It'a a respectable "regional university" that draws a lot of kids from the Mid-Atlantic region (about 25% OOS). I wouldn't pay OOS tuition for it, but I didn't want to pay OOS tuition for UMD either, so my kid is going to JMU this week. His interest is very, very specific and his decision was driven by faculty in the field. It was his second choice, but the only VA school he applied to. I'm a Penn State alum and I always thought State College and the campus were nothing special - I was never a football fan or a drinker. I'm not crazy about I-81 going through the JMU campus, but my DC will be residing and taking all the classes on the quad and that part of campus is quite pretty, imo. |
That's bc nobody in DC cares about Penn State. |
+1 |
And everyone takes the bait. |
Undergraduate education in the U.S. is getting close to 60% female, 40% male. There is going to be a significant ratio difference at most schools. |
+1. I’m looking at WM numbers with DS and telling him to enjoy the one time in his life affirmative action is going to work in his favor as a white male. Much easier for boys to get in. |
Why is this? Any theories? What are the other males doing? |
I think it’s more than theories. Girls have better executive functioning skills and their pre-frontal cortex develops earlier. ADHD presents very differently too. They are outperforming boys in objective measurements from K through college. And anyone who has raised both boys and girls or worked with them in schools will tell you that girls are better at managing their workload and sitting down and having the self discipline to plow through the schoolwork. Men do have higher numbers in engineering and hard sciences, largely because their is a female brain drain in these areas around MS. |
Not at all. I am genuinely curious. I don't understand how the campus can be beautiful with a highway in the middle. |
Boys play more video games and are more prone to having ADHD. |
It’s a popular school in DC area and remains so, even after the horrid shit that was exposed in 2012. In fact, DC has the largest alumni chapter outside of the state of PA. |
JMU is a respectable college. For some it is a safety, for others it is a target, and others still a reach.
Looking at students from DD's school, the best way to see it is in the context of other Virginia Schools. JMU seems to cater to students that wanted to go to UVA but could not get in. Think if it this way: if you take 10 AP's and get mostly A's, UVA is your target. With the same load, but mostly B's (in the AP's), or mostly A's in honors classes, you will not get in to UVA, but you will get in to JMU. As of the other VA schools, VA Tech is for the more STEM focused kids. For non-stem, it is probably comparable to JMU for admissions, maybe a bit higher. But, the culture is different. VA Tech is more of a Meritocracy whereas JMU is more of a collaborative environment with more student support. William and Mary is for students that could get into UVA but do not like the party atmosphere. For DD, JMU is a bad fit. She is very introverted and mostly interested in Sciences. JMU puts them on the other side of the freeway. She wants to go to Va Tech. |
OP here and this is my first time posting here, and really ever going on this thread! |
Not sure, but the impact probably isn't going to be good. |
Everything is relative OP. The question is "good" compared to what? Good compared to Harvard? No, it's not. Good for a normal middle class kid ... yes, most people are middle class or poor. They are lucky to go to college anywhere. JMU is pretty cheap compared to a lot of colleges. |