I lived in the Highlands for two years while I got a master's at Rutgers. I liked it more than many of the reviewers did and here is why:

- Maintenance staff: Extremely nice and helpful. They went out of their way to fix things quickly and efficiently. Were very careful not to mess up anything in the apartment and even put on little booties.
- Parking: Yes, it costs money, but $75 is not outrageous. Although the leasing staff accidentally moved my assigned spot a few times (more on that later), it was nice to have a dry, convenient place to park my car while I lived there. It also felt much safer than walking to a city garage.
- Pool: It has a pool. It is nice. There are seats in the shade and the sun. Yes, they needed to replace the chaise lounges at the end of summer 2009. Yes, the pool kept leaking in summer 2008, but there was a POOL. And it was nice. Don't complain so much!
- Facilities: Nice gym, nice club room (that no one ever uses), nice property, even a SAUNA!
- Landscaping: They clearly spend their money here. Some of the most beautifully landscaped grounds of any urban apartment I've lived in, ever. Although I had a few problems living on the first floor, I also had the chance to look out to lush vegetation all year round. I might have been the only person to appreciate it, but I did!
- "Free" internet and cable. Yes, you're required to pay for the internet and cable in your rent, but it really gives you one less thing to worry about and one less bill to pay. In 2008, we had DirecTV which had excellent HD. In 2009, they switched to CableVision. Not as good as DirecTV in my opinion, but we didn't have any serious problems with it.
- Walk to the train: I commuted to NYC for an internship while living there. The eight-minute walk to the train was great.
- Parks and city amenities: Plenty of parks nearby to run/walk/jog/play sports. I really took advantage of this, and I recommend you do as well!

Problems:
- Cost: Yes, it's expensive for New Brunswick, but look at the housing stock in this city. There are not very many nice places to live here! If you want to live someplace with new bathroom fixtures and nice floor plans, you really don't have a lot of options. I commuted to NYC for part of the time and there is no place near NYC where I could live at this price with this many amenities.
- Leasing staff: Most of them are rude and disorganized. Try to avoid dealing with them. They reassigned my parking spot without my knowledge a few times and pledged to deal with a problem while doing absolutely nothing about it. While they are annoying, I recommend treating them with respect still. This will get you much further with obnoxious people (in general). The girls at the concierge desk are far more helpful, even if they do pronounce "concierge" strangely.
- Thin walls: The walls are thin. They are in most newer apartments. It's annoying, but suck it up or have a civil discussion with your neighbors. I lived in a two bedroom with a couple for two years and never heard anything I shouldn't have heard. I did hear a piano from the apartment next door though. There are worse instruments to awaken to on a Sunday morning (the pianist has since moved out).
- Newspaper stealers: I subscribed to the New York Times the entirety of my time living there. The apartment complex will not allow the delivery man to take the newspapers to your door and leaves them in the vestibule by the mailboxes. This resulted in a stolen newspaper by one of my lovely neighbors sometimes four out of seven days in a week. The leasing office was not willing to do ANYTHING to alleviate this issue and it was truly irksome. I pay for the newspaper, it had my name on it, but people felt entitled to steal it. I left passive agressive notes, spoke to virtually everyone in the office begging them to give the delivery man a swipe so he could bring it to our doors, to no avail. I almost canceled my subscription, which would have been sad for the NYT. This was by FAR the most annoying thing about the apartment, which is a pretty good case for the complex.
- No place to sit outside when the pool is closed for the season: When the pool is closed, there are no benches or chairs nearby to sit out on. We didn't have a balcony. I like to sit outside. Instead, I walked to the park. This would be an easy fix for the apartment.

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