<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>James Madison University PROS: Excellent business (ranked 28th on Businessweek, right under William & Mary for Virginia), general education, arts & theater, Excellent Science, Research, and creative arts, located in a small urban city.
CONS: Too much of a “party” school, 2 hours from my house,not known “nationally”.</p>
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<p>Virginia Tech PROS: Mediocre National Recognition, Excellent Engineering, Math, Science, has the name “Tech” sounds pretty cool.
CONS: Sucky Business School ( ranked 53 or 54th on Businessweek for 2011 business undergraduate rankings), “Middle of Nowhere”, takes 4+ Hours to travel from my house…, infamous reputation from Virginia Tech massacre.</p>
<p>For business - JMU.</p>
<p>JMU is a great school, highly regarded in the business program.</p>
<p>I am transferring to JMU from VT next summer. My reasons are mainly because James Madison University is more of a business focused in finance, accounting, marketing, and etc. Plus, JMU’s COB and VT’s Pamplin are similar in many aspects such as recruitment, post-graduate employment, internship, and etc. JMU, was my first choice after high school however, I have been pressured by my friends during senior year from high school to going to VT because of the sports and being nationally “ranked”. However, I came to realize during my sophomore year I would be better off at JMU than Tech because both schools have great school spirit, great academics, and so on. Every time I drive down to VT, I seem to regret the fact that I came to VT when it was not my first choice. I always ask myself “what if I went to JMU”. I honestly loved my time at VT, however I have not adjusted to Blacksburg after two years!</p>
<p>P.S. the Big4 Accounting firms also recruit at JMU & VT</p>
<p>lets get some more posts between Virginia Tech & JMU!! I am also having a hard time deciding between VT & JMU lol.</p>
<p>My kids much prefer JMU to VT. The feel of the campus is right and it’s not so huge, plus the business school is significantly better. Also, it’s far enough away to stay gone but close enough to come home on weekends.</p>
<p>HokieorDuke, you may want to try asking on the Virginia Tech page as well, since those who prefer JMU would be more likely to look at the JMU page. Both are great schools.</p>
<p>Don’t choose a school on prestige. I’ve been in the working world for 25 years and attended a very presitigious college. People could care less. What matters is what kind of person you are, how well you get along with others, your presentation skills, your problem-solving capabilities, your confidence level, and how well you apply what you learn to real work and real world problems. Within one year of being hired by a company or organization, very rarely does anyone ask where you went to school, unless it’s football play-off time or March Madness. Instead, they ask what you’ve accomplished at work.<br>
Go to the college where you feel most at home and comfortable. My son is a freshman at JMU and also seriously considered VA Tech. Some of his best friends are at both VA Tech and UVA. The talk at home with his friends from other colleges during winter break demonstrated for him that JMU is the most undergraduate focused of these three (JMU, Tech, UVA). The other two use a lot of grad assistants and have enormous lecture classes. At Tech, most freshman-level and sophomore-level math classes – required of both engineering and business majors – such as various levels of calculus and statistics, are taught “on-line” in math centers, with grad students walking around in case you have questions. It’s difficult to get face time with the professors, and many of them are there for research. The story at Tech is a bit different for humanities and social science majors. Those students get more attention, as the bulk of students at Tech major in engineering, sciences, or business. JMU houses freshmen all together, while Tech doesn’t always do this. JMU’s freshman orientation was much more extensive, cohesive and welcoming – they are serious and intentional about helping freshmen succeed and keeping them happy. They had a summer one-day orientation for administrative type things like registering for classes, meeting with advisors, etc. with an optional three-day adventure trip attached to it. My son did the adventure trip, and I would highly recommend it. He had a blast and made a close-knit group of friends through it, with whom he still meets to go out or have dinner. Then they have a second orientation that is almost a full week, when freshmen come to campus a week earlier than everyone else, so pretty much have it to themselves with the exception of some athletes and band members. This was fantastic. They fill that week with activities to help them adapt to college life, make new friends, learn about campus services such as tutoring, writing centers, etc. and help them learn the lay of the campus. Tech’s orientation was nowhere near as thorough. JMU is all about UNDERGRADS. They also have tremendous school spirit, even without an ACC sports program. People at JMU have school spirit because they love being there, but they still get pumped up for sporting events. It is still Division I and quite good – just not the huge size of Tech’s. JMU has 19,000 students, and about 17,500 are undergrads, so the graduate portion of the school does not drain the undergrad focus; and when they say the student-teacher ratio is 16:1, it is true (at grad-focused schools, the research focused professors are still counted in with the ones who actually teach, giving you a false impression of class sizes). At JMU, most professors are there for teaching, and my son has not had one teaching assistant. Undergrads can get involved in research at JMU, because they don’t have to compete with a large number of grad students. All but one of his five first-semester, freshman classes has had under 50 students. One gen ed/required class had about 250, but still had smaller discussion sections. At Tech, there are some 10,000 grad students (and about 21,000 undergrads), and many of the professors are more interested in them. That is not to say Tech is not a good school, because it is excellent – it’s just that JMU’s main bread and butter is undergrad, so they are very committed to that segment of their population. Both Tech and UVA get their fame more from their grad schools. JMU is well known enough – it’s not like you’re talking JMU vs. Yale or something. Tech has a good reputation academically, but so does JMU – especially in business, psychology, and integrated technology fields. I have lots of successful friends who went to JMU, as well as successful ones who went to Tech. And both are super enthusiastic about their experiences. Virginia schools are fantastic quality all around. So if you want a bit more of an undergraduate focus where the emphasis is on making sure undergrads are comfortable and happy, I’d say JMU has the edge. If you’re more into the whole rah-rah sports thing with thousands of obsessed alumni descending on campus for football games, you may be happier with Tech. I will tell you that when I drive to JMU to visit or pick up my son, just about the time I am really sick of I-81, I hit Harrisonburg and thank goodness I’m not going any further. Two hours is the perfect distance for our family but may be too close for others.<br>
On the social side, he’s had a blast, and he’s not a huge partier. I’d say he’s very outgoing but not into getting trashed every weekend. He’s involved in intramural sports (softball, Ultimate Frisbee, flag football) and JMU’s excellent outdoor recreation program (goes conoeing, rock climbing, hiking, camping, etc. with groups led by the rec center staff). He has made a close knit group of friends and is extremely happy, which was partially facilitated by the excellent orientation and freshman dorm program. He enjoys his classes and finds them challenging but not overwhelming – is majoring in Geographic Science which is part of the integrated science and technology program. Most of his best friends there are business majors and rave about the program and work very hard. Everyone he knows plans to return next year, except for one guy who plans to transfer to UVA (because his entire family went there and it’s where he always wanted to go but didn’t make it in first try). Good luck with your decision. JMU is a fantastic, high quality place in our family’s view – from both the student and the parent perspective. Just from going there a lot on visits, my high school daughter now wants to go there.</p>