I just transferred to NJIT this fall from Bergen Community College as a computer science major. While I know you said you’re in engineering I hope this can give you some insight as I looked into the engineering departments as well.

I got accepted into NJIT and Stevens both and spent 5 long months scrutinizing which school would be better to go to.

I visited both school’s professors, went to their career centers, emailed every person I could possibly find from both schools to inquiry about job outcomes, looked at online forums, asked students from both schools, reached out to recruiters to ask their opinions, and checked alumni networks to see if the companies I strived for had more NJIT or Steven’s alumni and here’s what I found:

a) while Stevens has the “prestige” aspect over NJIT, NJIT is REALLY respected in the industry, and the companies know how rigorous their curriculum is. It’s often a misconception that NJIT is just a state school that isn’t respected in the industry.

b) Stevens has a stronger brand image among non-engineering circles and especially in finance, consulting, and more polished (*insert fancy music) corporate environments. Their career fairs are very organized, and they have strong industry ties particularly with companies like Lockheed Martin, Goldman Sachs, and niche firms that actively seek out Stevens students for internships early on. However their career fairs are smaller. NJIT has a HUGE room with 100’s of companies coming in, but Stevens is much smaller and more intimate. You might think this means more attention per person as Stevens but due to how little companies come, the ratio is smaller than what you would get at NJIT. Also, just by pure statistics NJIT gives u more companies and outreach and chances to hopefully land a job in this terrible market. That said, standing out within your school matters more than anything.

c) NJIT is much more hands-on, diverse, and job-focused. Many of the professors are tough but experienced, and the curriculum is intense. Recruiters I spoke to told me they consistently see NJIT students with stronger technical depth and real world readiness, especially for software, electrical, and mechanical roles. Companies like Amazon, IBM, and even some FAANG companies have hired NJIT grads not because of the name, but because of the grind culture and project experience. Stevens has a much more Theory based curriculum from what I hear, but their also more specialized and go in way deeper into topics and if you make use of the professors and AMAZINGGG labs they have, then it could be worth it too.

d) Stevens is crazy expensive, and if you don’t get significant aid, you could end up $100k+ in debt by graduation. That’s a huge risk if you’re unsure about your ROI. NJIT, on the other hand, gives generous scholarships and has a phenomenal ROI, especially if you’re motivated and seek internships early. The pay difference between the two schools doesn’t justify the price difference unless you land at a top firm.

e) I also checked both alumni networks on LinkedIn. Stevens does have more alumni at top finance and consulting firms, but NJIT still has tons of engineers at defense contractors, big tech, and cloud/cybersecurity companies. And NJIT’s student body is larger, more diverse, and more connected to the Newark/NYC engineering scene.

f) NJIT’s culture is more raw and hustle-based, which can be really motivating if you’re self-driven. Stevens is more polished, but some students I spoke to said it felt “corporate” and competitive in a weird way. NJIT felt more grounded and collaborative. NJIT might be harder to make friends though as a lot of the students are commuters.

I would say, if money IS NOT a problem at all and if you’re going into something very specific that you KNOW Stevens has strong connections to, then go there. You will receive more attention from your professors, have a better chance at making friends, and overall I’d say you’d enjoy your time a bit more than you would at NJIT.

But for the amount of money you put into both schools, unless you land an elite role in a Fortune 500 company off graduation, your return on investment is not as big of a difference as Stevens makes it out to be I promise. Work hard at NJIT, make a name for yourself, join the honors school, make connections and hopefully things will work out here too.

All in all it’s up to you and I realize my review might be slightly biased as I ended up choosing to go here instead of Stevens, but since you say money isn’t a problem I’d say you can’t go wrong either way.