<p>My Son has narrowed his choices down to James Madison Unversity in VA and SC Columbia. He will study some facet of business. At SC he was accepted into the Capstone program and offered in state tuition plus a few dollars so the cost is a wash. We hear a lot regarding the SC grad program and international business but not a lot about the under grad program. JMU has a good undergrad business program and during a recent campus visit we asked a speaker during the informal q & a to compare the two. He made the comment that SC does not nurture the undergrads as they do the grads. He also said to compare the number and quality of potential employers that recruit at JMU vs a smaller number, smaller salary at SC. His point of view... Can anyone offer some incite into the undergrad program as it relates to the business school,Capstone, and intern/employment opportunities?</p>
<p>Was he accepted directly into a business major at either school, or is it pre-business? Important since the prerequisites will be weed-out courses. Make sure he understands that. Otherwise, all else being equal, this is (probably) his first major decision as an adult - very empowering. He will be motivated to do well - to show his decision was a good one.</p>
<p>Being in the capstone program will give a more personal feel to USC. If scores are high enough it gives automatic admittance to intern. business. Capstone also has some unique grant and research opportunitie handled through office of fellowships and undergraduate research…great people. USC’s undergrad international business is highly rated (grad intern. bus. is one of top school in international, but I assume undergrad is more relevant here) but hopefully someone will respond about the general business undergrad if that’s what he’s after. After next year, business will be in brand new facility so I know there is a lot of focus on the business school.</p>
<p>Even though capstone is not just business, you should talk with them. I think the special opportunities there can make USC very attractive.</p>
<p>My daughter got into JMU and USC. She intended to apply to the International Business program but decided it was just way to intense. She double majored in Finance and Economics and a minor in Chinese. She loved every minute of South Carolina and got a great job with a defense contractor in the DC area. She did attend the career fairs and got a couple offers but none that really interested her. I think the aggressive student gets the attention at either school. </p>
<p>She chose Carolina over JMU because of the big campus, SEC sports and active Greek Life atmosphere as well as a great business school. She felt she would have been very bored in Harrisonburg with it’s fairly homogenous campus, especially because she went to a very small high school. She was ready for a big, city-oriented university.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your son.</p>
<p>snugapug - He was accepted to the Moore school at SC, letter received signed by Dean Teegen. Letter from JMU COB is not clear, it is congrats on his EA and lists the attributes of the JMU College of Business. </p>
<p>Thank you all for the input-</p>
<p>Hi, my sophomore daughter attends JMU (not for business)…her freshman roommate came in for business, but I’m pretty sure I remember my daughter telling me that she had to have a certain GPA by end of sophomore year to get in…not sure if she was just trying to get into General Business or not. My daughter loves JMU…it is a very beautiful campus, however it’s definitely not for everyone. It is pretty secluded, which some kids really like while others might hate that. My hs senior who applied to USC, likes JMU, however refused to apply there even though her older sister would have loved her to. Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>USC Undergrad IB Program has been ranked number one for a number of years now. I think the masters comes in second. [News</a> - Darla Moore School of Business](<a href=“http://mooreschool.sc.edu/news.aspx?article_id=319]News”>http://mooreschool.sc.edu/news.aspx?article_id=319)</p>
<p>Being accepted into the Business School isn’t the same as the International Business Program. For most students, the IB major is conditional and you have to reapply during your sophomore year for admission. Honors and Capstone (I think) have automatic entry as freshmen.</p>
<p>My S is also comparing SC/Capstone/In-State plus a bit more to JMU business. I will need to re-read but I think they have automatic entry as long as other conditions are met, which probably means 3.5GPA. He’s always been a good student but I’m worried that if his GPA slips at SC, he’s sunk. There’s not way we could cover OOS tuition. He really liked the SC campus but he’s visited JMU a couple times and likes it too. I think we need to really compare class size and opportunities after 4 years. We’re headed to JMU in a couple weeks and I hope that helps but he is truly torn.</p>
<p>Sounds like the JMU speaker answering the question at the JMU presentation was giving the typical self-promotion answer. My family asked many questions during the tours and presentations and the school being visited always stated they were better than the other school in question. Many of the answers were very narrow and had qualifiers. USC has an excellent undergrad program that nurtures undergrads and offers great employer opportunities. It would be an excellent choice for any prospective student.</p>
<p>I went to USC and work with both USC and JMU grads at a consulting firm in DC, so I can probably provide some insight. JMU does not really have graduate programs to speak of, so the speaker’s answer about the focus on undergraduate education is probably pretty accurate. What he did not say is that USC actually has a lower student faculty ratio (21:1 v 23:1). This may not be a big deal, but I thought I would address it since you mentioned it as a factor. USC has two top 10 undergraduate programs (#1 international business and #9 insurance/risk management) that I feel help raise the baseline for business majors across the board. Of course it is really impossible to compare the quality of education at USC and JMU unless you attended both universities. I’ll say that having strong grad programs at the school helps improve the quality of undergraduate education since faculty often teach at both levels and there are opportunities for undergraduate research (see: Magellan Scholars).</p>
<p>The big difference between the schools is in hiring; namely, the location of job opportunities and the companies that recruit at the school. Both schools send a lot of students to professional service firms (i.e. Big 4, Accenture, IBM), though USC has a strong advantage in banking with Bank of America based in Charlotte (1.5h away) and BB&T, Ally Bank, and Wells Fargo all partially based there. I would imagine JMU probably has a strong advantage with government contractors in the DC area, though of course they might not be hiring as strongly in the coming years due to expected spending cuts. The big advantage USC has is its access to employers in Charlotte and Atlanta, two of the nation’s healthiest job markets, and to an extent DC and New York. A map on JMU COB’s site shows the concentration of alumni, with majority in DC-Baltimore. USC also has a lot of alumni in DMV (last count was around 6,000), but our alumni seem to be more spread out geographically.</p>
<p>Having friends from both schools, I think both have strong undergraduate programs. In my opinion the feel of the campus and a review of companies recruiting on campus will be the key to which school he should attend. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the incite. He wants to triple major in marketing, management science and finance. Nice to know the banks/ finance and job market down there are strong. We went to the choices day at JMU and he went back for another look at Carolina last week during spring break. He came come and decided to enroll at Carolina-Capstone-Moore School.</p>
<p>What is the name of your firm? We are west of DC in Leesburg, VA. Maybe he can look you up in 4 years or sooner for an internship!</p>
<p>thanks-</p>