Is JMU on the rise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think JMU is very quickly becoming comparable to the VT type kid who doesn't want engineering. Same academics, vibe and culture on a smaller campus

You wish.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yes it has moved up to Safety School

Agree that it is a safety but isn't safety the "lowest" category?

It depends on what your definition of a safety school is. It used to be that if you had a 3.7 or up unweighted GPA you would definitely get in to JMU. That is no longer true. There were several kids in my DS class that thought JMU was a given and they were either deferred or rejected EA.

Really weird to hear this because I know of multiple kids with 3.4s and below weighted (with good test scores) who got in.

Doubt it

Doubt all you want. The truth is evident whether you choose to see it or ignore it and continue being blind

I think you are salty because your kid probably got denied

Please...don't embarrass yourself like this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think JMU is very quickly becoming comparable to the VT type kid who doesn't want engineering. Same academics, vibe and culture on a smaller campus

+100 JMU business could be better very soon if not already. Let VT be the engineering school and JMU the B school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think JMU is very quickly becoming comparable to the VT type kid who doesn't want engineering. Same academics, vibe and culture on a smaller campus

I think you may be onto something. For my FCPS junior who is thinking engineering, VT > JMU. But other FCPS kids who want business or finance are thinking JMU > VT. Plus we have OOS friends in NY. NJ,. and PA who have toured VA schools, and it's a fairly even preference split between VT and JMU.

[Anonymous]

The business school is gorgeous

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think JMU is very quickly becoming comparable to the VT type kid who doesn't want engineering. Same academics, vibe and culture on a smaller campus

+100 JMU business could be better very soon if not already. Let VT be the engineering school and JMU the B school.

No thanks. There are plenty of business schools around. I'd rather see JMU be more the education/poly sci/public policy/environmental studies/intelligence analysis school. GMU has the public policy market among VA state schools, which is great. But let's keep JMU more "other" focused than "me making money in business" focused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think JMU is very quickly becoming comparable to the VT type kid who doesn't want engineering. Same academics, vibe and culture on a smaller campus

+100 JMU business could be better very soon if not already. Let VT be the engineering school and JMU the B school.

No thanks. There are plenty of business schools around. I'd rather see JMU be more the education/poly sci/public policy/environmental studies/intelligence analysis school. GMU has the public policy market among VA state schools, which is great. But let's keep JMU more "other" focused than "me making money in business" focused.

JMU is a party school. Business is a good avenue for them.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I wonder if there are any parallels from across the river. I remember when UMD was a safety with a higher acceptance rate than JMU. Now it’s a highly sought after world-class university that rejected my 4.7 WGPA kid and broke her heart along with the hearts of 80% of her classmates. What changed? Increased performance in sports? Common App? College in general getting too darned expensive? A tipping point of high performing students embracing the school? Aren’t those forces also at play with JMU?

Stop trying to make fetch happen.

Lol! But actually, I’m curious about this as well. What causes seismic shifts in a school’s popularity and reputation within a decade or two?

First and foremost: Winning some football games and going to bowl games.
Secondarily: joining the Common App; other schools becoming harder to get into because they have so many more students applying due to the Common App; rising costs of colleges making in-state public school tuition more feasible.

This is by far the reason...you see it with every school that joins the Common App. Other factors include schools that now will accept your common statement to satisfy their similar requirements.

You need the awareness that the school exists, but having to complete a different application is a huge barrier. Also, schools like University of Washington saw a big jump in applications when they no longer required you complete their own 650 word essay, but will just accept your common app essay.

Yes, but I still maintain that a school's football team providing national name awareness and recognition is a primary factor. I'm an 80s person, so I reference the Flutie effect - Doug Flutie's success at Boston College significantly increasing applications the following year; and
Villanova making the sweet 16 for the first time.....applications up.

JMU's applications greatly increased as soon as it joined Common App; but it has continued to increase year-over-year since then....during which time the football team won it's conference and has gone to bowl game....raising the school and its name's visibility nationwide. Went to a bowl game last year, this year applications up another 4,000. That 4,000 isn't because of it's 5th year with the common app.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think JMU is very quickly becoming comparable to the VT type kid who doesn't want engineering. Same academics, vibe and culture on a smaller campus

+100 JMU business could be better very soon if not already. Let VT be the engineering school and JMU the B school.

No thanks. There are plenty of business schools around. I'd rather see JMU be more the education/poly sci/public policy/environmental studies/intelligence analysis school. GMU has the public policy market among VA state schools, which is great. But let's keep JMU more "other" focused than "me making money in business" focused.

