<p>I just got accepted to UVA and JMU. At JMU I have a very good chance at a full ride. I am in love with both schools - but obviously The University of Virginia has the prestige that JMU does not. Opinions?</p>
<p>Your college decision is the second largest purchase you will make in your life. It’s an important purchase but it is a purchase. You need to compare the value. What do you get from UVA for $X? And what do you get from JMU for $Y? Why would you buy a new BMW for $40K over an Acura TSX for $30K? Selection of a college has been more long term implications than a car purchase, but you get my drift…</p>
<p>I’d argue that a car is a depreciating luxury item, while hopefully you’ll continue to get benefits from your education for many years (however I understand what living was getting at). You need to consider what you’re going to study, your ROI, fit, the affordability to your family. If JMU truly is a full ride (academic or tuition, room & board) this could be a difference of $60k - $100k more to attend UVa for an instate student (conservative guesstimate). For a family that may already have this set aside and no other children to put through college money may not be a deciding factor, although ‘perceived value’ may be. If you’d need to take loans then money is a consideration. This is very much an apples and oranges comparison. No one can tell you which is a better fit, is a better ‘perceived value’, what that’s worth to you, and how much your family can, or should be willing to, pay extra (or not).</p>
<p>Oh, and congratulations! Having the luxury of choice is an enviable position and allows you to make decisions that fit you best.</p>
<p>What do you want to study? If it is a field where you need to attend graduate or professional school, the ability to avoid debt from your undergrad degree will be more of a factor.</p>
<p>For some fields (such as Commerce), UVa is probably worth the extra expense. For some other fields, there might be less difference academically.</p>
<p>Are you in-state or out of state? Have you run UVa’s cost calculator to see if you might receive any need aid from UVa?</p>
<p>In any case, you have time to attend accepted student events at each college to help refine your pros and cons.</p>
<p>Sajvomax,</p>
<p>I’ll give you the same advice I give to our oldest D. Take it for what it’s worth.</p>
<p>I never imagined that my family and I would ever leave California for the east coast. When I arrived on the east coast, my west coast college had name recognition and that helped establish my credibility as someone reasonably intelligent.</p>
<p>You live in Virginia. In twenty years, if your career or family may take you to the west coast or another part of the country, between UVA and JMU, which college will provide you more credibility and name recognition and give you a better shot at getting an interview?</p>
<p>As someone from the west coast, I can assure you that nobody has heard of JMU but everyone knows that UVA is a public ivy on par with Berkeley, Michigan and UCLA.</p>
<p>Interesting debate. Both schools provide good opportunities on the east coast - - especially in the mid Atlantic area. If you end up in California some day, neither school will carry much weight. I love Uva. But I live in California and one of our high school’s top graduates finished UVA 18 months ago and is still working at Best Buy. College is about what YOU make of it.</p>
<p>^ I agree. The only thing that matters is the last thing you did. you have to prove yourself. you have to excel wherever you choose. Bill Gates didn’t finish college. My brother-in-law in Houston went to night school to get his MBA and is now a CEO worth $100 million. It’s about who you are, what you offer, and a bit of luck.</p>
<p>If money is an issue and if JMU has what you want to study - look closely, JMU and UVA have different academic offerings - save the money for graduate school! The job market is harsh. Lots of college graduates are waiting tables.</p>
<p>Bill Gates and Steve Jobs dropping out of Harvard and Reed are often cited. LaBron and Kobe are also examples of high school players that went on to NBA greatness.</p>
<p>For every Gates or Kobe, there are millions of dropouts who thought they were the next business or basketball superstar. We should be celebrating the Stanford grads who are driving the tech wave instead of a highly visible, and unusual outlier.</p>
<p>A college degree doesn’t guarantee you won’t work as a waiter. I conceded that. There are too many factors that are unrelated to that person you mentioned that aren’t considered that have a direct impact on their employment.</p>
<p>Ignore the snobbery…focus on the degree…if you have to pay for your education, the debt is a huge issue. If you are bright enough to get a full ride to a good school like JMU…my guess is that you will have no trouble in your chosen field…you will just have less debt which is a very good thing. My daughter is at UVA and enjoys it, but frankly I find too many (at UVA and on this website) are obsessed with the “cachet” of UVA that frankly doesn’t have tangible payoffs when compares to other solid schools like Tech W&M, JMU, etc. Don’t get me wrong, UVA is a great school and a very good value, but JMU for free is pretty sweet, especially if you go on to grad school, no one is going to give a rat’s you know what where you went undergrad.</p>