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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Excluding UVA, W&M, and Virginia Tech, my brief take on the other institutions is as follows:

[b]VCU - A higher percentage of students seem to be interested in urban, diverse environments and VCU is the best situated in the state for that.  It also is fortunate to have the hospital/medical/dental school tie in that adds some career opportunities in healthcare.  It is pretty widely recognized in art, which is also rare.  I think this has been a school on the rise in some respects, but admission rate is high which suggests they are having difficulty filling some spots (it is a big school).  Urban campus has some interesting buildings (many acquired rather than built).[/b]

GMU - should have a lot going for it being located in the most affluent area of the state which also has the biggest economy and jobs.  Has moved to become more residential, but still has too much of a feel of a commuter school, although it is much improved.  Campus is nice, modern, but might lack character some want.  Despite being in heavily populated area, it doesn't have the urban feel some want.  For people in NOVA, it is probably too familiar to appeal to a wider segment.  It feels like there should be substantial upside here, but that has been the case for a long time.

ODU -- is urban but not as interesting of an area as VCU.  ODU seems to take seriously a role of giving area students from less affluent backgrounds a chance to advance themselves.  It is focused on the region (military, shipbuilding, etc.)  Does not seem to have much appeal outside as a first choice.  Campus is pretty nondescript.

JMU -- Although now large, it is a different type of school to the above, located in a more remote area.  This has pluses and minuses.  It probably started to distinguish itself somewhat from the above schools by having better completion rates than the urban schools (which used to be typical), but it now seems to lack appeal for some because of its location.  Good business school, interesting directions with CISAT, pretty undergraduate-focused despite size, but lacks a trendy draw like Virginia Tech engineering.  Better school spirit than the schools above.

CNU - is perhaps an up-and-comer.  Attractive campus is a big draw.  It seems to model itself after W&M to some extent (residential, liberal arts & sciences).  Has probably had the biggest improvement in selectivity among the schools listed here.  It is much smaller than the schools above.  I think it has stolen some of the thunder from Mary Washington.  Strong undergraduate focus compared to VCU, GMU, ODU.

Mary Washington -- was essentially the women's branch of UVA, so it has some pedigree and it has an attractive campus.  Location not too far from DC or Richmond should be good.  Still, it seems to have struggled to create a more modern identity.  It still may be a hidden gem, though, that could become more popular in the future.

Radford and Longwood struggle with their locations and creating an identity.  I haven't visited either recently so won't comment further.

VMI is a great school for the right type of student.  I've seen them take students (obviously mostly men) that need a push and some shaping and turn them into disciplined, quality individuals.  [/quote]

VCU is renowned -- outside of Virginia.  They have multiple Nobel affiliations, their Arts, Sciences, and Med programs are all Global 100 and ARWU 100, and their size is considered to be so much of an advantage that they're intentionally expanding even further.  If you look at global rankings, VCU is actually considered to be ahead of all other VA schools (public or private) except UVA and VT.  VCU doesn't have any difficulty at all filling undergraduate slots - they intentionally structure themselves to be able to accept all qualified in-state applicants.  That's a decision that they made a good 25+ years ago when they started to expanded they actually has some sort of multi-year project to study the issue before deciding.  
[/quote]

Me think he doth protest too much. What are you talking about? I am from the Northeast and [b]never heard of VCU until I moved to NoVA[/b]. And then I have never met a graduate in my line of work.  [/quote]

Not unusual.  But would be very unusual if you were in higher education, or if you were in the arts, the hard sciences, or medicine.

[/quote]

Yeah I worked in higher ed in Boston for a decade before moving to VA
 Never heard of it. [/quote]

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