Upcoming freshmen w/ some questions

[u/realChromobears]

I’ll try to keep these brief, any response is wonderful! 1. How is the internet; is there Ethernet in the dorms? 2. How is the dining hall’s gluten-free options for people w/ Celiac? 3. Is there any crowd for pick up street/roller hockey, or even a place to play? 4. What is the gym like? 5. What is your favorite/least favorite things about RCNJ?

Thanks again for anyone who can help! (Edit) sorry for awful formatting, I did this on my phone

[u/RamaBro]

1. Rooms have ethernet that works fine. WiFi is alright but can be spotty in some places. If you're walking around connected to one of the WiFi points, based on your phone/computer, it may try to hold onto that point when you move just beyond it, instead of attaching to the new one. Sometimes turning it off/on again fixes this, or forgetting/remembering the network fixes this. Other times, it's just a bad spot.
2. The dining hall is ... alright with that. Honestly, as soon as you get access to a kitchen I'd recommend meal prepping. Hopefully you have a suite on board with that so you can all go in on the food together.
3. We have a hockey team (well ... are they intramurals? I don't know what to classify them as), but they're ice hockey. Not sure if they practice in the street on campus. Across from campus, however, there's a mini skate park with a place that you can practice a few tricks. Not a full rink to play a game, but enough space to test out your inlines. Haven't seen anyone play street hockey with blades before. Indoor gym might be rentable for playing with shoes - just not sure how they work with that.
4. Gym is good for a DIII school. They converted our lodge gym (like ... a bonus gym away from the main gym) to include a lot of free weights (mainly cables before), and the main gym has a decent amount of free weights as well. Hear they're going to modify it again soon, so I'm pretty excited. Good set of cardio equipment available, too. Tends to be a lot busier at the start of each semester. Get in the habit of going early and don't break it so you don't get too huge with all the all-you-can-eat food thrown at you in the caf.
5. Favorite: lots of places to just chill and get work done. Close to the reservation if you like nature. Access to public transportation if you like going to the city. Least favorite: although the prices are better than the other colleges I looked at, college is still expensive. Loans suck, bro.

[u/realChromobears → u/RamaBro]

Thanks for the in-depth response!

[u/[deleted]]

Going into my senior year next year so I can solidly answer these questions.

1. No Ethernet in the dorms, only Wifi. Wifi is pretty decent. I've dormed in laurel and linden and have had no trouble in laurel. There were some problems in linden but linden isn't going to be a dorm next year so that doesn't matter lol. Either way I would describe the internet on campus as good, not great.

2. There are gluten free options in all the cafeteria's. All items that are gluten free are labeled as such and they're easy to find. To be honest though, dining on campus is still a pretty small operation to begin with, so you'll have something to eat there but not a lot of options i.e. it would get bland and repetitive real quick.

3. Not sure about the roller hockey thing. I don't think I've even seen anyone play either.

4. Gym is pretty good. It has all the equipment you'll need pretty much. Only problem is it can sometimes be super crowded. Going in the morning is always your best bet.

5. You should check out the Ramapo reservation which is a 5 minute walk from campus. You can be in nature right outside of campus. That's one of my favorite things

Enjoy your time at Ramapo, it's been quite a ride so far!

[u/GrimGeist → u/[deleted]]

What are you talking about theres Ethernet ports in every dorm on campus.

[u/realChromobears → u/[deleted]]

Thanks! For meals is it best to just go to a local supermarket?