Newswise — When Millville residents John and Lisa Lindinger see their youngest child and only daughter, Kimberly, off to college at Rowan University in September, they know she will be in good hands.
Yes, they respect the University. Yes, they are confident she will get a solid education as a human resources management major in the Rohrer College of Business. And yes, they know she will be hanging with the right crowd.
Why so confident?
Kim, 18, is the third of the Lindingers’ three children to opt to attend the Rohrer College of Business at Rowan, and two of the people she will be spending time with are her older brothers.
Eldest son John, 22, started the trend. The accounting and finance major is about to enter his senior year. Second son Paul, 20, followed. He is entering his junior year as a human resources management major. And, Paul said, he and his brother encouraged the baby of the family to consider their school as well.
The family is close. All three kids decided to attend Archbishop Ryan High School in their native Northeast Philadelphia.
“I chose Rowan University because it was the only school I had any interest in,” said John. “I had visited many universities in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area, but did not see myself going to any of them. I loved my visit to Rowan, and it turned out to be the only university that I applied to. I am glad I chose Rowan and the Rohrer College of Business, seeing as I have had a great three years here.“
For Paul, it was a natural to follow John to Rowan, though he did apply to one other school. ”John and I have always been very, very close. We were kind of best friends, growing up,” Paul said.
For Kim, the decision was a little harder. “Originally, I wanted to do my own thing. I wanted to go somewhere different,” she said. “But I found myself comparing Rowan to other schools. I felt some comfort there. “
Kim initially thought she could enroll elsewhere and if she didn’t like it transfer to Rowan. But, she decided, “You might as well start off happy.”
She got the word on the start of “happy” from brother John. He was at home and she was visiting their grandparents in Philadelphia when her acceptance letter came from Rowan. “John called and said, ‘You got into Rowan. I’m sorry I opened it,’” Kim recalled. “It was kind of nice to hear how excited he was. He was proud that he’d be there with me, not only me, but me and Paul.”
Like her brothers, Kim — who hopes to join clubs on campus, possibly swim for Rowan and land a job there as well — will live at home and commute. The three siblings may head north up Rt. 55 separately. More than likely, two or three of them will carpool, regardless of schedules. Paul, who has lined up his classes to all start at 1:45 p.m. or later shrugged off concerns about riding to campus with Kim, who will start two days at 8 a.m. “I spend a lot of time in the library anyway,” he said.
Kim said her parents were pleased with her decision. “They were so happy. That’s all they wanted, for me to come here, not just because the boys are here but because how good a school it is,” Kim said.
“The search for a college was a long process, and having to go through it for three kids in a short span of time was stressful,” said Lisa Lindinger, a nurse who attended art school before entering the nursing field. “On our first visit to Rowan University, we were impressed and even then though not sure how many of our kids would attend. We at least knew that the university had high educational (standards) that would make it an excellent choice for any of our kids.”
Said the students’ father, who works as a manager for the IRS in Philadelphia, “The business school offered many learning opportunities with small class sizes, which was a key factor for us. We were very pleased that the kids chose the Rohrer College of Business, with a big plus of allowing them to stay close to home . . . We were especially pleased when our third child decided on Rowan. The business school has given her older brothers many opportunities to grow, so were are excited to send our last child to Rowan.”
So far, so good for the Lindinger kids at Rowan.
John, who earned a full scholarship to Rowan, has been a student worker in the dean's office since he was a freshman, served as the vice president of the Financial Management Association (FMA) last year and will be FMA's representative to the Bureau of Business Associations starting in the fall. He is a student representative to the Accounting Advisory Board, and during his sophomore year he was an organizational senator for Rowan’s Student Government Association. He’s a big fan of his college and the people in it.
“The best thing about the Rohrer College of Business for me has been the students. The COB at Rowan is not a cut-throat environment where students hope for others to fail so that they will look better by comparison,” said John, who this summer has interned at NRG Energy Inc., a Fortune 500 merchant power generating company based in Princeton. “ I am always willing to spend time helping another classmate and am glad that the students at Rowan usually feel the same way.”
Paul, who was on the swim team his freshman year, said he started as an accounting major and then considered going into education before settling on human resources management.
“I love it really. I love a lot of the professors I had. I really learned a lot from them,” said Paul.
Kim, who called herself a homebody who genuinely likes spending time with her parents and brothers, doesn’t expect to be any less happy at the University.
“I am confident to succeed at Rowan because from what I have observed of the students is that Rowan sets a tone for students to achieve their best,” Kim said. “I may not make the Dean's list every semester like my brothers have, but I will strive to work hard every semester and hopefully be sad in four years when I leave Rowan.”
That will be good news all around. As big brother John said, “I would have been happy to see my brother and sister attend any college or program that they had decided on. But, it is nice that we all chose the same school and won’t be hundreds of miles apart as some families are during the school year.”
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