What are my chances??

<p>I'm a rising HS Senior in CT and I'm wondering what my chances are for admission to James Madison University in the Fall of 2011; details are as folllow:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.5
SAT's: Reading 720; Math 620, Writing 710.
Several AP courses; Scored 4 on AP-Biology test & 5 on AP-History
Eagle Scout; active in Scouting program for 6+ years
Active in school theater program 3 yrs., incl. as lighting designer
Active in church youth program- attended week-long mission trips to Boston, Philly, NYC
Have held a part-time job since start of Jr. year
Red Cross certified lifeguard</p>

<p>I'd also like to learn about JMU's internship program- i.e.: the extent & richness of the opportunities available, and the relative ease or difficulty in securing an internship.</p>

<p>I've heard good things about JMU, but would like input from students (or parents) based on their experiences. Any insight would be appreciated.. thanks!</p>

<p>I’d say you’ve got a good chance but are not a lock at this time. Being OOS will hurt you, since JMU accepts two-thirds of its students from Virginia. Also, the last two years have seen a huge increase in applications to all the VA state schools – and the apps are from qualified high schoolers. My son’s group was told that JMU was admitting its best class ever this year, so next year may be even more competitive. UVa’s SAT midpoint went up something like 50 points this year. It’s the same all over.</p>

<p>I don’t think colleges see your AP score results – what’s more important to the admissions offices is the fact that you took an AP class, and what your school grade was. 3.5 is not a great GPA, depending on lots of factors that go beyond whether it’s weighted or not; most colleges now say that they only compare SATs within the same school system. SATs are good; try to get the math up this fall. I think your XC’s are impressive, but that’s not always high on a college’s list. The only advice I can offer: don’t sacrifice grades to add extracurriculars.</p>

<p>You’ll hear all kinds of crap from people who claim to know what the admissions process is like. I suggest you ignore it all. I’ve even heard that colleges “throw all the applications up in the air and pull off the top of the pile.” If you talk to anyone in a college admissions office they will tell you that they spend seven months every year reading applications. I prefer to believe them.</p>

<p>I’m pasting in the following from JMU’s Freshman Application Process. This is what JMU tells potential students that they value; I have no reason to doubt that. Note that the items are listed in JMU’s order of importance.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<hr>

<p>There are six factors which will be used to evaluate applicants for admission to JMU. The order of importance for our decision process is: Quality of High School Academics, Academic Achievement, Standardized Test Scores, Secondary School Report Form, Extracurricular Activities, and an optional Personal Statement.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Quality of High School Academics
The Admissions Committee is most interested in the quality of the applicant’s high school program of study. Students with solid achievement in four or more academic courses each year of high school will have a distinct advantage in the admission process. Competitive candidates for admission will have taken upper level coursework (i.e. Honors, AP, IB, Dual Enrollment) in the core academic areas when available in their high school.</p></li>
<li><p>Academic Achievement
Competitive candidates will have mostly As and Bs in the core academic areas: English, math, lab science, social science and foreign language. While we focus on the individual grades in each core academic class the admissions committee notes the high school grade point average and class rank if reported by the high school. JMU is more interested in how a prospective student performs over the four year high school program than the results of a standardized test.</p></li>
<li><p>Standardized Tests
Performance on the SAT I or ACT helps the committee discern applicants’ past academic achievement and their potential for future academic achievement.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>JMU accepts and recognizes both the SAT and ACT. We ask that you send all of your scores. When reviewing test scores we use the highest individual verbal and highest individual math scores from the SAT. For the ACT we use your single highest composite score.</p>

<p>JMU requires that your official test results be sent to us electronically direct from the testing agency.</p>

<ol>
<li>Secondary School Report and Recommendation Letter
The Secondary School Report form is available from the online application menu. Many high schools have developed their own version of this form. Please check with your guidance counselor to see if you need to provide him or her a copy before you download one. Your counselor will complete the form and submit it with your transcript. This is how the Admissions Committee will learn about your high school environment.</li>
</ol>

