<p>has she considered Elmira? Just putting in what you posted on CC and using their scholarship calaculator, she would be eligible for some scholarship $$. It's worth taking a look.</p>
<p>It has been awhile since I read this, so investigate on your own if interested, but regarding Elmira- I have heard that they have very generous aid packages for freshman. I have read the campus is purple and beautiful. I have read that it is difficult to transfer out bcs the credit system is not the same as elsewhere, also many credits do not transfer.</p>
<p>Elmira is about 1 and a half hours from us. Seems that schools near the DC & NYC areas may have more to offer as far as internships, etc for International Affairs majors. My thinking is that if a school like Elmira isn't significantly superior to a school such as Randolph-Macon, Wagner, George Mason, they are going to afford her more opportunities in that field of study.</p>
<p>Just to put my two cents in: My D is at JMU with about the same GPA and SAT's. she took the ACT and got a 28. She is happy enough but she is working very hard.I'm not sure how hard your D wants to work in college. My one issue with JMU is that if you are struggling in a course, there is not any support network from the profs or TA's. Tutors are also nonexistent. Food for thought.</p>
<p>I agree that Drew would be a plausible option. It has a very strong IR program with a Semester on the United Nations in Manhattan every year, it's only 45 minutes or so from the city, and the student:faculty ratio is 11:1. They get great political speakers (Bill Clinton last semester, Henry Kissinger, Walter Cronkite, Hillary Clinton) because of Tom Kean being the president, and the 9/11 Commission Hearings (chaired by Kean) were held there. There is also a unique Drew International Seminar program that admits students to 6-week long, themed programs in fairly obscure countries each year for very little money. The admit rate is deceptively high compared their stats and "students also apply to," but SAT is less of a consideration than extra-curriculars.</p>
<p>yermom I sent a pm to you.</p>
<p>If she is going to major in IR and wants good prospects after graduation, she probably should shoot for the better IR schools. It will be hard to get into any of the top IR undergrad programs like JHU, Tufts, GU and GWU but with her stats, I'd strongly recommend that she conisider American University, UCSD, University of Colorado, Macalester and Ohio Wesleyan. Her stats are not stellar but all of these schools may be a reach given her stats and all of the schools have very good placements in IR grad programs and jobs. This is based on my own IR grad education. Among the schools that you list, GMU is probably the best for IR.</p>
<p>When I am at home, I live just a few miles from GMU, a pretty campus, but one that is still developing. </p>
<p>The board of trustees has for years been very conservative. The head of the board was Ed Meese, Reagan's AG. I don't know if the Democratic governor has been able to replace some of the previous Republican appointments. The law school has made several conservative hires related to public policy issues. As for the students, I don't think that there is much political activity one or another. Northern Virginia itself has traditionally been much much more liberal than the rest of the state.</p>
<p>George Mason Univ. is much more challenging than one would think based on stats. Students there need to be very strong academically, particularly in writing skills, because the workload is brisk and heavy. </p>
<p>DS has 1050 SAT (old) and 3.6+ GPA (regular classes) with excellent ECs (nationally ranked swimmer, Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, and volunteer community-based youth group which assists in community activities). Friend who is prof. at GMU said school would be too challenging initially even with hook. He did not apply.</p>
<p>AU IMHO is out of reach. It is more challenging than GMU. </p>
<p>R-M and Mt. St. Mary's look good.</p>
<p>JMU is a nice school all around. Challenging like GMU, but a much nicer community. Better learning environment, happier students.</p>
<p>Coming to the DC/VA/MD area brings you into a highly competitive environment.</p>
<p>JMU requires higher sat scores than GMU for the average applicant.</p>
<p>Orange:</p>
<p>
[quote]
but a much nicer community
[/quote]
</p>
<p>As a resident of the Northern Virginia area near GMU, I take umbrage at your suggestion that the metropolis of Harrisionburg VA is in anyway a
[quote]
nicer community
[/quote]
than Fairfax County. Cripes, JMU is in the middle of nowhere with nothing much to do and has a major interstate higway running right through the middle of its campus.</p>
<p>
[quote]
nicer community
[/quote]
Not hardly.</p>
