The Rutgers Honors College, a brand new building crafted last year, was a mystery to those who did not live in it. People would ask me to swipe them in so they could get a glimpse of the hand-crafted furniture, room service, gourmet dining hall, suites with a kitchen, bathroom, and a personal maid, televisions and built in speakers in each bedroom, laundry service, dry cleaning, personal tutors to helps us get those A's, and let's not forget the secret-access pool on the top floor...
To those who hadn't been in the Honor's college, it was called a "hotel," to which I envisioned all of the aforementioned things... which were not accurate. So I'm here to clear up some myths and truths about the 'Hogwartz on the Raritan,' my home for my first year at Rutgers:
1. We don'tlive in special rooms. Our dorms are the generic, two-twin-bed, single-room, wooden furniture, dorm rooms that most other freshman live in. We don't have our own bathrooms or anything of that sort. The ceilings are a little higher and windows a little bigger, but other than that it's the normal type of room.
2. We do have our own classrooms. We have a required class to take our freshman year called the Honors College Forum. We have this class in these rooms. Interdisciplinary Honors courses which Honors Program students take as well are in these rooms. We use these rooms for studying, too. They each have a TV, computer, and whiteboard and seat about 25 people. Some others have made the discovery of these rooms by the second semester so during finals week it was super crowded. We also have a few more simple study rooms on some of the dorm room floors.
3. We don't have arrogant people in our building. I got asked a lot if everyone that lived in my building were arrogant. Honestly, it was the opposite. The people who lived in the building were humble and kind. Not everyone was the nicest but it was the same type of diversity in personalities as anywhere else. There was a big want to help other though. People in my building were always volunteering and tutoring and starting outreach programs, which speaks true to their personality. They didn't brag about living at the HC because they knew the responses they would get.
4. We do live with our Deans. Seems weird, I know... but it wasn't. Dean Matsuda would hold cooking events in his apartment on the bottom floor and let anyone come and eat. The Deans were always roaming the building, organizing events, and talking to the students. They had daily "Coffee with the Deans" where you can get one-on-one time with them in the morning. They genuinely cared about the students and wanted to get to know each of us.
5. We don't only have "nerds." We have D1 athletes, musicians, entrepreneurs, artists, dancers, etc. Yes, we may all have a little nerd in us, but we aren't a bunch of anti-social weirdos that lived in their own castle hiding from social contact.
6. We do have a grand piano. It is nice to study around, depending on who is playing it...
7. We don't apply to be in it. I didn't know the Honors College existed when I applied to Rutgers. I wasn't originally planning on going to Rutgers. But then I got a letter in the mail inviting me to be one of the 500 incoming freshman to live in it as the top 1% of the class. I knew I couldn't turn it down. I believe you can apply to be considered, but you usually get chosen by admissions.
8. We do have an office of advisers and deans in our building. It's very convenient to be able to walk downstairs and go into your advisers office and ask anything you need. You usually have to make an appointment online if it isn't during open office hours.
9. We don't have a random proportion of students. To keep things consistent, the proportions of students from SAS, SEBS, Engineering, Mason Gross, Pharm, etc at the HC are equal to the proportions of the entire University. Due to the competitiveness of the Engineering and Pharm schools, it would be more difficult to get into the Honors College when you apply under those schools than the others by the same student.
10. We do have our own dances. Which I have never attended. But there is music and food in our lobby and people dress up. We also have a bunch of events and speakers each month.