<p>A letter of recommendation is optional, but to be reviewed it must either arrive with your official high school transcript, or be attached to a JMU Letter of Recommendation Cover Sheet. Letters that are not with your transcript or accompanied by the official cover sheet will not be read. Please select one person who is either an academic teacher, a principal/assistant principal, or your guidance counselor to write your recommendation letter.</p>

<p>The letter and the secondary school report are not the same thing. Always give the secondary school report to your counselor, even if you ask a teacher or principal/assistant principal to write you a letter.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Extracurricular Activities
We are looking for quality involvement rather than quantity of involvement. We like to see the type of involvement students have in particular clubs and/or organizations rather than just being a member. Please tell us about club, organization and athletic activity. We are also interested in students who have been involved in community service or held part time jobs.</p></li>
<li><p>Personal Statement (Optional)
We do not require a particular topic for the Personal Statement. We allow applicants to decide what the committee still needs to know in order to accurately evaluate their application. Please do not repeat information that can be found in the application. This space is provided to help the committee get to know the applicant better. We encourage students to be creative and have fun with it! Please know that the committee will consider content and grammar as well as spelling. Personal Statements should be no longer than 500 words.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks jdalu75, for your response and for your straightforward comments, too.<br>
I really appreciate it.</p>

<p><< most colleges now say that they only compare SATs within the same school system >></p>

<p>Sorry, that should be GPAs, not SATs.</p>

<p>Don’t read my first post as negative; it’s not meant to be. Just be warned that it’s getting tougher to get into good schools.</p>

<p>Yeahh, you’ll be fine, I am pretty sure</p>

<p>Im a rising JMU freshman (DUKES!!!) male and my stats (at time of admission) were</p>

<p>-SAT= MATH : 560 READING : 500 WRITTING : 510
-GPA (UW)= 3.27
-GPA (W) = 3.44
-Extras= High school swim team, Marching/Concert Band, Key Club, Spanish Club, Book Club, Art Club, senior class officer, Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout)
-Honors= Qualified for all district band twice on the clarinet</p>

<p>I would apply for early decision if I were you and make your appliaction essay really good and interesting. Get letters of recommendations from teachers who you think will write a strong and supportive letter. DONT get senior teachers to write you a letter!!! </p>

<p>GOOD LUCK!!</p>

<p>My son graduated from high school in June and JMU was his first choice but he did not get in. He had a 3.69, took honors courses, National Hon. Society, Beta Club, Boys State, Varsity sports, tons of community service. He even took a dual enrollment course through JMU (which he got 99 in) and all this - he still did not get in. Out of his class of 200, only 6 kids got in. We were told that there were 25,000 applications for 3,000 slots. Definitely have a backup plan since competition is getting so fierce.</p>

<p>JMU put out some basic 2010-2011 Class Admissions info today.</p>

<p>First time freshman applications 22,583
Percentage Accepted 58%
MID SAT (25%-75%) was 1100-1280
Number of students in top third of class 90%
Weighted GPA (from Princeton Review) 3.8
Of applicants, 90% are considered to be ‘competitive’ applicants (see Bravesgirl above).
Transfer applications were another ~3,000.</p>

<p>Based on info, Math and Critical Reasoning Average should be right around the 1190 mark.
Definately gotten tougher this year, but JMU looks for many other factors as well, but as bravesgirl notes above, even being around these averages does not guarantee admission.</p>

<p>Last year the acceptance rate was 65%; the mid-range SAT was 1060-1250; this year there were 22,583 applicants and 3950 spots in the freshman class. Like I posted earlier, it’s getting harder to get in.</p>

<p>bravesgirl, you didn’t mention your son’s SAT scores. what where they?</p>

<p>Being OOS will hurt you, since JMU accepts two-thirds of its students from Virginia.</p>

