The Other VA publics: CNU, GM, JMU, Radford, ODU, UMW, VCU

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The worse thing GMU did was align the university with the Koch brothers (noted for their political activities donating to conservative and Republican Party causes)

Of all Virginia schools, I think only GMU has had any Nobel Prize winners associated with them at the time of their awards. This is a bit of a black eye on the state.

It was those scary Koch-supported economics professors that pp didn't want their kids to be exposed to.

https://www2.gmu.edu/news/311896

THINK. Donations = prestige. I know students who go to GMU just because the Econ department is so strong. Any large gift to any university is welcome.

Gotcha. So...white nationalists?

Not the PP, but this is just idiotic. Newsflash: "white nationalists" may be your trendy buzzword, but labeling anything and everything you're even slightly suspicious of is beyond absurd. And exhausting.

+1. Hate the ignorance on DCUM. And BTW the Koch Bros are Libertarian, not conservatives and not Trumpers.

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in VA because of the state colleges but your kid can’t get into UVA or W&M, well, that was a mistake because there are better places to live.

Clearly you know nothing about all the other really good state schools VA has to offer. Which, incidentally, is the subject of this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JMU is right on I81! Hate the location! Town is dumpy. Mall sucks!

Here we have the classic case of someone not bothering to actually get out of their car and walk around the very pretty campus and cute college town. The mall?? Who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has white supremacists on it's lawn...

UVA graduates know the difference between its and it's

As do most HS graduates.

Double zing! Well done! And all I had to offer was "but they all came in from out of state". Your responses were much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU is right on I81! Hate the location! Town is dumpy. Mall sucks!

Here we have the classic case of someone not bothering to actually get out of their car and walk around the very pretty campus and cute college town. The mall?? Who cares?

Cute town? Try the NE for cute towns. This was dumpy. The campus was pretty with 81 in the backdrop. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has white supremacists on it's lawn...

UVA graduates know the difference between its and it's

As do most HS graduates.

Double zing! Well done! And all I had to offer was "but they all came in from out of state". Your responses were much better.

Punctuation goes inside the quote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worse thing GMU did was align the university with the Koch brothers (noted for their political activities donating to conservative and Republican Party causes)

Of all Virginia schools, I think only GMU has had any Nobel Prize winners associated with them at the time of their awards. This is a bit of a black eye on the state.

It was those scary Koch-supported economics professors that pp didn't want their kids to be exposed to.

https://www2.gmu.edu/news/311896

THINK. Donations = prestige. I know students who go to GMU just because the Econ department is so strong. Any large gift to any university is welcome.

Gotcha. So...white nationalists?

Not the PP, but this is just idiotic. Newsflash: "white nationalists" may be your trendy buzzword, but labeling anything and everything you're even slightly suspicious of is beyond absurd. And exhausting.

+1. Hate the ignorance on DCUM. And BTW the Koch Bros are Libertarian, not conservatives and not Trumpers.

+2

Go back and read the poster’s clarification, dummy.

[Anonymous]

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Yes, but it's amazing that we have three public schools that cover top-notch flagship, SLAC and tech. And then a whole crop of other schools that are as good as or better than the 1 flagship in another state. I think the one challenging thing is that UVA + W&M in numbers total less than the numbers at another state flagship so it gets very competitive.

We are lucky in VA, but I do think there are better (and still affordable) options for the kids that just miss out on UVA/W&M. I can see why someone would want their kid with maybe a 4.1 and 1460 SAT (who might be rejected from UVA/W&M) to go to an OOS school with a national reputation over JMU or GMU. It wouldn't necessarily have a higher cost than W&M with its $35K price tag.

I'm the poster with the strong student who made clear she'd be very unhappy going below UVA in state. That was exactly her thinking, and fortunately we had the money to pay for her to go anywhere. We weren't willing to pay full freight for a private school (to us, that made no sense for anything lower than top 10-15), so we said we'd pay for a strong OOS flagship. She got into a good one, paid the deposit, and would have been happy to go. But she ended up getting into UVA off the waitlist so it all ended well.

Well, that's the thing, isn't it? Not everyone has the money to pay OOS, and frankly, it's often even harder to get admitted as an OOS. My kid is a very strong student, they technically have the numbers that would put them in range at UVA or WM, but that's not a guarantee with all of the other high achieving students applying. I really hate the attitude that you and you your daughter are fostering that if a bright student doesn't get the golden ticket or possess $$$ they're doomed.

I'm not suggesting that you're "doomed" if you can't get into William & Mary or UVA in state and have to settle for another in state school. There's nothing wrong with JMU, GMU, etc., it's just that the gap between UVA/W&M and the other VA schools in terms of admission is so great -- JMU truly doesn't mean "Just Missed UVA" -- that there are many, many great schools falling somewhere in between. For example, other than Northwestern a borderline UVA admit from in state is a likely admit to every Big 10 school, most of which are great, fun, and have national reputations. If you can afford them, why not? They're certainly less expensive than private schools.

That is absolutely not certain. Many privates are a heckuva lot cheaper than OOS B10 schools.

After merit aid, maybe, but the best privates typically don't offer merit aid. I'm talking about full price for a top ranked private versus full price for OOS Big Ten. Big Ten is always cheaper.

