Can you tell me about JMU?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we toured, JMU said it has the best 6 month job placement/further schooling rate of any school in VA. 96% as I recall.

While the admit rate overall is high, at our NoVA HS Naviance said the admit rate is closer to 55%. I hope my DD gets in. We liked the school. But she is not a walk-in and luckily already got at least one other admit, but I really like JMU.

+1
The admit rate published online, etc. bears no resemblance to the actual admit rate at various schools. It's become much more difficult to get in from NoVa high schools. We really liked JMU too.

Their historic admissions rate is pretty meaningless. They just joined the Common App last year, leading to a big jump in applications. Will be interesting to see where it settles out at. Prior to last year, you had to do their own application so that definitely weeded out people who weren't highly interested.

You would also need to consider that JMU has more than doubled its undergraduate enrollment in this time period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This makes me sad. i went to JMU in the early 90's and the acceptance rate was 34%-ish. I was surrounded by smart, well rounded, fun people. Seems like JMU prioritized growing over maintaining high standards. It's basically now just like Radford.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU All applicants 2021-22:

Applied: 21335

Accepted: 18380

Acceptance rate: 86.2%

Source: SCHEV

Weird that you don't include a link. Here's mine. Last year's admission rate was 81%. This year's admission rate was 71%. Did you really think no one would call you out on your false information?

https://research.schev.edu/iProfile/232423/James-Madison-University

Grade inflation is real. Current students are no smarter than those of previous decades. In fact, professors often complain that students are ill prepared for college classes.

Agree that there are likely many kids who are ill prepared for college classes. But top high school students today are taking on more advanced coursework compared to decades ago (e.g., lots more AP classes offered). I graduated from a well-regarded suburban high school in 1983 (yes, I know that was a long time ago) and available math courses topped out at AP Calculus BC. Not today at similar high schools.

[Anonymous]

I looked at this thread again because we did a self-guided tour of JMU today. DS thought the school seemed big, impersonal, and uncaring - possibly because all the other schools we've toured so far have been much smaller. The vibe there did remind me of the Big State Flagship that I attended back in the day.

DS did take note of the fact that JMU is 60% female to 40% male and there were a great many very attractive young women on campus, but that was not enough to inspire him to want to attend. Oh well!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I looked at this thread again because we did a self-guided tour of JMU today. DS thought the school seemed big, impersonal, and uncaring - possibly because all the other schools we've toured so far have been much smaller. The vibe there did remind me of the Big State Flagship that I attended back in the day.

DS did take note of the fact that JMU is 60% female to 40% male and there were a great many very attractive young women on campus, but that was not enough to inspire him to want to attend. Oh well!

Oh well, too bad he felt that way! JMU actually has the friendliest student body I've ever encountered. Very helpful, collaborative students and engaged faculty. My DC was lucky to have lived in Bluestone, right on the quad, so he experienced the quintessential college campus experience. Good luck to your son!