JMU vs. Colby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to Payscale they are not that different-70k early for JMU and 72k early for Colby.

https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors?search=Colby

https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors?search=James%20madison

[Anonymous]

What a crazy discussion.

OP, I'm an Ivy-adjacent grad who probably cares too much about reputation. When DC wanted to apply to Colby as ED1, I wondered about it because it wasn't really on my radar.

He enrolled, plays a D3 sport, knows his teachers well and loves the place. He recently showed me some emails from some of his professors who were commenting on his work, and I couldn't believe that they'd take the time to share this kind of specific feedback and encouragement. He regularly attends dinners with the profs in his major, and they worked their networks to get him an amazing internship. These are the kind of SLAC benefits that are missing from bigger universities.

The college's president has invested in amazing new facilities including a massive performing arts center that just opened. The endowment is soaring, and I admire their aspirations for greater diversity.

When we ask DC if he has any regrets about his choice, he does mention that he wishes that the school weren't quite so remote. But he plans to go to grad school in a bigger city and says that he'll remember this time in a quieter and closely knit community very fondly. For four years (minus a semester abroad), it has been just about perfect.

These last few years, I've also been schooled on just how well Colby is recognized and regarded. So, I didn't know about the college, but seemingly everyone else does in our circles -- and not just in the DMV.

We're so glad that DC applied to Colby. We would not have invested $320K in JMU.

[Anonymous]

JMU over Colby? Comedy night on the DCUM forum.

[Anonymous]

Did Colby football make a bowl this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here: Cost not a factor. Wondering about reputational aspects for post-grade job prospects.

No contest. Colby. But be aware it is dark and isolated. If you have a kid prone to depression, a small New England LAC is not the best option.

Right, so then why "no contest?" Oh, that's right, you're one of those who equates "selectivity" with the best. Even when it's manufactured.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did Colby football make a bowl this year?

Does anyone at Colby care? Is anyone at Colby majoring in football?

I went to Wake during the Tim Duncan years. And the basketball Games were fu. But, I have certainly never been asked in a job interview whether wake made the Sweet 16 while I was there.

I would hope that whether you spend 4 years of your life and $120k for JMU or 3x that for Colby, your decision making is a little deeper than “will this school go to a bowl game”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did Colby football make a bowl this year?

Does anyone at Colby care? Is anyone at Colby majoring in football?

I went to Wake during the Tim Duncan years. And the basketball Games were fu. But, I have certainly never been asked in a job interview whether wake made the Sweet 16 while I was there.

I would hope that whether you spend 4 years of your life and $120k for JMU or 3x that for Colby, your decision making is a little deeper than “will this school go to a bowl game”.

22,000 kids at JMU care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here: Cost not a factor. Wondering about reputational aspects for post-grade job prospects.

No contest. Colby. But be aware it is dark and isolated. If you have a kid prone to depression, a small New England LAC is not the best option.

Right, so then why "no contest?" Oh, that's right, you're one of those who equates "selectivity" with the best. Even when it's manufactured.

Average GPA, average test scores, selectivity, graduation rate, law/med school admissions, post college earnings. It’s Colby in a landslide. Unless
You are the poster who thinks college should be chosen based on bowl games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did Colby football make a bowl this year?

Does anyone at Colby care? Is anyone at Colby majoring in football?

I went to Wake during the Tim Duncan years. And the basketball Games were fu. But, I have certainly never been asked in a job interview whether wake made the Sweet 16 while I was there.

I would hope that whether you spend 4 years of your life and $120k for JMU or 3x that for Colby, your decision making is a little deeper than “will this school go to a bowl game”.

22,000 kids at JMU care.

Good. I hope they enjoy watching the bowl game on TV. I also hope they have parents that have more sense than to spend over 100k based on football scores, rather than education and outcomes. Given how much college costs, if you are basing your choice on the football team’s record, send your kid to a community college and use your substantial savings to buy season tickets for your kids favorite pro sports team. You’ll still come out ahead.

PS— I went to a college with decent sports in an actual real conference (not a regional whatever conference like JMU). And I guarantee that a significant number of kids at JMU don’t care.

