Despite the school's athletic department being dragged in to a number of controversies, students have not shied away from enrolling at the Rutgers University.
Rutgers has once again retained its spot as one of the best higher education institutions in the country in spite of its recent athletic department scandals.
The university is set to witness the best enrolment figures in its history with a 7 percent hike in freshman applications in its main campus at New Brunswick, when compared to the figures of 2012. It is also expecting an increase in the number of accepted freshmen who have chosen Rutgers over other colleges.
Until last week, the freshmen admissions for the fall semester was already up by 5 percent i.e., equivalent to 300 students. This could mean the university will see congested classes and housing, said Courtney McAnuff, Rutgers' vice president for enrollment management.
This year, the university received 33,315 applications across its three campuses from incoming freshmen and transfer students, which is an increase of 1,700 students than last year or a 5 percent hike in overall applications.
Additionally, the quality of students enrolling at Rutgers has also increased. The average SAT score of freshmen applicants' university wide was 1,769, up by 12 points over last year. The highest average SAT score was recorded at the New Brunswick campus, where they averaged 1,806.
Rutgers-Newark has the highest enrolment figures this year wherein the freshmen applications increased by 12 percent.
Rutgers-Camden is also seeing surge in applications. Early this year, the campus was set to merge with Rowan University in Glassboro but growing opposition forced the officials to drop the proposal.
Over the past one and a half month, Rutgers faced humiliations following the release of a video footage that showed basketball coach Mike Rice, abusing players physically and verbally during practice sessions. The university fired Rice immediately in April that led to forced resignation from former AD, Tim Pernetti and the departure of men's assistant basketball Coach, Jimmy Martelli.
Julie Hermann, who was hired as the next AD in May, was subsequently pressurized to quit from the post even before she began serving at Rutgers. Apparently, Hermann also faced similar abusive charges 16 years ago, similar to Rice, when she was the women's volleyball coach at University of Tennessee. Hermann seems to have successfully scraped through a turbulent three-week period and started tenure at the university on Monday.
According to McAnuff, sports controversies and other campus scandals usually have minimum effect on enrolments. He said that one of the reasons the school is seeing such a jump in its admissions is due to the nation's current economic conditions. Parents now do not prefer admitting their children at costly, out-of state or private schools.
"There is a lot of interest in Rutgers," McAnuff said. "More New Jersey kids are staying in New Jersey. Out of state is not so attractive anymore."
