Was JMU always so popular

[Anonymous]

Question for those who have experience… At what GPA and ACT will an out of state kid be competitive for merit at JMU? Very interested but we are oos.

[Anonymous]

I have a JMU kid with above average grades from an FCPS school. He is the kind of kid who took the path of least resistance to get A's and high B's in HS. Just a practical kid primarily focused on his teachers' grading criteria.

We encouraged him to look at JMU because we hadn't met a JMU alum who didn't love it there.

JMU has been perfect for him. He is thriving academically and socially (even though he isn't Greek). He's in a program he loves and is focused on his next steps after he graduates. For the first time, he enjoys his classes because the subject material interests him and he sees a direct connect between his classes and the pursuit of a career. As a school focused on teaching undergraduates, JMU seems to cater to students like my son.

Only complaint is the school doesn't have much merit aid. Not real clear whether he could have gone if we were OOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a JMU kid with above average grades from an FCPS school. He is the kind of kid who took the path of least resistance to get A's and high B's in HS. Just a practical kid primarily focused on his teachers' grading criteria.

We encouraged him to look at JMU because we hadn't met a JMU alum who didn't love it there.

JMU has been perfect for him. He is thriving academically and socially (even though he isn't Greek). He's in a program he loves and is focused on his next steps after he graduates. For the first time, he enjoys his classes because the subject material interests him and he sees a direct connect between his classes and the pursuit of a career. As a school focused on teaching undergraduates, JMU seems to cater to students like my son.

Only complaint is the school doesn't have much merit aid. Not real clear whether he could have gone if we were OOS.

Think JMU COA in state is like $35k. With A's and B's you might have been able to get merit from schools like WVU, ECU and Coastal Carolina that would result in similar cost or lower. OOS COA for each of these is less than $50k/yr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a JMU kid with above average grades from an FCPS school. He is the kind of kid who took the path of least resistance to get A's and high B's in HS. Just a practical kid primarily focused on his teachers' grading criteria.

We encouraged him to look at JMU because we hadn't met a JMU alum who didn't love it there.

JMU has been perfect for him. He is thriving academically and socially (even though he isn't Greek). He's in a program he loves and is focused on his next steps after he graduates. For the first time, he enjoys his classes because the subject material interests him and he sees a direct connect between his classes and the pursuit of a career. As a school focused on teaching undergraduates, JMU seems to cater to students like my son.

Only complaint is the school doesn't have much merit aid. Not real clear whether he could have gone if we were OOS.

Think JMU COA in state is like $35k. With A's and B's you might have been able to get merit from schools like WVU, ECU and Coastal Carolina that would result in similar cost or lower. OOS COA for each of these is less than $50k/yr.

Quick question...how do you estimate how much merit aid you would get an an OOS school? Do you have to apply and see what you get or is there a tool? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a JMU kid with above average grades from an FCPS school. He is the kind of kid who took the path of least resistance to get A's and high B's in HS. Just a practical kid primarily focused on his teachers' grading criteria.

We encouraged him to look at JMU because we hadn't met a JMU alum who didn't love it there.

JMU has been perfect for him. He is thriving academically and socially (even though he isn't Greek). He's in a program he loves and is focused on his next steps after he graduates. For the first time, he enjoys his classes because the subject material interests him and he sees a direct connect between his classes and the pursuit of a career. As a school focused on teaching undergraduates, JMU seems to cater to students like my son.

Only complaint is the school doesn't have much merit aid. Not real clear whether he could have gone if we were OOS.

Think JMU COA in state is like $35k. With A's and B's you might have been able to get merit from schools like WVU, ECU and Coastal Carolina that would result in similar cost or lower. OOS COA for each of these is less than $50k/yr.

Quick question...how do you estimate how much merit aid you would get an an OOS school? Do you have to apply and see what you get or is there a tool? Thanks

Estimating merit can be difficult. Just Google. However, some schools like WVU give you a chart that shows the amount based on GPA and SAT.

[Anonymous]

how do you estimate how much merit aid you would get an an OOS school?

Not related to JMU, and generalizing here. There is no way we could have anticipated the merit results. DC applied to 7 OOS publics. The costs completely reordered once merit/no merit was awarded. Only one of the schools had a chart, a very straight forward chart: this GPA + this SAT = $. But that school disappointed us when DC tried to get more $ based on a new SAT score and they wouldn't adjust what they had awarded. Overall DC got merit from 5 or 7 but it was a big range. DC got generous merit from one university but was not admitted to the honors program, while a friend from her same high school was admitted to honors and received no merit aid. Strange. Apply early in the year, DC did for all, EA if possible. Maybe that mattered. The merit vs no merit was all over the map. DC did not apply to the few most expensive or most competitive OOS publics

Apply very widely if you're chasing merit. Don't make any assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the 90s people called it “Just Missed Uva” lots of people from my high school in Fairfax county went there. Lots of people from NJ too.

