you choose the "wrong" one for you, it should be pretty easy to transfer to the other.

Note, I have no experience or knowledge about NJIT. Based on the other responses comparing the two, I would say it comes down to how badly you want that $700.

I’m a Rutgers alum, and I would choose Rutgers because of everything else that comes with going there.

Rutgers has a club for everything, food and bar options, tons of sporting events you can get student tickets for, and a strong focus on research. I’m sure you’d be able to do an undergrad thesis at RU, which would give you a great leg up in regard to getting into grad school too.

Ignoring reputation, I think RU has better options.

I actually went to NJIT for Applied Physics. I liked how they separated coursework into clearly-defined concentrations. I ended up doing Optics, and was able to easily get a job in the optics industry, and eventually semiconductors. All of my professors were knowledgeable and helpful, with opportunities for research & additional study.

I'm not too familiar with Rutgers curriculum. I think Optics does pidgeon-hole you a bit, so I'd recommend the CS/Physics double-major for a more useful general-purpose degree.

PM me if you want.

Edit: As other posters mention, NJIT is a lot cheaper. However, when I graduated (2013), it didn't have the most typical 'college experience', and the gender ratio was pretty skewed male. From what I hear though, it's gotten a lot better...not sure how important this is to you. Personally, I'd still pick NJIT and pocket the cash.

I’m partial to Rutgers as I graduated from there in 2003. I started as an engineering student but discovered after two semesters it wasn’t for me. I was really glad I went to a large, academically diverse school where it wasn’t hard to find something I did want to do. I don’t know how NJIT would be with that, but I can vouch for Rutgers.

Plus it’s always nice to have bigger sports programs and alumni networking too.

Rutgers New Brunswick>NJIT>Rutgers Newark

I recommend Rutgers. Statistics show 93 percent of students end up graduating with a major that is different from what they applied to colleges with. So you might change your mind. If you do Rutgers have everything you can possibly change to. If you don’t change your mind, Rutgers physics is just as good as NJIT.

No joke but Stockton University has a pretty deep physics department

One thing that's missing from here is what else you like about each school. I went to Rutgers, but studied abroad for one semester, which cost me an extra $20,000, since it was through another university. That one study abroad semester made me competitive for a state department job, which I got, which really helped me get my foot in the door in my career, and ultimately get into my dream grad school.

If I was weighing only cost, I never would have taken that semster abroad. I'm all for being as financially conservative as you can with an undergrad education, but with a field like physics, it seems to me that the institution is important. Depending on what you want to do long term.

And as Others have said, If you do decide to take change majors (it happens), Rutgers has pretty much anything you could want.

I went to Rutgers New Brunswick, so I can't say anything specific to Rutgers Newark if that is what you were talking about. I don't know how the campuses are or are not regarded differently when getting hired or applying to advanced degrees.

Which Rutgers campus is it? If it's New Brunswick, then I'd opt to go there vs NJIT. At Rutgers, I would speak with the professors in the Physics dept and see if I could do some grad coursework and assist on some projects/etc since you have grad school as your focus. They're really good about assisting any students who go out on their own to seek experience/knowledge/etc.

Choose the money, in my opinion, your undergraduate degree is based on your effort, your desire to succeed and maintaining that ambition as you earn your degree.

Put $700 a month into a secure investment & have a house down payment when you graduate.

My physicist uncle discovered a sub-atomic particle and I was a GI Bill-educated technologist. Set your sights as high as your ability. Do you have the grades and active duty experience to qualify to a better-regarded department?

As an NJIT alum it was a good school. Many years ago when I was there you could actually take classes and dual enroll in both schools, not sure if they allow it anymore but you could tack on concentrations from Rutgers to your major from NJIT (probably worked in reverse too). Guess it depends what you’re after. Do you want to live in a dorm and have the ‘college’ experience? Then it’s probably Rutgers. I was a commuter kid who worked 8 hours and then took 4 nights of night classes + some online classes in Newark so college social scene was non existent to me.

I’d assume you’re comparing NJIT to Rutgers - Newark? If not, New Brunswick or Camden?

Rutgers. I know one of the professors. He wrote the text on HOW physicists should teach other physicists

It's honestly a question of if you want to focus on a specific area of physics, and what kind of campus activities you'd prefer.

I went to NJIT for chemistry and got an education a little more skewed towards chemical engineering and business than what I would have gotten at Rutgers. I was also involved with some on-campus clubs but a bulk of my social life was spent with my friends who went to RU, William Paterson, and Montclair.

The education you get from either will be comparable. NJIT’s social scene blows, its in a shitty area, the buildings are somewhat older, but classes will probably be smaller and labs may be more accessible. I would look into what research is being done at either and go by that if you wanna work in a lab or by whichever is an easier commute if you wanna drive. If social scene is important i would skip NJIT. I grew up in new brunswick and went to NJIT and thats my opinion, great school but most people are too busy to socialize.

I got a physics degree from Rutgers New Brunswick and I had a great time!

As a professional Physicist, I'd say go where you think you'll be happiest. They're both departments of decent repute, NJIT ain't in the greatest area but it's mostly it's own little microcosm so should be fine. Live on campus though, in either case.

From a liberal arts person from Rutgers, I’d say go to Rutgers. To me, Rutgers is a place that you can do almost anything. There are opportunities to study abroad, there are opportunities to study almost any subject. NJIT just from my eagle eye view was always STEM through and through.

To be sure, it depends a lot on what you want to get out of your grad school too. If you’re dead set on STEM to the end, then by all means take the money. If you’re not sure, I’d say take Rutgers. If say you want to go to law school (which I don’t recommend lol) your undergrad means almost nothing except how your grades are. An undergraduate degree in the sciences can help job prospects, but it rarely matters where that degree is from. I’d just go to Rutgers since i feel there’s more infrastructure for careers paths like that.

Just my 2¢… which can’t buy you anything … in THIS economy ?

Well this is assuming (since a couple people here chimed about about going to other schools) for whatever reason if you can’t attend either of the schools you mentioned, I would avoid Montclair state. It’s not that it’s bad but the Physics department there is still young and growing (it split from the Math dept about a year before COVID) and for now it’s only offering astronomy electives (unless that’s what you want to get into). They are hiring more profs and it seems like they are on the right track to expanding and I hope it flourishes. But when compared to other schools “rigor” like RU and NJIT to MSU, obviously RU and NJIT blow MSU out of the water (I’m sure for other majors but I’m specifically referring to physics). This was told to me by my advisor at MSU.

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Maybe check out Rowan. The housing money will be less though because of the area.

NJIT. It's ABET accredited as opposed to Rutgers SAS

Idk about physics but my nickname for Rutgers is Slutgers for a reason. Even in the workforce between 5 different jobs, I STILL hear from my managers that they Prefer NJIT grads over Rutgers grads because THEY KNOW WHAT YHE FUCK THEY ARE DOING!! And they’re Great Employees. Plus I know transfer students that like NJIT better because of how diverse and creative their student peers are.

Depression is at an all time high because there’s more Males than Females, but I STILL say go to NJIT because you’re there to learn & you’ll thank me later when you’re making BANK