WM and Mary Wash can handle environmental studies and policy. Maybe GMU and CNU as well.

JMU just feels like the perfect business school for the bros and a new pipeline to the Street.

[Anonymous]

JMU just feels like the perfect business school for the bros and a new pipeline to the Street.

Watch out, Bucknell!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if there are any parallels from across the river. I remember when UMD was a safety with a higher acceptance rate than JMU. Now it’s a highly sought after world-class university that rejected my 4.7 WGPA kid and broke her heart along with the hearts of 80% of her classmates. What changed? Increased performance in sports? Common App? College in general getting too darned expensive? A tipping point of high performing students embracing the school? Aren’t those forces also at play with JMU?

Stop trying to make fetch happen.

Lol! But actually, I’m curious about this as well. What causes seismic shifts in a school’s popularity and reputation within a decade or two?

First and foremost: Winning some football games and going to bowl games.
Secondarily: joining the Common App; other schools becoming harder to get into because they have so many more students applying due to the Common App; rising costs of colleges making in-state public school tuition more feasible.

This is by far the reason...you see it with every school that joins the Common App. Other factors include schools that now will accept your common statement to satisfy their similar requirements.

You need the awareness that the school exists, but having to complete a different application is a huge barrier. Also, schools like University of Washington saw a big jump in applications when they no longer required you complete their own 650 word essay, but will just accept your common app essay.

Yes, but I still maintain that a school's football team providing national name awareness and recognition is a primary factor. I'm an 80s person, so I reference the Flutie effect - Doug Flutie's success at Boston College significantly increasing applications the following year; and
Villanova making the sweet 16 for the first time.....applications up.

JMU's applications greatly increased as soon as it joined Common App; but it has continued to increase year-over-year since then....during which time the football team won it's conference and has gone to bowl game....raising the school and its name's visibility nationwide. Went to a bowl game last year, this year applications up another 4,000. That 4,000 isn't because of its 5th year with the common app.

I don't disagree with your point - but it's not quite as simple as you say. Doug Flutie's Hail Mary against UMiami was in 1984, but BC hasn't rested its #37 ranking on that one athletic accomplishment for 40 years. George Mason basketball made it to the final four 20 years ago and did have a surge in applications -- but that hasn't equated with a huge surge in its college ranking. So schools either need to keep winning (Penn State, maybe) or keep working at "excellence" (whatever that may be) (say, BC) to maintain its increase visibility through sports.

[Anonymous]

Yawn. Endowment troll needs to go to a JMU party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yawn. Endowment troll needs to go to a JMU party.

I'm not trolling...do you know what trolling is? I'm making a fact based argument/noting a fact.

[Anonymous]

The endowment police sounds like a snob….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if there are any parallels from across the river. I remember when UMD was a safety with a higher acceptance rate than JMU. Now it’s a highly sought after world-class university that rejected my 4.7 WGPA kid and broke her heart along with the hearts of 80% of her classmates. What changed? Increased performance in sports? Common App? College in general getting too darned expensive? A tipping point of high performing students embracing the school? Aren’t those forces also at play with JMU?

Stop trying to make fetch happen.

Lol! But actually, I’m curious about this as well. What causes seismic shifts in a school’s popularity and reputation within a decade or two?

First and foremost: Winning some football games and going to bowl games.
Secondarily: joining the Common App; other schools becoming harder to get into because they have so many more students applying due to the Common App; rising costs of colleges making in-state public school tuition more feasible.

This is by far the reason...you see it with every school that joins the Common App. Other factors include schools that now will accept your common statement to satisfy their similar requirements.

You need the awareness that the school exists, but having to complete a different application is a huge barrier. Also, schools like University of Washington saw a big jump in applications when they no longer required you complete their own 650 word essay, but will just accept your common app essay.

Yes, but I still maintain that a school's football team providing national name awareness and recognition is a primary factor. I'm an 80s person, so I reference the Flutie effect - Doug Flutie's success at Boston College significantly increasing applications the following year; and
Villanova making the sweet 16 for the first time.....applications up.

JMU's applications greatly increased as soon as it joined Common App; but it has continued to increase year-over-year since then....during which time the football team won it's conference and has gone to bowl game....raising the school and its name's visibility nationwide. Went to a bowl game last year, this year applications up another 4,000. That 4,000 isn't because of it's 5th year with the common app.

If there’s one thing those kids from Stamford know, it’s that JMU beat Western Kentucky in the Boca Raton Bowl. 15,000 in attendance, probably a 0.008 Neilson share. Electric!