<p>The proper analysis from this data would infer rather that OOS would boost you a lot. And to make it official: for JMU, it does.</p>

<p>Ross, is 3.5 weighted or unweighted? You have a competitive SAT score but if 3.5 is weighted I’m not confident the SAT score you have is sufficient to balance it out, at least not for an in-state applicant.</p>

<p><< Being OOS will hurt you, since JMU accepts two-thirds of its students from Virginia.</p>

<p>The proper analysis from this data would infer rather that OOS would boost you a lot. And to make it official: for JMU, it does. >></p>

<p>Actually, you’re right, but I figure it’s luck since you gave no reason. Two Virginia schools, UVa and W&M, are harder for an OOS applicant to get into. Reason? Virginia requires two-thirds of students to be in-state, and the number of OOS applicants for the remaining one-third of the places is overwhelming. UVA has acceptance rates of around 22% OOS, 40% IS. I had assumed that this applied to JMU too, but it doesn’t. The data is very hard to find, but it’s here: [Search</a> JMU Applied, Accepted and Enrolled](<a href=“http://web.jmu.edu/oir/stdnt/vw_AAE.asp#Results]Search”>http://web.jmu.edu/oir/stdnt/vw_AAE.asp#Results)</p>

<p>For Fall 2009, the most recent year shown –</p>

<p>In-state applications: 12,810. Acceptances: 7076. Acc. Rate: 55%
Enrolled: 2616. Yield: 37%</p>

<p>Out-of-state applications: 8153. Acceptances: 5796. Acc. Rate: 71%
Enrolled: 1336. Yield: 23%</p>

<p>So the acceptance rate for OOS applicants is higher at JMU than for in-state applicants. This is probably because they expect the yield to be lower than for IS. I didn’t see anything that suggested that OOS admits are more or less qualified than IS admits.</p>

<p>I have several students who will apply early action. Not one has your SAT. Their GPAs are better (we are in state). Still, I think you have a very good chance of gaining admission. JMU likes to see rigor in a student’s schedule, and you have that. I’m sure your counselor will send along your school’s profile. If it is a very competitive high school, your GPA could be fine.</p>

<p>It is not luck, it’s common sense. OOS for public schools below the “realm” of UVa are going to have better chances. It is precisely for that reason - UVa is #2 public school in the nation, everyone wants in doesn’t matter what state. Other schools not the same. OOS for UVa bears a “lower chance” than IS but that’s simply because of the restrictions set, not because they favor IS. Cross the state borderline and everyone still knows UVa; cross the state borderline and people have to start looking up JMU.</p>

<p>Out of curiosity, why call me out for “luck” when you made the fallacious unbacked statement?</p>

<p><< Being OOS will hurt you, since JMU accepts two-thirds of its students from Virginia.</p>

<p>The proper analysis from this data would infer rather that OOS would boost you a lot. >></p>

<p>Where’s your analysis? No analysis, no credit.</p>

<p>Being OOS will hurt you, since JMU accepts two-thirds of its students from Virginia.</p>

<p>Where’s your analysis? No analysis, no credit. “JMU accepts 2/3 of its students from VA” is not an analysis.</p>

<p>You’ll hear all kinds of crap from people who claim to know what the admissions process is like. I suggest you ignore it all.</p>

<p>Kind of like this,</p>

<p>I don’t think colleges see your AP score results</p>

<p>right? Seems like you need to follow your own advice.</p>

<p>rross184,</p>

<p>You are well above the curve with your SAT scores (which is 1140 M+V if I remember correctly), and your GPA falls within the 25-75% range. </p>

<p>In!</p>

<p>This is actually ‘mom’ of scoopie. My son is a freshman at JMU, OOS from Long Island. He had an unweighted GPA of 3.4, about 7 AP’s/college courses. He got in early action. He’s a very happy duke.</p>

<p>Sorry, forgot to mention his SAT was a 1280 (reading and math)</p>