Seriously, has anyone outside of Virginia ever heard of JMU?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apart from Maryland and JHU, there are no schools in the state with much name recognition. If you live in Virginia and got into both JMU and Maryland, you'd probably still go to JMU. The DC region is full of JMU grads.

I guess you could add the Naval Academy so there are three.

[Anonymous]

Heard of JMU 30 years ago when I was in HS in Massachusetts. First heard about Christopher Newport about 5-10 years ago living in VA. CNU is a new school for everyone.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from HS in small town Pennsylvania and my class sent a few kids to JMU (this was long before the Internet put info about every school at your fingertips). It seemed kind of exotic at the time since so many graduates stayed in state, although VA Tech was also a popular out of state option. I definitely never heard of CNU until I did my initial search of VA public universities after moving here. I could say the same about VCU actually.

My own DC is now applying to schools as a VA resident and . . . not applying to any VA schools. She's not worried about name recognition - she just doesn't like the majors offered at JMU and CNU (and can't get into the more selective in-state options).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm from New Jersey and never heard of either of these schools until moving to DC a few years ago.

Have any of you DMV folks every heard of Rider U, Fairleigh Dickinson or Montclair State U?

I heard of Fairleigh Dickinson when I lived overseas

[Anonymous]

JMU is a well-established regional school and has some solid programs, including 3+2 accounting program. Graduates have no problems getting jobs in VA. It's a practical choice, especially for in-state kids.

[Anonymous]

It's a regional school.

That doesn't mean it's bad, just that by definition, its reach is in this region. No different than say, Valparaiso or Drake.

[Anonymous]

I am from PA and JMU is known there. Christopher Newport- not so much.

[Anonymous]

I'm from New England and my HS boyfriend (snort!) went to JMU back in the early 90s. It was on the radar as a solid state school that was more affordable than similar options closer to home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm from New England and my HS boyfriend (snort!) went to JMU back in the early 90s. It was on the radar as a solid state school that was more affordable than similar options closer to home.

^^ that's me. Id never heard of Christopher Newport until Id been living in DC a while.

[Anonymous]

What about Old Dominion University?

[Anonymous]

Who cares? Don't know anyone that went there who didn't absolutely love it.

[Anonymous]

Admittance from FCPS is much more competitive than the college's ranking/prestige warrants. Plenty of parents wish like
crazy for their student to attend a state school, so they only have to pay in-state tuition. This drives the frenzy and hype.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? Don't know anyone that went there who didn't absolutely love it.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you serious? I went to JMU. I am not from Virginia and there were tons of kids from NJ and NY there. We also had numerous West Coast kids too. Of course it's primarily kids from VA but you have to be joking if you think only people from VA have heard of it.

Sure the rich loser kids from NY and NJ go to JMU when they can't get into Maryland.

Much more cache than saying your kid goes to SUNY Binghamton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apart from Maryland and JHU, there are no schools in the state with much name recognition. If you live in Virginia and got into both JMU and Maryland, you'd probably still go to JMU. The DC region is full of JMU grads.

I guess you could add the Naval Academy so there are three.

Georgetown and GWU are both on the low end of national recognition and certainly far higher up than only regional recognition. William and Mary is in the same category.