<p>I have to make a decision by May 1st and I've narrowed it down to James Madison University and Siena College. If you were in my position, which one would you choose and why? If it helps, I would be going for business. Thanks.</p>
<p>Anything would be helpful</p>
<p>Are you instate for JMU?</p>
<p>No I’m out of state. Oh and Siena offered me $7,000 so it brings their tuition closer to JMU’s.</p>
<p>Well, this is what I know about Siena: it’s a Franciscan school, it is on the socially conservative side compared to most LACs in the northeast, it has some emphasis on community volunteering, it is small, and at least some of the dorms are like cell blocks. (My kid did a JHU summer program there for 4 years.) It has a pleasant-looking suburban campus, with mostly modernish buildings. There’s plenty of strip-mall type shopping close by, although you don’t see that stuff from the campus. It is also right outside Albany, so presumably whatever cultural resources Albany offers are reasonably accessible. How you would get to shopping or Albany I’m not sure. I assume that some students have cars, and many colleges in that situation run some kind of shuttle bus. I don’t know what the public transportation is like.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about JMU, but its students seem to have higher stats than Siena, and perhaps surprisingly, it has significantly more OOS students (30% vs 12%). JMU does seem to have a lower proportion of males. You might want to look at up-to-date stats on that. It also has about 15K undergrads vs 3+K for Siena, so the size is a factor.</p>
<p>I’d be inclined towards JMU, personally, because Siena just doesn’t excite me and JMU seems to have more to offer. But then, I’d never be a business major, so I don’t have that perspective.</p>
<p>JMU has a strong business program. Their career center traditionally does very well for the students and employers like to recruit there if that helps.</p>