What's cool about college? These NJ schools have unique amenities

Think you're too cool for school? Try again. Maybe your school is too cool!

Out of the more than 50 Garden State private and public colleges and universities, many of them have unique and cool attractions, including these 12 with one-of-a-kind amenities.

Way back when ? before America was even a thing ? New Jersey was the only British colony to permit the establishment of two colleges in the colonial period. Princeton University was chartered in 1746 as the College of New Jersey, and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, was chartered on Nov. 10, 1766, as Queen's College. They were two of only nine colleges founded before the American Revolution.

The eighth-oldest college in the nation, Rutgers became the state university in 1945 and now has more than 2,600 acres of campus with more than 700 buildings ? some dating back to the Revolution. The public land-grant research university has four official campuses ? New Brunswick, Piscataway, Newark and Camden ? and offers six student centers, five recreation centers, four dining halls, 30-plus food courts and cafes and one authentic Jersey diner.

The university, which serves more than 65,000 students, offers more than 150 undergraduate majors as well as a working organic farm, livestock farm and Rutgers Gardens, a 180-acre botanic garden, on Cook campus and the Global Village living-learning communities on Douglass. Livingston campus has a first-run movie theater while Busch boasts an 18-hole golf course and Esports center. College Avenue campus features the world-class Zimmerli Art Museum and the Rutgers Geology Museum, complete with a mastodon skeleton and Egyptian mummy.

Unlike Rutgers, Princeton remained a private college and developed into a research university that is one of the nation's eight prestigious Ivy League schools. Albert Einstein first visited Princeton in 1921 to lecture on the theory of relativity. From 1933 to 1939, Einstein occupied an office at 109 Fine Hall (now Jones Hall) on Princeton’s campus while the Institute for Advanced Study ? an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry ? was being constructed. He taught at Palmer Physical Laboratory (now 302 Frist Campus Center).

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While Einstein was not a professor at Princeton, he associated with physics professors and continued to give lectures on campus. Princeton also is home to the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, which the university manages. This month, the DOE broke ground on the new Princeton Plasma Innovation Center, a state-of-the-art office and laboratory building for research supporting PPPL’s expanded mission into microelectronics, quantum sensors and devices, and sustainability sciences.

Stockton University opened its Atlantic City campus in 2018. There, students live and learn in a unique coastal environment. A shuttle ride away from the school's main campus in Galloway, the Atlantic City residences overlook the beach and the historic Atlantic City Boardwalk. The African American Heritage Museum is located at the Noyes Arts Garage of Stockton University on Fairmount Avenue in Atlantic City. The museum presents more than 12,000 unique artifacts on a rotating basis, updated every month.

In Mahwah, Ramapo College of New Jersey is situated directly across the street from the Ramapo Valley County Reservation, Bergen County's largest park area. Located on the edge of the Highlands Region, the park has grown to more than 4,000 acres with the recent additions of Camp Glen Gray, Camp Tamarack and Camp Todd. Ramapo College benefits from the beauty of the park and easy access to its offerings including hiking, camping, fishing and cross-country skiing.

Looking like a scene out of "The Great Gatsby," Monmouth University in West Long Branch is known for having a beautiful, well-manicured campus and being situated just is a few blocks from the beach. The site of Daddy Warbucks mansion in the 1982 movie "Annie," it appropriately boasts a state-of-the-art TV studio.

At Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, the ABS Engineering Center houses five labs designed for robotics, naval engineering, structural engineering, hydraulics, and other research.

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The Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) is a university-based solar observatory operated by Newark's New Jersey Institute of Technology. BBSO, which is located in San Bernardino County, California, has a 1.6-meter clear-aperture Goode Solar Telescope. The observatory's telescopes and instruments are designed and employed specifically for studying the activities and phenomena of the sun.

A Catholic university, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the U.S. and its suburban 58-acre park-like campus located just 14 miles away from Manhattan in South Orange. On campus, the Center for Securities Trading and Business Analytics, links the academic world to the business world with its ability to offer international rapid-fire data, financial tools and business analytics. Seton Hall also offers a graduate program in Museum Professions and is the home of the Walsh Art Gallery.

William Paterson University in Wayne has the largest nursing program in the state with patient simulators that breathe, have pulses, and moving eyeballs.

Unique in New Jersey, the $350 million Rowan Boulevard redevelopment project links Rowan University with Glassboro’s downtown retail district. The privately funded partnership between Rowan, developers and the borough had a goal to create a quintessential college town. The one-third mile corridor is lined with shops, restaurants and medical providers at street level with housing, offices and classrooms on the floors above. There is even an outdoor ice skating rink.

Key anchors include the Rowan Boulevard Apartments complex for students, a Barnes & Noble collegiate superstore and a Courtyard by Marriott hotel and conference center. Nearby on High Street, there are more student housing comingling with art galleries and shops. Also on campus, students and employees plant more than 2,000 seedlings on West Campus Farm that produces peppers, tomatoes, squash, melons and more. Each season's harvest provides fresh fruit and vegetables for Rowan's food pantry and community organizations, as well as Houshmand's Hazardous Hot Sauce, which raises funds for student emergency scholarships.

At Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg, a 100-seat planetarium is open to the students, staff and public and offers a variety of educational programs and laser concerts. The planetarium also has the 3M Observatory which is located on the hill outside the planetarium, and consists of three buildings ? a domed observatory which houses a 16-foot Meade telescope, a roll-off-roof observatory and a utility building.

Kean University is currently comprised of five colleges and a graduate school. It hosts several research institutions, including the New Jersey Center for Science, Technology and Mathematics, the Kean University Human Rights Institute, the Holocaust Resource Center, the Wynona Moore Lipman Ethnic Studies Center, and Liberty Hall. With a main campus in Union County, it has a satellite campus in Ocean County, in the Skylands region and it is the only public American university with a campus in China at Wenzhou-Kean University. Kean also is the home of Premiere Stages, a professional theatre company that works with Kean students in the production of its plays. The Jazz & Roots Music Festival launched in 2021 on the Lawn at Enlow Hall and Kean also offers a variety of art galleries across campus.

Montclair State University boasts a one-of-a-kind amphitheater, situated next to the Alexander Kasser Theater. The 2,000-seat refurbished facility was originally constructed in 1940 and is a natural open stone space with 30 rows of steps. The amphitheater is used for performances, festivals and classes, as well as a speaking ground for special events. Also on campus is the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center and Yogi Berra Stadium. The MSU Ice Skating Arena, formerly known as Floyd Hall Arena, opened in March 1998 with two NHL size rinks, an off-ice training area, meeting rooms, concession stand, pro shop, and facilities for parties. Further, MSU features the Red Hawk Diner, the first diner on a university campus in the U.S. and the George Segal Gallery, located on the fourth floor of the Red Hawk Deck.

Special thanks to Susan Alaimo of Collegebound Review in help researching this article.

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Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: [email protected] or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ colleges that offer unique amenities