Also, much as we want to encourage brick city participation, you can easily live in an adjacent yuppie enclave suburb and still work/enjoy Newark while having a quieter Montclair/X-Orange/Harrison backyard, and potentially for cheaper than a decked out new-rental right downtown.

Considering “safety” is the primary concern, vs “will this be too boring?”, the one thing I’d say is don’t waste precious hours & dollars living in Hudson county or NYC and reverse commuting. If you visit NJ and want a different flavor of life, especially for only 3 months, you could even try your hand at Shore life or ultra-suburb central NJ, though hard imagine desiring the latter if I were college intern, or even grad intern age. Further you branch out, more you need a rental or wheels access.

Good luck

Edit: I start with “Also” because Newark is a fine/safe. However you move in your own state’s urban metro, apply that social wherewithal. E.g. you’re from Illinois. Maybe you love and live in ChiTown itself. OR, you shelter up in Skokie before/after work lol. Different strokes for different folks.