Anonymous wrote:This was quite some thread to read through. To answer the original question, I would say James Madison is reasonably well known by those who know colleges, but not as familiar with the other one. I once dated a JMU lady as an undergrad at WLU - she was very polished and sharp. Went on to go to law school at W&L but has been a SAHM for over a decade after 4 years at Akin.

Liked her so much I married her!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Maybe this is field dependent, because in top tier STEM fields, where you went to undergrad is extremely secondary to graduate admissions compared to your undergraduate research experience, your letters of recommendation, whether you have published, whether you have won nationally competitive awards (Goldwater, for example), and your academic record.

You are much more likely to do significant undergraduate research, get powerful letters of recommendation from recognized names in the field, get published, and win awards, if you attend a prestige undergrad school. Again, there are exceptions, but if you want to go into academia in any field, you are foolish not to attend the most prestigious undergrad program you can.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before I came to Virginia, I'd never even heard of UVa, much less JMU or GMU.

LOL!

You must not be a sports person at all. UVA has done very well in baseball and men's basketball in recent years. Their soccer program is usually good as well.

GMU - Final Four 2006, google it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm marveling at the fact that an "academic" such as yourself (snicker) would be spending so much time on a thread concerning a school or schools you have such disdain for. It appears you are a poor advertisement for your own profession. Clearly academia isn't keeping you nearly busy enough!

One of the benefits of tenure is that I have all the time I need to correct people who are wrong on the internet.

And shouldn't you be slaving away at your humdrum office job right now?

Serious question: why are you on this thread, "correcting" people who have not made incorrect statements? No one has compared JMU to Stanford or an Ivy, but they have correctly stated that it is a good school. Why do you feel the need to insert yourself at all? You have added nothing to the discussion. Nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm marveling at the fact that an "academic" such as yourself (snicker) would be spending so much time on a thread concerning a school or schools you have such disdain for. It appears you are a poor advertisement for your own profession. Clearly academia isn't keeping you nearly busy enough!

One of the benefits of tenure is that I have all the time I need to correct people who are wrong on the internet.

And shouldn't you be slaving away at your humdrum office job right now?

Anonymous wrote:Or Christopher Newport University?

Anonymous wrote:
I imagine 98% of students choose school's first from the region where they live, or from those that friends and family members attended.



This is an interesting statement. Our son is not at a college that anyone in the family or any friend has ever attended. It is also not in the local region of our home. So I guess we are in the 2%?? We never had the expectation that he would go to one of our alma maters or follow anyone else. He picked his school based on what he wanted out of a school. I would be interested in knowing if we are "odd" in this respect or if others on this forum picked schools based on the merits of the school itself and not on its regional location or on the fact that family/friends had gone there. BTW he chose a school that none of us had ever heard of before. Amazing, huh?


This page has some stats from the Chronicle of Higher Ed on the % of students in each state attending their own states' schools. For VA it is 74%. Most of the states are over 50%. I would guess that if you add in neighboring states (VA kids going to North Carolina or MD) you'd increase a lot from that 74%. It also notes that a survey found only 15% of freshmen attend a college more than 500 miles from home. So yes, your child is the minority in going to another region for college.

http://www.thecollegesolution.com/where-most-students-end-up-attending-college/

My kids aren't in college yet but I did attend a public university in my own state, one usually ranked among the top "regional" universities in my area. I had a great experience there and the cost was very reasonable so I graduated with no debt. I was introduced to it by my dad, who liked to recruit new grads from there, and I liked the relatively small size, focus on undergrad educations vs. graduate teaching/research, the location, and strong internship program. I've had a great career - and no trouble getting into and doing well in grad school - and don't feel I was in any way hindered by not spending a crapload of money on an Ivy league degree (I was accepted at U of Penn). We live in VA and my kids know that we will pay for 4 years at a VA state college. If they want to go somewhere else that would require them to go into debt then we'll have to talk seriously about how much debt and what benefits they think they'd gain from that and if it is really worthwhile. But, the only way I can imagine it being worthwhile is for some super-specialized program that really fits a particular passion of theirs and that leads to a lucrative career. Going into debt purely for surface things like perceived status, name recognition, or you just love the campus is not worth it IMO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before I came to Virginia, I'd never even heard of UVa, much less JMU or GMU.

LOL!

You must not be a sports person at all. UVA has done very well in baseball and men's basketball in recent years. Their soccer program is usually good as well.

GMU - Final Four 2006, google it.

I am an immigrant and artsy; husband is not into sports, either. Sports were the last thing on our minds - scratch that, they were not on our mind at all when we were considering college options for our oldest. VA still wins for the variety of options and value for the $$ for the in-state candidates.
Now our kid has been indoctrinated into the school spirit and regularly goes to home games... still can't wrap my mind around this

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm marveling at the fact that an "academic" such as yourself (snicker) would be spending so much time on a thread concerning a school or schools you have such disdain for. It appears you are a poor advertisement for your own profession. Clearly academia isn't keeping you nearly busy enough!

One of the benefits of tenure is that I have all the time I need to correct people who are wrong on the internet.

And shouldn't you be slaving away at your humdrum office job right now?