Why has it declined so much.

It hasn't. Its still the choice along with VT for in state kids who Just Missed UVA. Where else?

No one who has the grades for UVA is applying to nearly 80% acceptance rate JMU. At that point they might as well go to Radford.

JMU is the in-state safety for many, many kids who are applying to UVA. W&M isn't a fit for everyone (saying with affection as an alum) and Tech sometimes seems like it's a random toss-up for who gets in and who doesn't. If they don't get in to UVA, they might decide to go out of state instead but JMU is still a popular backup plan for kids who need to keep the COA down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the 90s people called it “Just Missed Uva” lots of people from my high school in Fairfax county went there. Lots of people from NJ too.

Why has it declined so much.

It hasn't. Its still the choice along with VT for in state kids who Just Missed UVA. Where else?

No one who has the grades for UVA is applying to nearly 80% acceptance rate JMU. At that point they might as well go to Radford.

JMU is the in-state safety for many, many kids who are applying to UVA. W&M isn't a fit for everyone (saying with affection as an alum) and Tech sometimes seems like it's a random toss-up for who gets in and who doesn't. If they don't get in to UVA, they might decide to go out of state instead but JMU is still a popular backup plan for kids who need to keep the COA down.

I wouldn’t even call JMU a safety for some, know several kids from different FCPS schools who did not get into JMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's more on the radar now than it used to be, since it has become much more difficult to get into UVA, William & Mary, and to a lesser degree, VT.

Agree as a VA resident. And I know several VA educators who LOVE JMU for their students.

Like an earlier poster, DD was a weighted 4.0 at a more rigorous FCPS HS this year. We (and her counselor) considered it a "safe target" and she was accepted, but decided to go to a similar-sized OOS "1 step down from flagship" state school that offered enough merit to level the COA with in-state at JMU. It was a very tough call for her in the end, though I suspect the deciding factor was to get out of state and away from the dozen-or-more kids from her HS (and hundreds from FCPS) who were going to JMU.

Can I ask what your daughter's classes were like? My DC is 2027 hard to figure out if she is on target with course selection for JMU.
She'll finish this year with Honors or above in all English/Math/SS - Took AP World and now AP precal. Honor bio, reg chem/physics, next year ap env. sci. Will take honors eng/ss along with AP Calc BC. so 4 AP total at graduation.
We are at a large relatively well thought of FCPS. she will finish this year with 4.05, no C's.

I'm the quoted poster above. Your student's course/academic profile is very similar, but bit stronger than mine.

[Anonymous]

For the FCPS just missed UVA crowd, strangely imo a lot of them do not get into both JMU and VT. I've joked that I think the schools are in cahoots, offering the student one or the other as an option but not both. Not talking about engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the 90s people called it “Just Missed Uva” lots of people from my high school in Fairfax county went there. Lots of people from NJ too.

Why has it declined so much.

It hasn't. Its still the choice along with VT for in state kids who Just Missed UVA. Where else?

No one who has the grades for UVA is applying to nearly 80% acceptance rate JMU. At that point they might as well go to Radford.

JMU is the in-state safety for many, many kids who are applying to UVA. W&M isn't a fit for everyone (saying with affection as an alum) and Tech sometimes seems like it's a random toss-up for who gets in and who doesn't. If they don't get in to UVA, they might decide to go out of state instead but JMU is still a popular backup plan for kids who need to keep the COA down.

I wouldn’t even call JMU a safety for some, know several kids from different FCPS schools who did not get into JMU.

+1
Absolutely.

[Anonymous]

JMU has a beautiful campus, great leadership, a solid 30-year plan for development, sports championships (basketball, football, women’s lacrosse, etc), really good marching band, popular social & Greek scene, and of course their academic trajectory is headed in the right direction. Alumni network is excellent at helping graduates get jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the 90s people called it “Just Missed Uva” lots of people from my high school in Fairfax county went there. Lots of people from NJ too.

Why has it declined so much.

It hasn't. Its still the choice along with VT for in state kids who Just Missed UVA. Where else?

No one who has the grades for UVA is applying to nearly 80% acceptance rate JMU. At that point they might as well go to Radford.

JMU is the in-state safety for many, many kids who are applying to UVA. W&M isn't a fit for everyone (saying with affection as an alum) and Tech sometimes seems like it's a random toss-up for who gets in and who doesn't. If they don't get in to UVA, they might decide to go out of state instead but JMU is still a popular backup plan for kids who need to keep the COA down.

+1