<p>Speaking of in the middle of nowhere, Tsdad, you are right. JMU is beautiful though. I have Q, son is considreing this school. It is 2+ hours from Dulles Airport. How does one get there without a car? Do students fly out of Shd regional to get to Dulles? They had a Greyhound bus terminal a mile from campus, but it now longer exists! It just seems like if you don't catch a charter bus that they have on major holidays, transportation home is difficult and extremely expensive.</p>
<p>I am going to agree with Tsdad on this one (at least for my d). It is just as important to find the right atmosphere and fit for your kid as it is to find the right academic program. My d would hate to be in a semi-rural area. Even though many people praise JMU, I know it would not work well for my d. We drove through Harrisonburg a few years ago during a family vacation to Natural Bridge and the surrounding area. We were driving on the interstate highway that runs through the JMU campus. Though the campus seemed nice, I could not fathom my kid spending 4 years there. One of the reasons she liked GMU, is that it was a suburban area with easy access to DC. We have been focusing on schools that have access to an urban area. My older d too would not consider a LAC. She found the atmosphere too small and confining. So you really have to take the atmosphere of each school into consideration and take your kids lead on figuring out the right type of campus environment for them. For some kids a LAC in a rural area works- but for others it doesn't. And Hi to Northeastmom and Tsdad- we seem to be travelling on the same boards.</p>
<p>Hi Marny. I agree with your post. My son would be very happy at JMU, and would not mind a rural area. I must say that JMU is rural, but it is not isolated. You can find some restaurants and a mall. It seems like JMU is a big piece of the economy in Harrisonburg. </p>
<p>Getting in and out of Harrisonburg is what I'd like to figure out. If anyone has this figured out please tell me how to get to the airport in a convient way (flying out of shd or riding somehow to Dulles without a car) without entirely breaking the bank. It looks like this process can run nearly $550+ ( a little insane considering that it can be driven in 6 hours by car each way). I mean we are not looking to get to Europe.</p>
<p>Owugenius, if you get a chance, could you send me a personal message? I have something I'd like to ask you privately. Thanks.</p>
<p>Northeasternmom:</p>
<p>No idea of how you can get to Harrisonburg without a car. </p>
<p>VT, which even further away from the DC area, and even more rural than JMU, runs buses on the weekend back and forth from NoVA.</p>
<p>JMU is a very popular choice now in Virginia. I think there is a NOVA bus, but you should check with the school. I know a lot of kids there and they are all very happy.
If no one else has mentioned it, Mary Washington in Fredericksburg is also a very fine school, and maybe a little less selective than JMU.
My nephew is going to GMU in the fall. He has similar stats, but he's in-state (not sure how much harder it is to get in out-of-state there). He and his family are very positive about the school as a residential school; they really seem to be making a lot of effort to shed the commuter school image.
I echo the recommendations of Lynchburg College and Randolph-Macon.</p>
<p>JMU has some buses making stops too, but not to the airport. They stop at Vienna Metro Station. They also go to UVA, and VCU, and in Hampton.</p>
<p>They claim that you can take the Washington Flyer service to Dulles by :
1. first taking the bus to the Vienna Metro.
2. Take the metro to West Falls Church station.
3. Take the Washingon Flyer to Dulles.</p>
<p>How complicated is this and how often does the train and shuttle come if anyone has tried this by chance?</p>
<p>Sounds like it may not work especially for the way back if plane is late. It also sounds like a big hassle. </p>
<p>Anyone fly out of Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport? How is it and how far is it from JMU?</p>
<p>Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread, but figuring this out is getting to be a hassle.</p>
<p>Vadad is GMU trying to become more of a residential school? Are they attracting more oos students now since it is 25% commuters currently?</p>
<p>Vienna Metro is the end of the Orange line. It's not to far from the West Falls Church station. The subway trains run pretty frequently during rush hour, every five minutes or so, but less frequently on the weekend (20 minutes?) and in the late evenings. Beware of the car traffic on I66 though getting to the station during rush hour. As an alternative you might just take the subway into National Airport.</p>
<p>Best bet--make good friends with a kid from NoVA who has a car.</p>