Is JMU on the rise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU is a very popular school now. And it is ok to admit it is a school on the rise.

On the rise of what?

Popularity and as many have said becoming a much
More difficult admit

But absent some recognition or improvement in some real area/s, its increased "popularity" could be solely the result of tougher admissions of the state's top 3 colleges.

1. Who cares?
2. JMU got upgraded to R1 which has nothing to do with other colleges in VA

But absent some recognition or improvement in some real area/s, its increased "popularity" could be solely the result of tougher admissions of the state's top 3 colleges.

And that probably isn't going to change any time soon which will only help JMU in the long run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU is a very popular school now. And it is ok to admit it is a school on the rise.

On the rise of what?

Popularity and as many have said becoming a much
More difficult admit

But absent some recognition or improvement in some real area/s, its increased "popularity" could be solely the result of tougher admissions of the state's top 3 colleges.

1. Who cares?
2. JMU got upgraded to R1 which has nothing to do with other colleges in VA

2 would have been a better answer to "why the rise" than the nonsensical "popularity"
1 you should care if you want to go around saying "JMU is on the rise!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU is a very popular school now. And it is ok to admit it is a school on the rise.

On the rise of what?

Popularity and as many have said becoming a much
More difficult admit

But absent some recognition or improvement in some real area/s, its increased "popularity" could be solely the result of tougher admissions of the state's top 3 colleges.

1. Who cares?
2. JMU got upgraded to R1 which has nothing to do with other colleges in VA

2 would have been a better answer to "why the rise" than the nonsensical "popularity"
1 you should care if you want to go around saying "JMU is on the rise!"

Except it’s not true. JMU is r2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU is a very popular school now. And it is ok to admit it is a school on the rise.

On the rise of what?

Popularity and as many have said becoming a much
More difficult admit

But absent some recognition or improvement in some real area/s, its increased "popularity" could be solely the result of tougher admissions of the state's top 3 colleges.

1. Who cares?
2. JMU got upgraded to R1 which has nothing to do with other colleges in VA

2 would have been a better answer to "why the rise" than the nonsensical "popularity"
1 you should care if you want to go around saying "JMU is on the rise!"

Except it’s not true. JMU is r2.

Fine. R2, not R1. Still damn impressive. JMU is obviously on the rise based on record apps and being elevated to research university status. Happy now? JMU kids are happy, you should try it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read that JMU’s number of applications have doubled in the past four years (44k in 2025 versus 22k in 2021) and 50% were from OOS. That’s unreal to me. When did the school become so popular and why is the acceptance rate still high if so many more kids are applying? Is the yield decreasing at the same time? Is this only due to joining the Common App or something else? What’s the reputation among high school kids now? I’ve got a sophomore from MCPS who’s interested.

Common app ~3 years ago
Athletic success and more exposure with move to Sun Belt conference
Schools "above it" are more difficult to gain acceptance. Rolls down hill.

All this. It's not an elite school, but seems to turn out graduates who are generally happy and successful, so there's that.

And that is what many miss. Turning out kids who are successful and HAPPY is key! Who wouldn’t want that?

[Anonymous]

We visited and it’s a nice school. Good, strong academics, lovely campus, good sports and school spirit. Food is decent too.

Not sure what my kid will decide but would be happy if they chose JMU.

[Anonymous]

One kid at JMU. Another at W&M. And one at Tech. All great schools. They are all happy where they landed.
NOVA public school kids K-12. And they each received a really good education.
None of them had any illusions of landing at an Ivy, or a T-25. But they appreciate the education they are getting.
Our senior has accepted a job in their profession. Graduating in May from JMU, will launch fully, insurance and moving away.
I can appreciate the stress of parents worried about outcomes. For most families, rankings are part of what narrows down list.
For parents of younger kids, and I still have one here, ask them what they like to study in school.
Be well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One kid at JMU. Another at W&M. And one at Tech. All great schools. They are all happy where they landed.
NOVA public school kids K-12. And they each received a really good education.
None of them had any illusions of landing at an Ivy, or a T-25. But they appreciate the education they are getting.
Our senior has accepted a job in their profession. Graduating in May from JMU, will launch fully, insurance and moving away.
I can appreciate the stress of parents worried about outcomes. For most families, rankings are part of what narrows down list.
For parents of younger kids, and I still have one here, ask them what they like to study in school.
Be well.

How have you found these schools to be different. What positives and negatives do you notice about these three schools?

[Anonymous]

JMU is just a happy place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that JMU is popular and a good school. However, they do not give much aid, so it seems like it would not be a very good deal for out of state when there are many other comparable schools that do give significant aid. I do not understand why it is so popular for oos.

A lot of kids want Southern schools and schools with D1 sports. JMU is both plus it is not as far away from PA, NY, NJ, etc. as other schools, like Alabama and Ole Miss.

