IU or JMU?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IU has twice as many students as JMU, almost twice as many majors, almost twice as many academic staff, a vastly larger endowment, and a number of nationally ranked programs. It's also considered an R1 major research university and is a member of the 70-member American Association of Universities (neither of which groupings JMU belongs to). The undergraduate education at IU is universally ranked higher than JMU by all the ranking systems (it's not close -- USNWR ranks IU/B #73 and JMU #124 among national universities). Which isn't to say that there aren't smart students who get a good education and have a great time at JMU too. But as educational institutions, the two schools aren't in the same league, and not just in terms of stadium capacity. If in-state cost isn't a consideration, and assuming that most people want to invest four years of time and tuition getting the strongest possible education with the strongest possible post-graduate returns, IU would be the obvious choice, unless there was some special factor not cited here that would increase or decrease the relative appeal of one of the two universities.

I attended IU, the education was lacking in terms of overall work skills developed.

[Anonymous]

I browsed several pages but not all of them in this discussion -- was there a particular area of study in question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IU has twice as many students as JMU, almost twice as many majors, almost twice as many academic staff, a vastly larger endowment, and a number of nationally ranked programs. It's also considered an R1 major research university and is a member of the 70-member American Association of Universities (neither of which groupings JMU belongs to). The undergraduate education at IU is universally ranked higher than JMU by all the ranking systems (it's not close -- USNWR ranks IU/B #73 and JMU #124 among national universities). Which isn't to say that there aren't smart students who get a good education and have a great time at JMU too. But as educational institutions, the two schools aren't in the same league, and not just in terms of stadium capacity. If in-state cost isn't a consideration, and assuming that most people want to invest four years of time and tuition getting the strongest possible education with the strongest possible post-graduate returns, IU would be the obvious choice, unless there was some special factor not cited here that would increase or decrease the relative appeal of one of the two universities.

This!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JMU out of state seems more "random" than IU if you mean IU-Bloomington. The latter is a highly regarded flagship.

Completely agree. Humanities at IU very strong and much better than JMU. No question. And he wants to go to IU so be done and happy it is settled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IU has twice as many students as JMU, almost twice as many majors, almost twice as many academic staff, a vastly larger endowment, and a number of nationally ranked programs. It's also considered an R1 major research university and is a member of the 70-member American Association of Universities (neither of which groupings JMU belongs to). The undergraduate education at IU is universally ranked higher than JMU by all the ranking systems (it's not close -- USNWR ranks IU/B #73 and JMU #124 among national universities). Which isn't to say that there aren't smart students who get a good education and have a great time at JMU too. But as educational institutions, the two schools aren't in the same league, and not just in terms of stadium capacity. If in-state cost isn't a consideration, and assuming that most people want to invest four years of time and tuition getting the strongest possible education with the strongest possible post-graduate returns, IU would be the obvious choice, unless there was some special factor not cited here that would increase or decrease the relative appeal of one of the two universities.

I attended IU, the education was lacking in terms of overall work skills developed.

If you had attended another university of the same size that would likely be the same there as well. Depends greatly on major!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IU has twice as many students as JMU, almost twice as many majors, almost twice as many academic staff, a vastly larger endowment, and a number of nationally ranked programs. It's also considered an R1 major research university and is a member of the 70-member American Association of Universities (neither of which groupings JMU belongs to). The undergraduate education at IU is universally ranked higher than JMU by all the ranking systems (it's not close -- USNWR ranks IU/B #73 and JMU #124 among national universities). Which isn't to say that there aren't smart students who get a good education and have a great time at JMU too. But as educational institutions, the two schools aren't in the same league, and not just in terms of stadium capacity. If in-state cost isn't a consideration, and assuming that most people want to invest four years of time and tuition getting the strongest possible education with the strongest possible post-graduate returns, IU would be the obvious choice, unless there was some special factor not cited here that would increase or decrease the relative appeal of one of the two universities.

