When I graduated from high school and made the decision to go to Rutgers University, I know that it was somewhat looked down upon by some of my classmates and my peers. In the mid-90′s, Rutgers University did not have the kind of prestige within the state of New Jersey that it deserved. In fact, it did not have the kind of prestige within it’s own state that it did nationally. Some people looked down upon Rutgers as being just a state school and did not think that a school 20 or 40 minutes away could offer a great education.
Although I did not complete my education at Rutgers, I still have strong ties to the school and the New Brunswick community. I always thought that it was a fantastic school with a great program. Like many people around here, I have been very excited and proud to watch the sports program do so well in the national spotlight lately.
And, of course, the comments made by Don Imus this week have again thrown Rutgers into the national spotlight.
But how do you measure the success of all of this? How do you quantify “increased national recognition”?
As the Associated Press reports (see: Rutgers Sports Teams Undergo Renaissance), enrollment applications are up, alumni donations are up, and, to tie this in to this blog, sales of Rutgers apparel is up:
Last year, Rutgers received a record number of applications, more than 40,000. This year’s applications are running 7 percent ahead of that.
And through January 2007, donations to the Rutgers Foundation are up a whopping 35 percent over the same period last year, school officials said.
Rutgers is relatively selective for a big state university. It accepts about 60 percent of the students who apply, and more than half of those it admits were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.
Meanwhile, the university’s “R” logo is popping up in more places as school pride grows throughout the Garden State and elsewhere. Marybeth Schmutz, assistant director of the university’s trademark licensing department, said sales of Rutgers merchandise are up more than 30 percent in the last year.
“You can’t walk into a Kohl’s or a Target or Modell’s without seeing Rutgers stuff,” she said. “We are getting new designs sent to us by people interested in selling Rutgers products every single day. It’s huge for us, and it’s still growing.”
Good news for Rutgers, even in the trying times. With a high quality recruiting class for Rutgers football, I foresee the sports teams only continuing to do well in the near future. Higher profile translates into more money for the school. I see this as only a good thing.