Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are in VA and not getting $ for Pitt: JMU.

what they said.

IF your daughter is staying in the DMV and you need to save money.

Otherwise, no one will have heard of JMU other than around here. I lived in Pittsburgh and never heard of JMU until I moved to this area. Similar to locals here wondering, what is an IUP?

Pitt is a far better choice, unless she wants to stay local.

NP. I grew up in VA and had never heard of Pitt until two years ago, when my oldest was a junior in HS. It's not like it's UPenn or Penn State.

Seriously? Where in VA? Pitt (I did not attend btw) has been a nationally recognized AAU member (one of 64 in the US) and R1 institution for many decades. Are you the first in your family to attend college? If so, that may be why?

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like JMU is the stronger school but not in engineering.

Not according to this person:

The kids at Pitt were much better students in HS. Significantly higher SAT/GPA. Average SAT at Pitt is 1350 and about 1200 at JMU.

It sounds like JMU is the stronger school but not in engineering.

George Mason sounds better

Is JMUs program even really considered engineering? I don't see them even being on the same playing field. How does "general engineering" shake out post graduation?

Do any good companies recruit from either school in Engineering?

It doesn't sound like a big difference to pay out of state to go to Pitt vs. JMU.

JMU Engineering??

On the second thought, even it should be better than like JMU psychology or JMU history, etc.

So go for it.

The kids at Pitt were much better students in HS. Significantly higher SAT/GPA. Average SAT at Pitt is 1350 and about 1200 at JMU. The average for the engineering school at Pitt is about 1400. I’d go for the place where your kids scores would be at least average.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU is a great school but know the engineering program is not as established as Pitt.

This is certainly an understatement. JMU takes quite a different approach to engineering, providing a kind of liberal arts college version of engineering...a well rounded program. One may certainly benefit from the experiential-based final two years. Pitt is a PhD-granting selective research institution with a comprehensive College of Engineering and numerous departments covering the traditional disciplines.

I would disagree about JMU engineering being a liberal approach- if you look at the courses required- they pack a punch just like any other engineering program (2 physics, 3 calculus, linear, statics, thermodynamics, chemistry, fluid mechanics, etc). I wouldn’t think liberal arts majors would be signing up for these.

Anonymous wrote:JMU is a great school but know the engineering program is not as established as Pitt.

This is certainly an understatement. JMU takes quite a different approach to engineering, providing a kind of liberal arts college version of engineering...a well rounded program. One may certainly benefit from the experiential-based final two years. Pitt is a PhD-granting selective research institution with a comprehensive College of Engineering and numerous departments covering the traditional disciplines.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are in VA and not getting $ for Pitt: JMU.

what they said.

IF your daughter is staying in the DMV and you need to save money.

Otherwise, no one will have heard of JMU other than around here. I lived in Pittsburgh and never heard of JMU until I moved to this area. Similar to locals here wondering, what is an IUP?

Pitt is a far better choice, unless she wants to stay local.

That's funny, I grew up in Philadelphia and all the Main Liners would pick JMU over Pitt in a heartbeat--for any major. Pitt was not desirable. I get that it's reputation has improved, but just like my limited perception, your view is not accurate. You cannot possibly be comparing JMU to IUP. OP: both are great schools. So with that in mind, she should decide based on what kind of experience she wants. They are very different. A few years ago, my son considered both and was leaning toward Pitt because he wanted an urban environment (before he very unexpectedly got admitted to Georgetown).

I have not heard much about Pitt. I know a lot more about JMU and people that have graduated from there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are in VA and not getting $ for Pitt: JMU.

what they said.

IF your daughter is staying in the DMV and you need to save money.

Otherwise, no one will have heard of JMU other than around here. I lived in Pittsburgh and never heard of JMU until I moved to this area. Similar to locals here wondering, what is an IUP?

Pitt is a far better choice, unless she wants to stay local.

I’m an engineer, been a successful engineer for 20+ years. Work with engineers/cs developers from UVA, VA Tech, GMU, Georgia tech, lots of other schools. I’ve never heard of Pitt before coming on these boards. I don’t think it’s as awesome as you guys seem to think it is.

+1
It's so peculiar how Pitt is always mentioned here. No one I've ever spoken to IRL has EVER mentioned it. I looked it up and it's pretty much just one tall building in the city? Hmm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are in VA and not getting $ for Pitt: JMU.

what they said.

IF your daughter is staying in the DMV and you need to save money.

Otherwise, no one will have heard of JMU other than around here. I lived in Pittsburgh and never heard of JMU until I moved to this area. Similar to locals here wondering, what is an IUP?

Pitt is a far better choice, unless she wants to stay local.

NP. I grew up in VA and had never heard of Pitt until two years ago, when my oldest was a junior in HS. It's not like it's UPenn or Penn State.