Well yes after aid. And why limit the private to “best”? Sorry, all the big ten schools aren’t ’t anywhere close to “best”. Many aren’t particularly good, to be frank. Iowa? Michigan State? Nebraska? And there are many quality privates with merit aid. Again, just trying to rebut your ‘certainly less expensive’ assertion.

I'd rather go Big Ten than second tier private with merit aid.

It really depends on what you want. A student who is a borderline admit to UVA/W&M would likely get merit aid at a SLAC that is ranked within the top 75 that made total cost of attendance 25k/yr or less. Those schools have closer professor relationships, more individualized attention, streamlined process to graduation, personalized career support, better graduate school placement and tightknit alumni network. Almost all the Big Ten will cost more than that for OOS unless you qualify for considerable financial aid. But you will have access to a wider range of majors, more robust social/athletic scene, more career recruiting opportunities, wider name recognition and larger alumni base. For the top 75 LACs the GPA/SAT of fellow students will be comparable or higher than most Big Ten. So it really comes down to what you care about in education--reasonable kids can choose either--it's not at all clearcut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has white supremacists on it's lawn...

UVA graduates know the difference between its and it's

As do most HS graduates.

Double zing! Well done! And all I had to offer was "but they all came in from out of state". Your responses were much better.

Punctuation goes inside the quote.

Not if you went to Oxbridge.

[Anonymous]

OP here.
First visit complete. Went to George Mason.
My impressions...
Doesn't feel like a commuter school. When you are walking around it, it feels like self-contained college campus. While I was aware I was in Fairfax County, I could not see the surrounding suburbs when walking through the campus. We got to walk through the dorm section--actually got to see a room. Perfectly acceptable. They emphasized the opportunities for undergraduate research, as well as internships. Students we met were from PA, NY, and MA, so seems like a good mix of different people.
Attractive campus. Not as charming as the much older colleges, but attractive. Also good use of space. Despite being big enough to have 26,000 undergraduates, you can walk from one end of the campus to another in approximately 15 minutes.
We also went to the separate orientation about the Honors College. Seems to be a very competitive program, that offers a condensed high-level version of the required courses, option for living in the honors dormitory, smaller classes and priority at registration.
I assured my kid that if they attended GM I would not be "dropping by" to visit--that I'd treat it as if they left for a more distant college. Fortunately, based on my parenting style up to this point, kid could believe me! Overall impression was that it was a good solid choice. Not really able to compare it to others, as it's our first visit, but think kid was happy to have seen a college, feel confident they could get in, and more importantly they would have a good experience going there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
First visit complete. Went to George Mason.
My impressions...
Doesn't feel like a commuter school. When you are walking around it, it feels like self-contained college campus. While I was aware I was in Fairfax County, I could not see the surrounding suburbs when walking through the campus. We got to walk through the dorm section--actually got to see a room. Perfectly acceptable. They emphasized the opportunities for undergraduate research, as well as internships. Students we met were from PA, NY, and MA, so seems like a good mix of different people.
Attractive campus. Not as charming as the much older colleges, but attractive. Also good use of space. Despite being big enough to have 26,000 undergraduates, you can walk from one end of the campus to another in approximately 15 minutes.
We also went to the separate orientation about the Honors College. Seems to be a very competitive program, that offers a condensed high-level version of the required courses, option for living in the honors dormitory, smaller classes and priority at registration.
I assured my kid that if they attended GM I would not be "dropping by" to visit--that I'd treat it as if they left for a more distant college. Fortunately, based on my parenting style up to this point, kid could believe me! Overall impression was that it was a good solid choice. Not really able to compare it to others, as it's our first visit, but think kid was happy to have seen a college, feel confident they could get in, and more importantly they would have a good experience going there.

This is from a parent who starts a thread about college tours and then gives lengthy descriptions of each one? I’m not sure I would believe you . . .

[Anonymous]

Sheesh, PP. I really just thought we could help each other out with information sharing here. I guess you don't have to believe me, but I really have no desire to constantly visit my kid once they are in college. Regardless of where they go--near or far--I figure I drop them off in the fall, and maybe go to the family weekend. They come home to me for the holidays.
I do want them to end up in a place that works well for them, so I'm interested in gathering and sharing info. The only reason I even mentioned the "not constantly visiting thing" is I know some people have reservations about GM being too close to home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU, VCU, and GMU...

Hope they accept a 1260/4.0 student. 8 APs 7 Honors

Should we look at CNU and UMW just in case?

Good for VCU and JMU. Well over the top layer for GMU, so much so as to knock out any need for a safety.

Thanks.

Assuming top 1/3 of class. Will be a shoe-in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has white supremacists on it's lawn...

UVA graduates know the difference between its and it's

I'm sure Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer spelled everything correctly and used perfect grammar when they organized the torchlight rally and other weekend events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sheesh, PP. I really just thought we could help each other out with information sharing here. I guess you don't have to believe me, but I really have no desire to constantly visit my kid once they are in college. Regardless of where they go--near or far--I figure I drop them off in the fall, and maybe go to the family weekend. They come home to me for the holidays.
I do want them to end up in a place that works well for them, so I'm interested in gathering and sharing info. The only reason I even mentioned the "not constantly visiting thing" is I know some people have reservations about GM being too close to home.

Sorry PP. But you pitched a softie!