I love being a Scarlet Knight. I love the people, the traditions, the football games, and even the fat sandwiches. I love just about everything about Rutgers University…on most days.
Then there are days when the LX bus is not showing up on time, and Brower dining hall seems to be serving the leftover food from the day before. Or those heartbreaking moments when WebReg doesn’t work in your favor, and you can’t find a table in club Alex during finals. As much as I love attending my school, there are times when I regret ever submitting my application.
To the school that has taught me more lessons than I ever thought I needed to learn, here are the things that we Scarlet Knights love to hate about our beloved school:
1. The Buses:
When you see the “expect delays due to traffic” message come up on the bus times, you immediately regret leaving your home 30 minutes before class started instead of 45. If you are a Rutgers student then you know that getting to Cook/Douglass from College Ave during rush hour is a nightmare. At a school with such a large population of students, you would think that there would be a dynamic way for students to travel between campuses.
2. Being Just A Number:
I knew what I was getting myself into when I was applying to a school with a population of about 30,000 undergraduate students. The reality of the size of the school didn’t hit me until I attended my first class of my freshman year. Sitting among 400 students, I never felt quite alone as I did in that 101 class. I learned the hard way that in a school with so many students, no one is going to offer help unless you ask for it. I’ve come to terms with the fact the being a Rutgers student make me one in a sea of thousands.
3. Brower:
Since I am just too lazy to go all the way to another campus’s dining hall whenever I’m hungry, I settle for Brower more often than I should. From the lack of variety to the low quality of food, it is no coincidence why I’ve never heard of someone who hasn’t gotten sick after eating there. This dining hall needs a renovation ASAP.
4. Club Alex:
I'm not sure what bothers me more about Alexander Library: the homeless people who seek refuge here, or the sheer lack of tables with outlets nearby. Something needs to be done about both of these problems. I sure as hell don’t pay a ridiculous amount of money to attend this school so that the homeless people of New Brunswick can take up all the couches. Until then I’ll continue to despise every moment that I spend studying in Club Alex.
5. The Office Of Financial Aid:
If you want to experience horrible customer service and a bad attitude from someone who’s job is to be assist you, this is the place for you. When trying to resolve a financial crisis, the last thing I need is to be put on hold for over an hour or to be scolded for everything I didn’t do right. For the few people that do handle financial problems with kindness and respect, you are all gems.
Regardless of all the negative things about Rutgers, I still have so much pride for attending this school. For all the bad things there are, there are also ten great things that make me happy to be a Scarlet Knight. Rutgers would be too good to be true if it didn’t have it’s downsides.