Also, you say 22,000
JMU kids over and over, and think it’s a flex. I hear 22,000 kids at a meh regional college and think— wow— tier 3 grad students means a bunch of classes taught by Tier 3 TAs. But hey— at least they re winning football games? Seriously?
.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did Colby football make a bowl this year?

Does anyone at Colby care? Is anyone at Colby majoring in football?

I went to Wake during the Tim Duncan years. And the basketball Games were fu. But, I have certainly never been asked in a job interview whether wake made the Sweet 16 while I was there.

I would hope that whether you spend 4 years of your life and $120k for JMU or 3x that for Colby, your decision making is a little deeper than “will this school go to a bowl game”.

22,000 kids at JMU care.

Good. I hope they enjoy watching the bowl game on TV. I also hope they have parents that have more sense than to spend over 100k based on football scores, rather than education and outcomes. Given how much college costs, if you are basing your choice on the football team’s record, send your kid to a community college and use your substantial savings to buy season tickets for your kids favorite pro sports team. You’ll still come out ahead.

PS— I went to a college with decent sports in an actual real conference (not a regional whatever conference like JMU). And I guarantee that a significant number of kids at JMU don’t care.

Also, you say 22,000
JMU kids over and over, and think it’s a flex. I hear 22,000 kids at a meh regional college and think— wow— tier 3 grad students means a bunch of classes taught by Tier 3 TAs. But hey— at least they re winning football games? Seriously?
.

You insult JMU over and over, and think it's a flex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did Colby football make a bowl this year?

Does anyone at Colby care? Is anyone at Colby majoring in football?

I went to Wake during the Tim Duncan years. And the basketball Games were fu. But, I have certainly never been asked in a job interview whether wake made the Sweet 16 while I was there.

I would hope that whether you spend 4 years of your life and $120k for JMU or 3x that for Colby, your decision making is a little deeper than “will this school go to a bowl game”.

22,000 kids at JMU care.

Good. I hope they enjoy watching the bowl game on TV. I also hope they have parents that have more sense than to spend over 100k based on football scores, rather than education and outcomes. Given how much college costs, if you are basing your choice on the football team’s record, send your kid to a community college and use your substantial savings to buy season tickets for your kids favorite pro sports team. You’ll still come out ahead.

PS— I went to a college with decent sports in an actual real conference (not a regional whatever conference like JMU). And I guarantee that a significant number of kids at JMU don’t care.

Also, you say 22,000
JMU kids over and over, and think it’s a flex. I hear 22,000 kids at a meh regional college and think— wow— tier 3 grad students means a bunch of classes taught by Tier 3 TAs. But hey— at least they re winning football games? Seriously?
.

98% of classes at JMU are taught by professors. Nice try.

https://www.jmu.edu/about/fact-and-figures.shtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It is a tougher choice than I would have thought. If we were just looking at academic reputation in a vacuum, Colby is an easy choice. But it is also big vs. small school, isolated vs. close-enough to other things/big town. I am a bit of a reputation-snob myself but even I am struggling with advising DC. What they want as a major is offered at both. Sport would offer a friend-group at both.

The differential in acceptance rates tells you everything you need to know. If location was an issue, why did DC apply to Colby?!?

What does acceptance rate tell us?

It tells you something about the quality of the student body. JMU’s acceptance rate is over 80 percent. Colby’s is below 10 percent. The SAT/ACT and GPA figures are vastly different too.

JMU is much larger, so acceptance rate is an ineffective comparison tool. Acceptance rates can also be gamed in an effort to manipulate rankings.

colby accepts the vast majority of their students early so they can claim higher yield and lower acceptance. It’s a game.

+1

I has asked for an explanation of this, and possibly some supporting evidence, but since you "+1" it, you win.

Damnit, outfoxed again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did Colby football make a bowl this year?

Does anyone at Colby care? Is anyone at Colby majoring in football?

I went to Wake during the Tim Duncan years. And the basketball Games were fu. But, I have certainly never been asked in a job interview whether wake made the Sweet 16 while I was there.

I would hope that whether you spend 4 years of your life and $120k for JMU or 3x that for Colby, your decision making is a little deeper than “will this school go to a bowl game”.

22,000 kids at JMU care.

Good. I hope they enjoy watching the bowl game on TV. I also hope they have parents that have more sense than to spend over 100k based on football scores, rather than education and outcomes. Given how much college costs, if you are basing your choice on the football team’s record, send your kid to a community college and use your substantial savings to buy season tickets for your kids favorite pro sports team. You’ll still come out ahead.

PS— I went to a college with decent sports in an actual real conference (not a regional whatever conference like JMU). And I guarantee that a significant number of kids at JMU don’t care.

Also, you say 22,000
JMU kids over and over, and think it’s a flex. I hear 22,000 kids at a meh regional college and think— wow— tier 3 grad students means a bunch of classes taught by Tier 3 TAs. But hey— at least they re winning football games? Seriously?
.

You insult JMU over and over, and think it's a flex.

No, I send my kids to colleges where the priority is education and they are taught by Professors in small classes. And I know it’s a flex. Sorry if JMU’s TA centric education weak in comparison.

But really, once you say the best reason to chose a college is its football team, the debate on relative academic merit is over. Unless your kid is a starter on the football team with a chance of going pro, going to a bowl game has zero ROI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did Colby football make a bowl this year?

Does anyone at Colby care? Is anyone at Colby majoring in football?

I went to Wake during the Tim Duncan years. And the basketball Games were fu. But, I have certainly never been asked in a job interview whether wake made the Sweet 16 while I was there.

I would hope that whether you spend 4 years of your life and $120k for JMU or 3x that for Colby, your decision making is a little deeper than “will this school go to a bowl game”.

22,000 kids at JMU care.

Good. I hope they enjoy watching the bowl game on TV. I also hope they have parents that have more sense than to spend over 100k based on football scores, rather than education and outcomes. Given how much college costs, if you are basing your choice on the football team’s record, send your kid to a community college and use your substantial savings to buy season tickets for your kids favorite pro sports team. You’ll still come out ahead.

PS— I went to a college with decent sports in an actual real conference (not a regional whatever conference like JMU). And I guarantee that a significant number of kids at JMU don’t care.

Also, you say 22,000
JMU kids over and over, and think it’s a flex. I hear 22,000 kids at a meh regional college and think— wow— tier 3 grad students means a bunch of classes taught by Tier 3 TAs. But hey— at least they re winning football games? Seriously?
.

You insult JMU over and over, and think it's a flex.

No, I send my kids to colleges where the priority is education and they are taught by Professors in small classes. And I know it’s a flex. Sorry if JMU’s TA centric education weak in comparison.

But really, once you say the best reason to chose a college is its football team, the debate on relative academic merit is over. Unless your kid is a starter on the football team with a chance of going pro, going to a bowl game has zero ROI.

Did you miss the post about 98% of JMU classes being taught by professors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did Colby football make a bowl this year?

Does anyone at Colby care? Is anyone at Colby majoring in football?

I went to Wake during the Tim Duncan years. And the basketball Games were fu. But, I have certainly never been asked in a job interview whether wake made the Sweet 16 while I was there.

I would hope that whether you spend 4 years of your life and $120k for JMU or 3x that for Colby, your decision making is a little deeper than “will this school go to a bowl game”.

22,000 kids at JMU care.

Good. I hope they enjoy watching the bowl game on TV. I also hope they have parents that have more sense than to spend over 100k based on football scores, rather than education and outcomes. Given how much college costs, if you are basing your choice on the football team’s record, send your kid to a community college and use your substantial savings to buy season tickets for your kids favorite pro sports team. You’ll still come out ahead.

PS— I went to a college with decent sports in an actual real conference (not a regional whatever conference like JMU). And I guarantee that a significant number of kids at JMU don’t care.

Also, you say 22,000
JMU kids over and over, and think it’s a flex. I hear 22,000 kids at a meh regional college and think— wow— tier 3 grad students means a bunch of classes taught by Tier 3 TAs. But hey— at least they re winning football games? Seriously?
.

98% of classes at JMU are taught by professors. Nice try.

https://www.jmu.edu/about/fact-and-figures.shtml

And yet only 76% of said “professors” have terminal degrees in their field. Colby is 100%. WM is 96%.

So, 24% of JMU “professors” aren’t TAs but don’t have a terminal degree, what are they? BA/BS/MA/MS that couldn’t hack a PhD program? Not confidence inspiring.