Here's what your favorite Rutgers campus says about you

Rutgers University is well known for its historic roots, Division I football team and having not one, but five (though colloquially four) separate campuses — a truly impressive feat. Rutgers was built on both sides of the roaring Raritan River and features different distinct campuses on each side of the river. The Cook, Douglass and the College Avenue campuses are nestled right above the water on the New Brunswick side, and the Busch and Livingston campuses are spread out across the Piscataway side.

Rutgers is also the most diverse school in the Big Ten conference and offers more than 150 undergraduate programs. Therefore, it's no surprise that Rutgers students have taken to creating noticeable personalities for each campus.

The College Avenue campus

The College Avenue campus, or College Ave. As the kids say, is the oldest campus and also the busiest. It's home to the original “Queens College” and has a traditional campus setting with Georgian buildings that you're the most likely to see on someone’s Instagram story.

Across the avenue from the school buildings are streets of off-campus housing, many of which are fraternity affiliated. The College Avenue campus is truly the definition of “work hard, play hard.” You'll find students hustling through the quad to classes all day but as soon as the sun goes down on Thursday night, this campus is akin to Las Vegas as students party hop and head to The Yard @ College Avenue at 3 a.m. for food.

The combination of academia and greek life as well as the fact that the College Avenue campus is home to both the School of Arts and Sciences and the Honors College — as well as a short walk to downtown New Brunswick — makes this campus the most varied in personality.

But anyone who chooses this as their favorite campus will have extroverted traits and a love for city life in common. The College Avenue campus is loud on the weekends, and all of the buses connect at the Rutgers Student Center stop, so those who thrive on living near the heart of New Brunswick are not shy of meeting new people — or weary of late-night sirens waking them up.

Livingston campus

Livingston campus is the new kid on the block and the second most popular choice of home campus — losing only to the College Avenue campus. Often referred to just as “Livi,” this campus houses most of the Division I student-athletes and Jersey Mike’s Arena (the basketball stadium), giving it a definite athletic feel.

Livingston campus also features the best dining hall and an assortment of food options like Starbucks, Henry’s Diner and Kilmer’s Market, a grocery store that allows you to use your meal swipes.

With these many options, plus a movie theater and modern student center, there's never a need to leave Livingston campus. Upperclassmen rave about the Livingston Apartments, one of the most expensive housing options that are conveniently located on top of Kilmer's Market, as well as the first-year housing, Lynton Towers, that are next to the Livingston Student Center bus stop.

Thus, people who live on Livingston campus are active students who like to stay busy. They like to seek out different food options that stray from a monotonous routine and get involved in clubs and events at the Livingston Student Center — but they're not quite as busy or “city-esque” as the College Avenue campus dwellers.

Livingston campus is also home to the Rutgers Business School, so a lot of students who reside here are the “finance bro” type, meaning they can crunch numbers at rapid speed but might have so much confidence it comes across as arrogant.

Living on Livingston campus is like living in the suburbs: You have everything you need! The only reason someone would choose the College Avenue campus instead is for the excitement of a faster pace.

Busch campus

Next up is Busch Campus, a sleepy campus between the highway and the Livingston Campus. When walking onto Busch for the first time you may feel like you accidentally stepped into a Dr. Seuss book — or Tony Stark’s labs.

The buildings are high-tech and architecturally bold, giving it the same vibe as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The students here are brainy, most of them being engineers, and they spend a lot of time in class, studying or working on winning the next Nobel Prize in the lab buildings.

This campus is also really spread out. It's a long walk from the Busch Student Center to the residence halls and to other buildings used for classes on Busch campus, making it less desirable for students who want to travel to other campuses on the weekends, particularly to the College Avenue campus to socialize.

Busch campus is also popular with diehard Scarlet Knight fans who want to be the first spectators at SHI Stadium on fall game days. Polar opposite to the desires of brainiac STEM majors, Busch campus also houses the football stadium and is overflowing with buses, fans and tailgates on Saturdays throughout the fall.

Next time you take a jaunt around Busch campus, you’ll notice two distinct types of students: Albert Einstein lookalikes and those decked out in scarlet pride, already counting down to the start of the football season.

Cook and Douglass campuses

The Cook and Douglass campuses are on the same bus route and share the same recreational center, so it takes a well-trained eye to spot the differences between these two campuses.

Cook campus is, well, kind of like a farm. Cook campus is the home base for the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, so there is an emphasis on eco-friendly living and appreciation for nature on campus.

Cook campus is also home to the infamous Passion Puddle where students gather around during springtime and, legend has it, walk around three times with their significant other to bond them into marriage.

The Rutgers Gardens, Rutgers Floriculture Greenhouse and farmer’s market are also all located on this campus, adding to its rural demeanor.

The campus is extremely spread out, with woods and fields circling around the residence halls, making it charming — but also making it so you have to take long walks to get places. The students here are passionate about the environment and enjoy a slow-paced and calm lifestyle, the staunch opposite of its neighbor, the College Avenue campus.

Finally, we have Douglass campus. Douglass campus was originally an all-women’s college and its roots are still apparent today through the political awareness of the students who reside here. Douglass campus is bucolic, like Cook campus, and its buildings are old and grand, as they stand framing a park overlooking the Raritan River.

The campus features Mabel Smith Douglass Library and bridges that run over a babbling brook between the Mason Gross School of the Arts and the rest of the academic buildings giving you the sensation that you stepped into a sleepy hollow.

Cook and Douglass campuses are pretty, woodsy and maintain a traditional campus feel like the College Avenue campus, but the students are more politically engaged and alternative, especially the performing arts students at Mason Gross. You are more likely to see them thrifting in nearby Highland Park or taking the train to the city than at fraternity parties or, even worse, a football game.

Whether you yearn for the artsy vibe of Douglass campus or aspire to be the next wolf of Wall Street living on Livingston campus, you will be able to find your match in one of the Rutgers—New Brunswick campuses. As It turns out, sometimes bigger is better.