Rutgers University-New Brunswick
New Brunswick, New Jersey · Founded 1766
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Get your matchTesting policy
Test-optional
Rutgers-New Brunswick is test-optional through 2027. If you send SAT or ACT scores they are considered as an additional credential, and every score Rutgers receives becomes part of your application, so do not send scores you do not want reviewed; you can change your choice once, within a week of applying. Rutgers encourages sending scores at or above the middle of its admitted-student profile for your school. For the ACT it uses the English, math and reading composite; the science section is optional. For fall 2024, 50% of enrolled first-year students submitted an SAT score and 5% an ACT. Transfer applicants do not need scores. Source: admissions.rutgers.edu - Required Credentials for First-Year and Transfer Applicants; IPEDS fall 2024 (verified October 2026).
About
New Jersey's flagship public university and a member of the Big Ten and the Association of American Universities, with about 38,000 undergraduates on five campuses in New Brunswick and Piscataway. Students apply to one of its schools, such as the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering or Rutgers Business School, and each school publishes its own profile of the students it admits. Business is its largest field.
History
Rutgers was chartered in 1766 as Queen's College, a decade before the American Revolution, which makes it the nation's eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nine colonial colleges. In 1825 it was renamed Rutgers College to honor Henry Rutgers, a Revolutionary War hero and benefactor, and in 1864 New Jersey's land-grant school, the Rutgers Scientific School, was established there. Rutgers beat Princeton in the first intercollegiate football game in 1869; New Brunswick joined the Association of American Universities in 1989 and the Big Ten in 2014.
What stands out
- Test-optional through 2027; any scores you do send are considered
- You apply to a specific school, and each one publishes its own admitted-student profile
- Nonbinding early action by November 1 brings a decision by January 31; regular decision closes December 1
- Applying by December 1 is required for honors and merit scholarship consideration
- If you are not admitted to the school you chose, Rutgers can consider you for another of its schools
Popular majors
Campus life
Students cheer for the Scarlet Knights in the Big Ten, and Rutgers counts more than 800 student clubs and organizations. One of the largest campus bus systems in the country links the five New Brunswick campuses, and New York City and Philadelphia are within easy reach.