I attended IU, the education was lacking in terms of overall work skills developed.

I don’t think this is telling us anything about IU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going to JMU from out of state is ridiculous. Sorry.

This. It's NOVA West also, so an extension of high school.

That sounds a lot like VT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IU has twice as many students as JMU, almost twice as many majors, almost twice as many academic staff, a vastly larger endowment, and a number of nationally ranked programs. It's also considered an R1 major research university and is a member of the 70-member American Association of Universities (neither of which groupings JMU belongs to). The undergraduate education at IU is universally ranked higher than JMU by all the ranking systems (it's not close -- USNWR ranks IU/B #73 and JMU #124 among national universities). Which isn't to say that there aren't smart students who get a good education and have a great time at JMU too. But as educational institutions, the two schools aren't in the same league, and not just in terms of stadium capacity. If in-state cost isn't a consideration, and assuming that most people want to invest four years of time and tuition getting the strongest possible education with the strongest possible post-graduate returns, IU would be the obvious choice, unless there was some special factor not cited here that would increase or decrease the relative appeal of one of the two universities.

IU has a 90 percent acceptance rate

[Anonymous]

I can’t believe there are 12 pages and years of arguing about whether or not JMU or IU is better.

My son applied to both, is accepted at IU and will find out tomorrow about JMU. It’s not clear to me which he should choose. Things like small differences in “rankings” don’t matter. Size doesn’t equate to excellence.

Can’t they just both be good and we settle down now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe there are 12 pages and years of arguing about whether or not JMU or IU is better.

My son applied to both, is accepted at IU and will find out tomorrow about JMU. It’s not clear to me which he should choose. Things like small differences in “rankings” don’t matter. Size doesn’t equate to excellence.

Can’t they just both be good and we settle down now?

We are in the same boat as well. I was reviewing this thread to pick up on any gems - the small differences - that would make sense for an in-state kid to attend IU and didn't really find much. While I acknowledge that IU is likely a level above JMU when it comes to quality of education and reputation, is it really large enough to be worth $100K? Salary outcomes, especially for business school, seem about the same (which is likely what's important when you are deciding on schools below below T30ish)..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe there are 12 pages and years of arguing about whether or not JMU or IU is better.

My son applied to both, is accepted at IU and will find out tomorrow about JMU. It’s not clear to me which he should choose. Things like small differences in “rankings” don’t matter. Size doesn’t equate to excellence.

Can’t they just both be good and we settle down now?

.

Thank you for being a voice of sanity. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe there are 12 pages and years of arguing about whether or not JMU or IU is better.

My son applied to both, is accepted at IU and will find out tomorrow about JMU. It’s not clear to me which he should choose. Things like small differences in “rankings” don’t matter. Size doesn’t equate to excellence.

Can’t they just both be good and we settle down now?

We are in the same boat as well. I was reviewing this thread to pick up on any gems - the small differences - that would make sense for an in-state kid to attend IU and didn't really find much. While I acknowledge that IU is likely a level above JMU when it comes to quality of education and reputation, is it really large enough to be worth $100K? Salary outcomes, especially for business school, seem about the same (which is likely what's important when you are deciding on schools below below T30ish)..

If the price were the same I’d probably pick IU for many of the reason noted above, but it’s almost certainly not worth 100k more. Everyone I know who has gone to JMU has loved it and has gone on to have professional success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe there are 12 pages and years of arguing about whether or not JMU or IU is better.

My son applied to both, is accepted at IU and will find out tomorrow about JMU. It’s not clear to me which he should choose. Things like small differences in “rankings” don’t matter. Size doesn’t equate to excellence.

Can’t they just both be good and we settle down now?

That's how I feel! My DD may be deciding between Penn State and JMU. She truly loves them both.

[Anonymous]

IU hands down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going to JMU from out of state is ridiculous. Sorry.

This. It's NOVA West also, so an extension of high school.

That sounds a lot like VT

Only to someone who has had no experience with either JMU or VT.