<p>Hi, let me start off by saying I am a current sophomore at Virginia Tech. I understand that there might be some rude comments here due to discussing V-Tech vs. JMU, since this is a V-Tech forum. I am going to start off that Virginia Tech has been a great place to study and the environment is great. However, I am planning on pursuing my degree in business and have done a few research digging up past posts and etc. According to Businessweek, JMU is ranked at 28 for best undergraduate business program. While, Virginia Tech is in the 40's or so. US NEWS for some reason does not rank JMU, due to being a "regional university", I understand that it is a great university for being an undergraduate. I am not sure what to do, because I have an option to transfer out of Virginia Tech by the end of this semester, and I want to make sure that I won' regret it later on. Virginia Tech PROS: Some may argue, however I believe that Virginia Tech is one of the best engineering schools in the nation and best in Virginia. However, I do not see much on the business side for Tech. I have been thinking about UVA also, however it seems like a reach to me because my GPA is around a 3.3ish. My only options as of now are 1.) stay in Tech or 2.) transfer to JMU. Please post some of your thoughts/opinions and also if Businessweek is a reliable source to base such decisions. Please no negative comments. Thank You!</p>
<p>Arduous, I hope you won’t get any negative comments; there is nothing wrong with you wanting to put yourself in a position to get hired when you graduate. But, that being said, I don’t think that using the rankings of one publication to validate your decision to transfer is wise. I would consider two things pretty strongly. One, if you were to transfer, would your credits at VT all transfer to JMU? You do not want to have to extend your educational years to make up core requirements or classes that they (JMU) do not accept. You may have some business classes that require prerequisites and if they are not offered in the order you need, you may have to extend your time as well. </p>
<p>Secondly, being that you are a sophomore, you may not have taken classes at Tech that are taught by the best professors at Pamplin. There may be classes that you will take in your next two years that are awesome and are really challenging. Making good connections with those professors will be important for recommendation letters for internships and employment later on. Your gpa will as well. I worry that if you transfer and find the transition to a new school difficult, would your gpa suffer and cause more headaches? </p>
<p>I think that if you were talking about transferring to Wharton or McIntyre or Ross after your freshman year, I may reconsider my opinion, but from VT to JMU, I wouldn’t advise my kid to do it. What I would tell them is to knock themselves out in their classes at Pamplin. Get great grades, network and try to get a dynamite internship. Put themselves at the top of their class in terms of who their professors recommend and who those recruiters that come on campus will see. Just my two cents. Hope it helps some. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>I would talk to your counselor and then talk to someone in the College of Business at James Madison. Have you already been accepted to JMU as a transfer?</p>
<p>It’s always funny seeing people who want to leave Virginia Tecn meanwhile I’ve got a higher GPA and I’d give anything to get accepted…Guess I dug my own grave on that one…</p>
<p>James Madison’s Business program is nationally recognized for being one of the best in the nation, especially amongst public universities. I read an article that even put them in the top 3 for public universities. It’s an up and rising school that not very many people know about nation-wide which is why it doesn’t yet have the same prestige as Virginia Tech. </p>
<p>I think you should definitely consider this opportunity but also weigh the pros and cons of transferring schools. Do you really think you’ll be happy if you transfer? Will it be a struggle to make friends and acclimate to a new environment? Those are serious questions that you need to ask yourself. There is absolutely nothing wrong with weighing the two options because it is YOUR life and your decision will impact where you go in life. Albeit, whether you graduate from Virginia Tech or James Madison, you will set yourself up for success upon graduating from college.</p>
<p>Arduous, I don’t see anything in your post that sounds like a compelling reason to transfer. If you were saying you were very unhappy at Virginia Tech,that would be a different story. Do you want to be closer to home ,is there some other reason that you have not mentioned that makes you want to transfer? Is it just because a magazine has ranked JMU higher in business? JMU has a very good business school. VT’s is well regarded too and VT is very popular with recruiters. If you look at VT’s post graduation report, lots of the big companies recruit and hire at VT in business, finance,accounting,marketing,hospitality-Ernst & Young,KPMG,PWC,Deloitte,Accenture,Marriott,IBM,etc. You might want to try to find employment info from JMU to compare. These are both great schools and I’m sure a good business student from either school should have good employment opportunities.Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>I would not put too much into ranking from publications. JMU is a good school. But I find it hard to believe that nationally it is considered a better school than tech. I don’t believe companies outside of VA know much about JMU. Clearly (from our HS anyway) it is harder to get into tech than JMU - if that sort of thing is important to you.</p>
<p>I don’t think your employment opportunities out of JMU are going to better than the opportunities at VT. The most important issue is improving your gpa not which school is higher ranked.</p>
