Student Orientation

From Here to Eternity
For better or for worse, an enduring icon of a Rutgers–New Brunswick education is the bus, which has ferried students for 55 years. Each year, 55 to 60 buses in the fleet cover 1.3 million miles while making 75,000 student trips on a typical day. “Man, how many hours did I spend on those buses?” asks John Dannenbaum LC’87. There were six buses in 1961—the year they were introduced.

1950
Step 1: Topic: George William Hill RC1859*, first astronomer to calculate moon’s orbit.
Step 2: Trudge through snow to Rutgers–New Brunswick’s Voorhees Library.
Step 3: Strain back bending over card catalog; spend hours lost in the stacks.
Step 4: Take 11 pages of lead pencil-smudged notes; plague librarians with questions.
Step 5: Pull an all-nighter writing term paper on an Underwood typewriter.

1980
Step 1: Topic: George C. Hill CCAS’61*, who studies parasitic disease in sub-Saharan Africa.
Step 2: Buy onionskin paper and bottles of Wite-Out at Rutgers–Camden bookstore.
Step 3: Trudge through snow to Paul Robeson Library.
Step 4: Spend hours combing library periodicals; take notes on index cards.
Step 5: Stay up until 4 a.m. deploying “hunt-and-peck” method on Coronet typewriter.

2010
Step 1: Topic: George J. Hill GSN’99, professor emeritus at New Jersey Medical School.
Step 2: Get big jump on research by googling “George J. Hill”; receive 147,000,000 entries.
Step 3: Trudge through snow to the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers–Newark.
Step 4: Make last-minute inquiries at reference desk and write term paper on MacBook Pro.
Step 5: Email paper to professor and head to Halsey Street to wind down.

Travel Advisory
Parking tickets have been an unfortunate fact of life ever since students began commuting to Rutgers. Rutgers–Camden and Rutgers–Newark had their origins serving such students, and Rutgers–New Brunswick has always had a sizable population of commuters, too.  And with it come the student excuses for parking illegally.

1. “I was running late for a final exam; my graduation depends on it.”
2. “I didn’t realize my parking permit didn’t work in this space.”
3. “Please, my parents are gonna kill me if I get another ticket.”
4. “My car battery died, and I couldn’t move the car.”

What a Difference 250 Years Makes
For a college that began as a seminary for white men, a demographic that remained largely unchanged until World War II, Rutgers today has one of the nation’s most diverse student bodies.

1. Map the university so you can control and use its size—and not flee from it.
2. Listen to fellow students about the ways they use Rutgers’ resources.
3. Find an adviser when you arrive and talk to him or her often.
4. Use faculty and staff support—in office hours, labs, advising sessions.
5. Explore ideas and people unlike yourself. Take courses beyond your planned major.
6. Remember: your undergraduate education is your time to explore new worlds before “life” takes over.
— Barry V. Qualls, administrator, popular student adviser, and professor of English at Rutgers–New Brunswick for 45 years

*A member of the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni