JMU vs. Colby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?
.

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.

Yawn.

See I’d be concerned if 1/4 of my kids professors couldn’t hack their PhD program. But, you do you Boo. I guess there really is a college for everyone.

If this miserable attitude is a reflection of Colby, I’d choose JMU every time. I feel bad for this poster, seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I am not from NYC or DC. I have never heard of Colby before reading this thread, but I knew about JMU because of sports and because one of the girls from Dance Moms, Kendall, attends JMU.

Posts like this don’t help JMU’s cause. Most reasonably educated people with college-age kids have heard of both schools, and usually for a non-sport, non-pop culture reason.

My kid has zero interest in Colby…but absolutely has heard of it…as well as Williams, Amherst, Trinity, Bowdoin, etc.

Kid also not super interested in JMU, but has heard of it as well as ODU and other Sun Belt conference schools.

It would seem OP is super-conflicted…hard to turn down Colby due to a strong alumni network and a pipeline into Wall Street and MBB consulting…but yeah it’s cold and isolating and you spend most of your college months with only 6-7 hours of daylight.

It seems at least OP really wishes the kid’s D1 offer was to a top 50 school, which is why she struggles to select JMU.

I bet the kid has a clear choice (probably JMU), but it is hard to officially hit that Decline button on Colby.

I guess what confuses me most is that typically a Colby would require you apply ED as an athletic recruit as the coach needs to build whatever team they can. Maybe they will take athletes through ED2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Outside Virginia it's likely not too many people are more familiar with JMU than with Colby, if that's an actual criterion for selecting a school.

Colby is a so-called "potted Ivy"; that is, an academically well-rated and nationally known small liberal arts college. JMU is a large middle-of-the-road regional university. As you note, they are vastly different in character, reputation, academic rigor, location, size, and in many other dimensions.

It might be best to leave the sports aspect out of things unless your kid hopes to be a sports professional. Instead, look at which school will provide the best preparation for post-college life, whether that is employment in a particular field or graduate school.

More people outside this area will have heard of JMU over Colby.

For our family, we are steering our kids away from the small, middling liberal arts schools as many of them are not financially strong. It seems like once that happens, the schools start to make many questionable decisjons, including eliminating entire departments. Plus coming from a larger northern Virginia high school, going to a university not much larger than the high schools in this area does not sound very appealing,.

One other thing to consider is cost.

What happens if yojr recruited athlete gets seriously injured or decides a year or two intk it that they cannot stomach continuing with their sport? I know of several recruited athletes who got to that point in college.

Would you still be able to afford Colby if she were to drop her sport and scholarship?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I am not from NYC or DC. I have never heard of Colby before reading this thread, but I knew about JMU because of sports and because one of the girls from Dance Moms, Kendall, attends JMU.

Posts like this don’t help JMU’s cause. Most reasonably educated people with college-age kids have heard of both schools, and usually for a non-sport, non-pop culture reason.

My kid has zero interest in Colby…but absolutely has heard of it…as well as Williams, Amherst, Trinity, Bowdoin, etc.

Kid also not super interested in JMU, but has heard of it as well as ODU and other Sun Belt conference schools.

It would seem OP is super-conflicted…hard to turn down Colby due to a strong alumni network and a pipeline into Wall Street and MBB consulting…but yeah it’s cold and isolating and you spend most of your college months with only 6-7 hours of daylight.

It seems at least OP really wishes the kid’s D1 offer was to a top 50 school, which is why she struggles to select JMU.

I bet the kid has a clear choice (probably JMU), but it is hard to officially hit that Decline button on Colby.

I guess what confuses me most is that typically a Colby would require you apply ED as an athletic recruit as the coach needs to build whatever team they can. Maybe they will take athletes through ED2.

Sunrise today at 7:17 and sunset at 4:04. That's at least 9 hours of daylight when the day is at it's shortest. Where are you getting 6-7?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Outside Virginia it's likely not too many people are more familiar with JMU than with Colby, if that's an actual criterion for selecting a school.

Colby is a so-called "potted Ivy"; that is, an academically well-rated and nationally known small liberal arts college. JMU is a large middle-of-the-road regional university. As you note, they are vastly different in character, reputation, academic rigor, location, size, and in many other dimensions.

It might be best to leave the sports aspect out of things unless your kid hopes to be a sports professional. Instead, look at which school will provide the best preparation for post-college life, whether that is employment in a particular field or graduate school.

More people outside this area will have heard of JMU over Colby.

For our family, we are steering our kids away from the small, middling liberal arts schools as many of them are not financially strong. It seems like once that happens, the schools start to make many questionable decisjons, including eliminating entire departments. Plus coming from a larger northern Virginia high school, going to a university not much larger than the high schools in this area does not sound very appealing,.

One other thing to consider is cost.

What happens if yojr recruited athlete gets seriously injured or decides a year or two intk it that they cannot stomach continuing with their sport? I know of several recruited athletes who got to that point in college.

Would you still be able to afford Colby if she were to drop her sport and scholarship?

Colby doesn’t give sports scholarships…any scholarship money is primarily need-based and any merit money is not tied directly to playing the sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a classic D1 at a fairly mediocre school vs D3 at a highly rated LAC. If finances are not an issue, there’s not much of a choice here - career options will be night and day. We had a similar choice and attending a NESCAC, playing sport has worked out very well for our DD.

Cite?

