<p>So I was reading a thread from someone living in VA and they were stereotyping colleges in VA. JMU was said to be a lesser UVA. Anyone agree? Disagree?</p>
<p>the only reason I can guess why that would be is because I think people who don't quite get into UVA end up going to other schools instate (like JMU)....which may give it that feel, but that's just a guess.</p>
<p>I live in Virginia and that is not usually the case. I know plenty of people who prefer JMU over UVA..it's just depends on the type of person you are. JMU has a good balance between school work and party where as UVA is very studious and most kids simply don't have the time to party. Some people find the more relaxed atmosphere at JMU more ideal for them. It's just all about preference. I would not say JMU is a lesser version of UVA though. They both give students a great education.</p>
<p>JMU is a good school, but in terms of its admitted student profile, some say that its initials stand for "Just Missed UVA."</p>
<p>I dont care what those people say, because personally going to JMU is giving you a great education and a social life at the same time. UVA is all about studying, whereas JMU you can get school work done and still have time to party or hang out with friends. I would prefer JMU over UVA, even though I heard UVA is an amazing campus</p>
<p>Having two sons whom graduated from UVA, studying isn't the only thing on that campus; at least for them. JMU is considered a step down from UVA but for my daughter, she doesn't want the pressure of UVA. It really depends what one is looking for; what is the proper fit.</p>
<p>@ gbsq- lol i've never heard that before, but i agree that UVA is much higher up than JMU.</p>
<p>@ DU50MH- UVA is a mega-huge party school. its students party like no other.</p>
<p>nope its not</p>
<p>When it comes to party schools, lets face it...JMU pummels UVA. When it comes to academics, UVA has more of a reputation hands down. But again it depends on the individual's needs. At my old high school in NoVa (not to say this is true everywhere), people for the most part that didn't get into UVa went to VT, and people that didn't get into VT went to JMU, and kids who didn't get into JMU went to GMU, and so forth.</p>
<p>I agree with above.</p>
<p>I got to high school in nova as well and most people who don't get into UVA usually end up at VT or JMU with safeties being GMU and Radford.</p>
<p>At my NoVa school, JMU is definitely a second choice to UVA ("Just Missed Uva") but it's not a "safety school". Lots of people use GMU/VCU and ODU/Radford are a notch below that. VT is slightly better than JMU, but that's mostly because the engineering types have VT as their first choice, while the liberal arts types have JMU as second to UVA/W&M.</p>
<p>i know this thread is about VA public schools, but if the choice was between JMU and University of Richmond, what would be the better choice?</p>
<p>One of the admissions deans at UVA said that JMU has come up quite a bit, and now is closer behind UVA in terms of academics than ever before. He seemed quite impressed with JMU's improvement.</p>
<p>Its probably like this... for my high school at least...</p>
<p>Didn't get into UVa or W&M? Go to VT or JMU! Didn't get into VT or JMU? Go to GMU or ODU of VCU! Didn't get into ODU, GMU, or VCU? Community college!</p>
<p>Mary Washington is in there somewhere between JMU and GMU.</p>
<p>I don't know anyone who would turn UVA down for JMU, but JMU definitely has the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>There are always some people that make weird decisions, but I respect them the most. I knew a guy who turned down Harvard to stay close to home and go to GMU. While I want to say the guy is an idiot, I almost respect that kind of decision that most people do not understand.</p>
<p>^
Our valedictorian turned down Harvard and a couple ivies + MIT last year to go to VCU. VCU decided to pay for her undergrad and medical school (guaranteed acceptance). Now that's a deal I would take over Harvard anyway!</p>
<p>For the most part, the stereotype is sort of true. A lot of instate kids who either didn't get into UVA, William & Mary, or even Virginia tech go to JMU. Not to say that JMU is a bad school, because its closing the gap academically between the top tier schools in Virginia. Let's not forget that the class of 2012 had the largest amount of students apply in recent years, so it's still expanding its campus (there's a lot of construction going on at the ISAT and bluestone area). </p>
<p>And in terms of partying, UVA parties just as hard as JMU. Although, I'm not saying UVA has better parties.</p>
<p>I agree, JMU has become quite prestige compared with UVA.</p>
<p>What does VT slightly better than JMU mean precisely? Just wondering what you mean because my sister is transferring to JMU from Va Tech. She was rejected from JMU and goes to tech…she is hell bent on transferring to JMU. In our HS (Walt Whitman) both were considered almost exactly the same with the difference being desired major (Engineering VT, Business JMU).</p>
<p>To me the schools are relatively interchangable in terms of student body except that JMU is smaller (like a college really), better business school and more liberal artsy while VT has a reputation for being a big state school (a huge State School) with good sports and Engineering…</p>
<p>I frankly didn’t think much of either, but my sister is planning onj transferring to JMU from VT…</p>