If you've made the decision to begin your college journey at community college, you're in luck in New Jersey as we have one of the best.

Brookdale Community College ranks in the top 3% of Community Colleges in the United States for 2021 by AcademicInfluence.com. I knew I made the right choice when I decided to go there all those years ago.

“In higher education, we have opportunities to learn, research, teach, shape the future of our academic disciplines, and influence the larger world. This honor is a tribute to the faculty and staff of Brookdale Community College for the scholarly work they do with passion every day,” said Dr. David Stout, Brookdale Community College President in the college's press release

The criteria AcademicInfluence.com used for Brookdale to achieve this ranking included a minimum of 1,000 enrolled students, full accreditation, and exclusively two-year (or associate) degree programs.

Academicinfluence.com states in their 50 Best Community Colleges of 2021 release, “the best community colleges provide an effective springboard into higher education, offering students high-quality two-year degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. The top-rated community colleges offer a broad selection of associate degrees, affordable tuition rates, and strong partnerships with public four-year schools so that students can easily transfer their credits into accredited bachelor’s degree programs.”

Brookdale is a great place to start college as they offer one of the best transfer programs in the nation. They also maintain formal agreements with many Universities, as well as close ties and pathway partnerships with institutions throughout New Jersey. You can also save a lot of money.

It's not surprising that Brookdale is cited as being most influential in Communications. If it weren't for Brookdale, I may have never made it in radio. I started on 90.5 WBJB-FM before eventually getting hired at WRLB-FM in Long Branch. I still remember my first show when Rich Robinson, who's now the station program director as well as an on-air personality, calmed me down by playing a Rush album so I could get my act together. I would recommend learning from him to anyone. Among the personalities to come through Brookdale include Brian Williams, Ajee Wilson, and Jim Hunter.

Brookdale has also been cited, according to their release, "for Graphic Design; Criminal Justice, Policing; Medical, Dentistry; Social Work, Empowerment; Business, Marketing, Management, Accounting; Computer Science, Information Security, Programming, Networking; Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering; Law; Education and Nursing. With other areas of influence being Psychology; Political Science; History; Anthropology; Chemistry and Earth Science."

For more information on Brookdale Community College, click here.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.

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