I love MSU! One of the things I really love about Montclair is that because it is a large public university, it offers a lot of opportunities that smaller, more subject specific colleges do not. You can pursue and satisfy other interests and hobbies you may have outside of your major. For example, though I am a Graphic Design major, I was able to take two dance classes last year, be a part of the Honors program, pick up a Business minor, join the dance club, and work for Undergraduate Admissions on campus. I also love having friends and working with people who have different backgrounds and interests, much like I will in the real world after graduating. If I had gone to a small art school like I originally wanted to I would have missed out on all of that! Montclair offers more than 250 majors, minors, and concentrations and has over 150 clubs and organizations. Though there is a large student population and the campus itself is pretty big as well, everything is really close together and classes are kept relatively small (about 25 students) so the motto goes that Montclair is a "big school with a small campus feel." Students really like that about MSU.
In addition, another great thing about Montclair is it's location. Montclair's campus is situated in three different towns: Upper Montclair, Clifton, and Little Falls. The town of Montclair is safe, quaint, and affluent, and the downtown area has a lot of nice little shops and places to eat that are within twenty minutes' walking distance from the campus if it's a nice day out. If you have a car, Route 3 and Route 46 run near the campus and they each have various shopping plazas. You can easily get to these in about five minutes by car, including my favorite frozen yogurt place CUPS. On Saturdays, students can take the MSU shuttle buses to Clifton Commons on Route 3 which has a Target superstore, Blockbuster, grocery store, AMC theater, Sports Authority, Party City, Barnes and Noble, various restaurants, and several other places. Montclair also has two NJ Transit Train station stops on campus (one on either end) that go into New York City, which is only 14 miles away. The trains from Montclair only run Monday through Friday but there are also the Decamp Buses that pick up students down the street from campus and go into the city every day of the week. NJ Transit buses also stop right on campus and can take students various places for very cheap including Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, NJ. The campus and surrounding suburban area are both really pretty and experience diverse weather, including a fair amount of snow in the winter, warm sun in the spring, and hot weather in the 80s and 90s during the summer.
One of the only things I don't like about Montclair is there is poor communication between the different departments. If you have a question or a problem it's often hard to figure out who to talk to and the departments are little help because they usually don't know much outside of their subject. I work for Undergraduate Admissions and many departments just direct students to us because they don't know where else to send them, even though we really only deal with prospective students and families. This lack of unity and cohesiveness between the departments is usually the biggest complaint I hear from other students. However, the university is aware of this problem, and they plan to take measures, such as having cross-training for the employees of different departments, to correct it and help things run more smoothly.
As far as school pride goes, Montclair is not anything like, say, Penn State. However, the entire student body does really come together for certain events, such as Homecoming. Other than things like that, most students who commute or go home on the weekends have little connection to the school other than their classes. Those students who live on campus and stay on the weekends are usually much more connected, have more friends at school, and are more heavily involved and therefore have more pride for the school. Montclair is also division 3 for its 17 sports so the students who aren't involved in athletics aren't connected to the school through sports the way that Rutgers students are to Rutgers football, for example.