<p>I fully understand everyone’s post here. Another reason I forgot to mention was that JMU is closer to my house. However, Tech is a 4 and a half hour drive which is ridiculous. I am in the process of improving my current grades, I guess I will stay at Tech and get into the Pamplin Business School. Thank You for all the help/advice!</p>
<p>Okay, I am debating right now on which school is more “prestige” than the other. I am majoring in business. I heard good things from both JMU and V-Tech. It is extremely hard to pick which to attend. I have visited both campuses and each are beautiful. It all boils down to which is considered more “prestige”. According to businessweek, JMU is ranked at #28 in national business school, below William & Mary (23rd). Virginia Tech is ranked (54), because it is mainly an engineering school. Also, US NEWS AND RANKINGS, ranks JMU at 2nd in public University and 6th combined with private and public schools for regional University. While Virginia Tech is ranked at a mediocre 73. I got into each of these famous/popular schools. Each have same characteristics, so it all boils to “prestige”. Help me decide please!</p>
<p>zzzzzzzz. I know how you feel, I felt the same exact way. Now that I am thinking back on it, I think I am going to transfer to JMU for next fall. I already applied, but I changed my mind recently to stay at Tech… now I am thinking twice back on it. Virginia Tech is a great school, however there are sooooooooooooooo many people attending here. Plus the transportation from home to Tech sucks.</p>
<p>Wanting to transfer to a school that is closer to home is a different issue than worrying about “prestige”, Arduous. Both schools are good. VT is more of a national university, JMU more regional as US News indicates. VT is ranked #71 in the national category unless there is a new ranking I have not seen. Most motivated kids should do well at either school. Just figure out where you want to be and be done with it.</p>
<p>I have studied this particular question quite extensively for my son who is still in high school in Northern VA and plans to go to B-school.</p>
<p>If I were choosing from high school, I would definitely choose JMU over VA Tech for business: the B-school is ranked higher, is more heavily recruited by DC area companies, and has a larger percentage of classes taught in a more intimate environment - because they have no PhD candidates teaching. </p>
<p>The only reason JMU is not ranked by US News as a national university is because they have no doctoral programs. The main reason they aren’t well known outside VA is because they do not have FBS Division (old 1A) football. It’s a better business school than VA Tech. VA Tech is a better engineering school than JMU. </p>
<p>UVA is a better B-school than almost every other one in the country, but it’s a two-year degree in Commerce that starts as a junior; if you could get in as a transfer, I’d recommend that over even JMU.</p>
<p>However, to transfer out of a school you like to another is a tough choice. You are in a great school; so to me you need to go visit JMU and picture yourself there, and see if it feels like a better fit. The other advice you have gotten is sound, but it’s your decision and the school’s name that will be on your diploma is what you will have to live with.</p>
<p>Baronbvp “If I were choosing from high school, I would definitely choose JMU over VA Tech for business: the B-school is ranked higher, is more heavily recruited by DC area companies, and has a larger percentage of classes taught in a more intimate environment - because they have no PhD candidates teaching.”</p>
<p>I really can’t speak to the rankings but most recruiters that I knew of in the DC area did not look at JMU as being qualitatively better than VT. </p>
<p>We can argue about prestige until we’re blue in the face. But your comment on one school being more heavily recruited is highly suspect. Where did you get this information? Did you look at number of companies interviewing, companies per student, offers per student? Or, did you just try to look at placement, i.e., an accountant hired by KPMG for Norfolk would not count toward the “heavily recruited” while a JMU accountant hired for the DC office would count? </p>
<p>Whether a grad student or Phd teaches a class is unrelated to its size. Large intro classes may be taught by professors, e.g., Intro to Macro or Micro Economics. On the other hand, a small 25 person class on Principles of Accounting could be taught by a grad student.</p>
<p>Is it possible to transfer from Pamplin college to the college of engineering in V.tech</p>
<p>dip22222, anything is possible, but depending on classes taken to date, you will either be starting totally over or adding years given many business courses (other than base CLEs) will not track with the engineering curriculm. Go to the VT website and look at the graduation checklist for each major, see which classes overlap and you will know the extent of what does or does not “trns”.</p>
<p>One other item to note, the trns in to engineering has gotten more complicated. I believe there are very specific classes, GPAs etc. that now need to be achieved. Check out the information on the VT site for the new regs.</p>
<p>Come to Tech. </p>
<p>Last year we had Goldman Sachs give a recruiting talk, and we’ve had people intern at JP Morgan and other top investment banks, and we’ve even sent people to work at McKinsey & Company. </p>
<p>How Tech even gets compare to JMU is ridiculous. JMU is a serious party school and I can’t imagine too many people at Tech wanting (or wishing) they went to JMU. </p>
<p>Honestly, I’m not trying to pick on JMU or anything, but I’ve never even heard of someone from the state of Virginia talk about JMU and VT being on the same level academically. </p>
<p>EDIT: Just realized this thread is over two years old. Disregard my post. </p>