Average Colby graduate salary >85k. Average JMU graduate salary - 65k. Multiple Wall Street firms recruit from Colby, none do at JMU
Even if not just about starting salary - Colby law school acceptance rate 87%, Med School 68% - both miles above national average. Career wise, it’s not even in the same zipcode. A lot of people get caught up in “going D1” though.

Instead of just spewing numbers, cite your claims. Otherwise, it will be assumed you're pulling these numbers out of your a$$. Provide citations to back up your assertions.
DP

+100

[Anonymous]

This is no contest, Colby by far. My DS went to JMU and it was like a glorified high school, where many professors couldn't care less about your kid's success. There is little help offered by the career center unless your DC majored in something marketable - computer science, nursing - in which case they don't need much help because the job market is good.

Colby is a very wealthy school that is invested in its graduates' success. My DD was recruited there and we visited - the campus is somewhat isolated but the school's infrastructure is very nice. Good dorms, food, and very active career center.

Please don't pick JMU over Colby, unless your kid is a hard-partying frat kid who has a post-college job lined up in his family's business in Roanoke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DP. Another poster already corrected you, but here are some more stats for you to stew about. You seem like a highly unpleasant person.

Student/faculty ratio: 17:1
Average class size: 25 students
Classes with fewer than 50 students: 89%
Classes taught by professors: 98%
https://www.jmu.edu/about/fact-and-figures.shtml#:~:text=Student%2Ffaculty%20ratio%3A%2017%3A1%20Average%20class%20size%3A%2025%20students,50%20students%3A%2089%25%20Classes%20taught%20by%20professors%3A%2098%25

Remind me, what % of “professors” who we’re actually able to get PhDs? Because I’m not sure that a BA/MA is better than a PhD candidate under the supervision of a PhD.

Do you have a PhD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DP. Another poster already corrected you, but here are some more stats for you to stew about. You seem like a highly unpleasant person.

Student/faculty ratio: 17:1
Average class size: 25 students
Classes with fewer than 50 students: 89%
Classes taught by professors: 98%
https://www.jmu.edu/about/fact-and-figures.shtml#:~:text=Student%2Ffaculty%20ratio%3A%2017%3A1%20Average%20class%20size%3A%2025%20students,50%20students%3A%2089%25%20Classes%20taught%20by%20professors%3A%2098%25

Remind me, what % of “professors” who we’re actually able to get PhDs? Because I’m not sure that a BA/MA is better than a PhD candidate under the supervision of a PhD.

Do you have a PhD?

The PhD discussion is a distraction. JMU has many practical offerings in nursing, business, etc where there are many useful classes taught by folks without PhDs.

Much better to take a finance class from an adjunct working in the field vs a PhD with no practical experience.

A true comparison would only look at classes offered by both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DP. Another poster already corrected you, but here are some more stats for you to stew about. You seem like a highly unpleasant person.

Student/faculty ratio: 17:1
Average class size: 25 students
Classes with fewer than 50 students: 89%
Classes taught by professors: 98%
https://www.jmu.edu/about/fact-and-figures.shtml#:~:text=Student%2Ffaculty%20ratio%3A%2017%3A1%20Average%20class%20size%3A%2025%20students,50%20students%3A%2089%25%20Classes%20taught%20by%20professors%3A%2098%25

Remind me, what % of “professors” who we’re actually able to get PhDs? Because I’m not sure that a BA/MA is better than a PhD candidate under the supervision of a PhD.

Do you have a PhD?

The PhD discussion is a distraction. JMU has many practical offerings in nursing, business, etc where there are many useful classes taught by folks without PhDs.

Much better to take a finance class from an adjunct working in the field vs a PhD with no practical experience.

A true comparison would only look at classes offered by both.

+1 the PhD discussion was a cover-up attempt by PP after erroneously claiming JMU courses are taught by TA’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

According to pay scale average earnings of students at the two schools are virtually identical. There goes your theory.

[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?
.

If Colby is so great why can’t their alum outearn “meh” JMU grads?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?
.

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.

Yawn.

See I’d be concerned if 1/4 of my kids professors couldn’t hack their PhD program. But, you do you Boo. I guess there really is a college for everyone.

A very small percentage of Colby grads get PhDs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For lazy people,
50th percentile, 1490 vs 1240. 34 vs 26.

Colby has like 5 people. And JMU is 28, Colby 32

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I am not from NYC or DC. I have never heard of Colby before reading this thread, but I knew about JMU because of sports and because one of the girls from Dance Moms, Kendall, attends JMU.

Posts like this don’t help JMU’s cause. Most reasonably educated people with college-age kids have heard of both schools, and usually for a non-sport, non-pop culture reason.

My kid has zero interest in Colby…but absolutely has heard of it…as well as Williams, Amherst, Trinity, Bowdoin, etc.

Kid also not super interested in JMU, but has heard of it as well as ODU and other Sun Belt conference schools.

It would seem OP is super-conflicted…hard to turn down Colby due to a strong alumni network and a pipeline into Wall Street and MBB consulting…but yeah it’s cold and isolating and you spend most of your college months with only 6-7 hours of daylight.

It seems at least OP really wishes the kid’s D1 offer was to a top 50 school, which is why she struggles to select JMU.

I bet the kid has a clear choice (probably JMU), but it is hard to officially hit that Decline button on Colby.

I guess what confuses me most is that typically a Colby would require you apply ED as an athletic recruit as the coach needs to build whatever team they can. Maybe they will take athletes through ED2.

Poster tries to Compare Colby to Amherst while denigrating JMU with ODU 🤣🤣🤣🍆