<p>I've been posting a lot lately as I've tried to narrow down my choices. From JHU, USC, VT, NYU, and UVA, I narrowed it down with interest and appeal in mind to USC and UVA. USC's aid just doesn't cut it, so I was pretty set on UVA. However, I applied to JMU as a back-up school, and they just awarded me nearly a full tuition STEM scholarship. My parents could cover the rest of the expenses, as I have a few other scholarships, so I could attend for free. With going to UVA, I'm looking at 25-30k in loans after all is said and done (pending I don't get any of the million scholarships I'll apply for as an undergrad.) My major is computer science or mathematics. Still undecided. I'll minor in one and major in the other. </p>
<p>I'm really interested in research/interning, and while JMU is much lower regarded, they have already emailed me constantly about research. I am also in their honors program, and with this scholarship, I can see that I am one of the top applicants and will have a lot of options open to me. This is something UVA lacks--I'm just another one of thousands there. UVA has research opportunities, but they aren't reaching out to me like JMU. I don't mind going and finding them on my own; it's just a thought. </p>
<p>I have visited JMU and thought the campus was fine (not as nice as UVA), but generally nice. I ruled it out because I got into better schools, but attending a college for free was never considered. The social atmosphere at UVA is better and so are the extracurriculars, but again JMU isn't that bad either. I will be going to graduate school, so I assume prestige plays a a factor as well. Any comments/insight on this?</p>