The William Paterson University of New Jersey

Date: Feb 21 2006
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
Like quite a few students at William Paterson, I came here after a last minute change of heart about what I wanted to do as an undergraduate. Originally, I had planned to attend art school but decided to pursue writing instead and had little time to pick a school carefully. My mother was an alum (class of 1966) and urged me to take a look at her old alma mater, which was close to home. I was quickly accepted, but received no merit aid because I entered during the winter semester despite having high grades/class rank in high school; if I had known that this excluded me from all aid in the future (despite a 3.9 GPA), I would have definitely waited another semester and entered in the fall, and probably would have gotten a full-ride based on what friends with similar high school records received.

For my first three years, I lived on campus. I mostly hated the dorms. Traditionally, they are overloaded (students tripling in rooms or shipped to local hotels) during the fall semester and deserted-feeling in the spring thanks to a large number of freshmen drop outs. I lived in both Towers and Matelson. The social life in Towers was not at all my cup of tea. It was often so noisy that it was impossible to get work done, and the major focus seems to be depressed drinking. Roommates are seemingly selected randomly, based on the person I was matched with. The facilities and people in Matelson are nicer. There are quite a few music, science, and nursing majors there, as well as a large number of exchange students, which makes for an interesting mix of mostly academically inclined people. The rooms are much bigger and cozier and the environment is friendlier overall than what you find in the towers, with many students dorming there for all four years.

My biggest complaint about dorming would have to be the parking situation for resident students. They are forced to park across campus at night, and the "safe ride" van is very unreliable. As this is a campus which has had shootings (!) in the past, I often felt a little afraid as I walked across campus alone at night.

Another thing I did not like about dorming was the social scene around Wayne. Wayne itself is an extremely yuppified, boring town with some pretty unaddressed racial issues; many of the residents of Wayne seem to look down their noses at the residents of nearby Paterson, and I have heard a great number of completely offensive racial remarks coming from white students. Still, campus itself is a fairly diverse place.

There is little to do around Wayne if you're not into drinking in a dorm room. The most exciting place to go at night is to one of the local diners, and there are a few good bars on Belmont Avenue in Haledon. I'd recommend The Shepherd and the Knucklehead, which is teeny tiny, but constantly filled with interesting people. If you're a freshman, I'd make quick friends with an upperclassman: freshmen aren't allowed to keep their cars on campus, and it's absolutely impossible to get anywhere in the surrounding area without a car.

In my senior year, I've commuted for aforementioned monetary reasons. Parking is pretty awful for commuters, particularly before 11 a.m. classes, so I would recommend taking classes earlier or later.

Academically, William Paterson gives a student a chance to be a big fish in a little sea, as students are not very academically competitive. There are quite a few good professors on campus who will get to know you very well if you excell. Class sizes are small. I've never felt like "just a number here." That being said, the quality of work coming from other students can be frustrating. I'm a writing tutor in the campus' writing center, and there are quite a few students within the English major who can barely write. As an English-writing major, it's seemed to me that the English department is still too focused on teaching future teachers (perhaps this is part of the legacy of WPUNJ once being a teacher's college).

I would have transferred out of William Paterson had I not started working at the writing center. Prior to that, I had no idea that there were other weird, wacky, academically minded, philosophical, and fun people on campus. In the end, I'm glad I've come here, but I certainly had to search to find people worth hanging out with.