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Well, Cal-Berkely isn't exactly chopped liver, but it does happen that certain public schools are better regarded out-of-state than in-state. Rutgers seems to be very well regarded - invited to join the Ivy League and all that - but when us Jersey-ites went there, we didn't think of it like that.

I can tell you, though, after two semesters at Stevens Institute of Technology, that the things they can do, will do, and have access to are incredible. Similarly to Johns Hopkins' offer to me, they even let me design a new and experimental curriculum for myself. Now, don't get me wrong - I know a guy who finished Rutgers, slipped through Yale, and ended up litigating for the law firm which Bill Clinton retains... within a year of getting his J.D. My own dad regarded his undergrad at Rutgers equally with his M.S.B.A. work at Columbia University.

I have a number of cousins who went to Rutgers for Engineering; one is now in the Army, hoping to join the Green Berets (haven't heard if he's made it). My family is loaded with engineers, and teachers, with a few medical professionals like my parents sprinkled in. And, speaking of Stevens - that was where I enrolled out of HS. It's an impressive place (a lovely campus with fantastic views of the NYC skyline), and the students are very good. I do miss it a bit, though I don't regret what I've done since. Obviously, I'm in a much better situation now than in 2000 when I was at Stevens (despite the blood sugar issues).

And some of the dives in Hoboken... the less said about that, the better.