Some parents don’t care about OOS tuition. More parents than you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that JMU is popular and a good school. However, they do not give much aid, so it seems like it would not be a very good deal for out of state when there are many other comparable schools that do give significant aid. I do not understand why it is so popular for oos.

A lot of kids want Southern schools and schools with D1 sports. JMU is both plus it is not as far away from PA, NY, NJ, etc. as other schools, like Alabama and Ole Miss.

Some parents don’t care about OOS tuition. More parents than you think.

+1
The JMU parents’ FB page is full of OOS parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will JMU catch W&M in the rankings now that VT passed W&M?

As to post itself, the poster assumes this is permanent and then uses ranking as a plural. Tech is one spot higher in the USNWR ranking than William and Mary and methodologies will change again. Forbes has W&M significantly higher in its 2025 ranking. I can locate others where W&M is higher so the post is not correct but give Tech credit as a great school.

As to the question itself, maybe one day but not in your or my lifetime. W&M just received $150MM in donations to fund one degree program and the amount is greater than JMU's entire endowment, not to mention JMU is many times larger than W&M.

Yikes. Why is JMU's endowment so low? I have a person connection to JMU and I find this troubling........

Perhaps a different thread topic but endowments are driven by a small number of very large gifts. The PP mentioned the $150m Batten gifts to WM. That’s the Weather Channel founder family and the family net worth is probably $3 billion.

JMU as a historic women’s teachers college has not had graduates who founded companies or went to Wall Street or hedge funds. The two largest gifts in JMU history are a $5 million and a $6 million donation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will JMU catch W&M in the rankings now that VT passed W&M?

As to post itself, the poster assumes this is permanent and then uses ranking as a plural. Tech is one spot higher in the USNWR ranking than William and Mary and methodologies will change again. Forbes has W&M significantly higher in its 2025 ranking. I can locate others where W&M is higher so the post is not correct but give Tech credit as a great school.

As to the question itself, maybe one day but not in your or my lifetime. W&M just received $150MM in donations to fund one degree program and the amount is greater than JMU's entire endowment, not to mention JMU is many times larger than W&M.

Yikes. Why is JMU's endowment so low? I have a person connection to JMU and I find this troubling........

Perhaps a different thread topic but endowments are driven by a small number of very large gifts. The PP mentioned the $150m Batten gifts to WM. That’s the Weather Channel founder family and the family net worth is probably $3 billion.

JMU as a historic women’s teachers college has not had graduates who founded companies or went to Wall Street or hedge funds. The two largest gifts in JMU history are a $5 million and a $6 million donation.

Is Showker one of the largest? https://www.jmu.edu/news/cob/2016/12/01-showker-hall-turns-25.shtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One kid at JMU. Another at W&M. And one at Tech. All great schools. They are all happy where they landed.
NOVA public school kids K-12. And they each received a really good education.
None of them had any illusions of landing at an Ivy, or a T-25. But they appreciate the education they are getting.
Our senior has accepted a job in their profession. Graduating in May from JMU, will launch fully, insurance and moving away.
I can appreciate the stress of parents worried about outcomes. For most families, rankings are part of what narrows down list.
For parents of younger kids, and I still have one here, ask them what they like to study in school.
Be well.

How have you found these schools to be different. What positives and negatives do you notice about these three schools?

Completely from the outside looking in, JMU, VT, and W&M seem to have pretty happy students. Our kids have really liked most of their professors. Our kids are in different majors and seem to be navigating their programs well. They were well prepared for college but still have been challenged in their classes by the level of rigor, and no, not just at W&M. I was most worried about that at W&M but so far, I don't see the grade deflation that is frequently discussed.
All three have great facilities and are in beautiful locations with lots of club opportunities.
Classes and some labs can be pretty big at Tech and JMU, particularly freshman year. Our kids have never had registration issues at any of the schools but parents on FB complain every semester about issues at JMU and W&M.
Blacksburg and Harrisonburg are college towns. Williamsburg is definitely not that. That makes housing there a bit more of a challenge. Pretty pricey off-campus and definitely more of a slum lord issue. But off campus housing isn't particularly inexpensive in any of these cities.
While there is a lot of great hiking and beautiful scenery near Blacksburg and Harrisonburg, Williamsburg is not rural and there is more to do in biking/near driving distance.
In my opinion:
Best view: Harrisonburg - the valley is beautiful; Blacksburg is on a plateau so it is harder to see the mountains from campus
Best architecture: Tech - stunning, again, in my opinion
Best weather: Williamsburg - and I personally love the surrounding area. It is significantly warmer than the other two.
Definitely visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The acceptance rate for 2024-2025 has not been published yet and is expected to be lower than the prior years.

We attended CHOICES day for admitted students this past weekend. They said they had 44,000 applications this years. Higher, not lower, than prior years.

I think you may be confusing number of applications with acceptance rate. Usually when the first goes up the second goes down.

Oh, yes sorry - I was reading it as applications.