| Full-time undergraduate program |
I have never told a single person that I would not recommend JMU. I
cannot imagine saying such a thing--I don't think it would be possible!
I did not want to attend JMU, because I had concerns about the number of
students who were attending JMU from my high school, the size of the
campus, and the town of Harrisonburg in general. I was convinced that I
sought a smaller school, closer to a larger town, with few of my high
school classmates in attendance. I ended up at JMU because once the
acceptances were all on the table, it was clearly the best school there
on the table. It was the best decision of my life. In less than a
semester, I realized that for a school with over 10,000 students, JMU
behaves a lot like a smaller school. The campus is large, but it still
manages to retain an enclosed feeling. I found myself seeing the same
faces around campus, so that I did not feel alone--but at the same time,
there were always new faces to meet, so boredom never set in. I also
thought that I wanted a school closer to a larger town. I quickly
realized that a larger town would just have provided a distraction from
true enjoyment of college life. Rather than staying out all night at a
club, we would get involved in all-night discussions with a randomly
collected group of people. Day trips to DC were always a possibility
when we really needed to break free of the "Burg"--but this didn't
happen very often, as we were always content to stay on campus. As far
as the concern with seeing a lot of my high school classmates, the
interesting thing about JMU was that I found it very easy to see plenty
of the people that I wanted to see, but it was equally easy to avoid
those that I did not.
Harrisonburg is a very safe town. The locals do not like the students
very much--I actually had the opportunity to live in Harrisonburg for a
year after graduation, and had the opportunity to see things from
the "other side." The locals are very resistent to the college students
who, for the most part, do not respect them. So the antipathy is rather
understandable. I do not recall this mutual dislike being a serious
problem--and if there were problems, they were usually started by a
drunk college student, so they brought it on themselves.
Housing at JMU was never a problem. They have an excellent residence
life program that really promotes the quality of life on campus. Most
students choose to move off campus after their sophomore year, and many
after their freshman year. Off-campus living opportunities are very
plentiful, and not inexpensive considering the minimal return on
investment. There is a bus system that easily routes students to
campus, due to a lack of parking options--standard on college campuses,
anywhere.
I never had a problem with the dining system. People will always
complain about the food, no matter what.
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