James Madison University

I am currently a freshman bio major at JMU. Here are my pros and cons:

Pros: The campus is absolutely gorgeous. It really is impossible to visit this school without loving the campus. It is kept in beautiful condition year round and is very aesthetically pleasing. The Shenendoah Valley is an extraordinarily beautiful place to live, I cannot stress it. I love camping and hiking so first semester I had a blast going on trips. The facilities on campus are also very useful. The University Recreation center is top of the line. All the buildings are beautiful with their southern architecture and the quad looks like it's from a postcard.

The faculty members that I have experienced thus far at JMU have overall been very helpful and approachable. Faculty generally seems to care about their students. Dorm life in general also seems to be above average. For my first year, I was put in one of the smaller dorms and it has been a good experience. The dorm rooms themselves are generally spacious and meet all of the students' needs. As far as academics go, not too many complaints. Yes, GenEd classes do suck for the most part, but just get them overwith and who knows, you may find some to be enjoyable. The students here, as many will tell are, are pretty much friendly and approachable. BUT don't let these descriptions fool you; yes, students are friendly and the southern attitude is prevalent, but I have found most to be very shallow and self-absorbed, making it very hard to find down-to-earth, genuine people, as well as establishing meaningful relationships.

Cons: As I said, most of the students here don't have terrific attitudes. Don't get me wrong, I've met some great people, you just have to search a little bit harder than you would in a diverse community. Yes, the rumors are true...the girl:guy ratio is about 60:40 (though it feels like 80:20) and A LOT of the girls are very pretty. Speaking as a girl myself, it's very intimidating. Not only do I most of the time feel inadequate compared to the other females here, it makes it nearly impossible to find a decent guy with his head on straight because any guy who goes here basically has his choice of women. Guys, don't let this fool you either, yea the girls are hot, but most are very shallow. I'd say about 70% of the students are here to party and 30% are here to actually get a good education. Parties here are OK. There is always a party to go on the weekend and there's always free alcohol to drink which is good. But, often times parties get too crowded and you have to wait 30 minutes just to get a beer. So, unless you make a solid group of friends who like to hang out and drink on the weekend, most freshman are limited to overcrowded parties consisting mainly of girls.

Harrisonburg SUCKS. When I first visited JMU I really thought I could live down here, it appeared that Hburg was just your typical, cute southern town. Believe me when I say, there is NOTHING in this town...the only reason it is here is because of the university. Other than a Wal-Mart and the "Valley Mall" there's not much to do here. Also, transportation is hard to find as a freshman. Shockingly enough, in a town with a University of 15,000 students, there are no train stations in Harrisonburg (closest one is 20 mins south) and no Greyhound bus stations. This makes it hard, especially when freshman aren't allowed to have cars...it makes getting home a real pain in the butt. There is a Home Ride bus that runs on the weekends, but it only goes as far north as Vienna, VA (DC area) so it makes it tough for us northerners.I think that pretty much sums it up. If you are looking to come to JMU, my comments are completely non-biased. I don't love JMU but I don't hate JMU by any means. I am actually considering transferring next semester because I so desperately want to be in a city surrounded by more diverse settings. But don't get me wrong, I still do like JMU (which is why my decision is going to be a tough one) and it may, in fact, be the school for you.

1st Year Female -- Class 2009

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Surrounding City: D-

JMU is a really beautiful place, the food is incredible, and the general spirit is nice- the average JMU student is helpful,considerate, fun, and independent. Unfortunately, the average student is also a little bit dumb. The University forces a few too many easy and unnecessary general education classes on students, ESPECIALLY in my department. In general though, I really like it here. There are a thousand opportunities to get involved and make friends, and everyone is really spirited; that makes football games fun despite the crappy stadium and semi-crappy team. Let's not forget that we have the most AMAZING marching band on the East Coast! That alone makes games worthwhile. One other plus is that, though freshman general ed classes may be boring sometimes, they are really small for a university of this size. Freshman at UVa, Tech, and other such colleges sit in classes of 300, 400, even 700 people. As a first semester freshman, my biggest class is 40! I would recommend JMU to most anyone, except for the extremely intelligent who may be bored. I find myself bored right now, but I am loading up on classes and activities next semester to lessen that.

1st Year Female -- Class 2013

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Surrounding City: C-

I attended JMU for one academic year (2004-2005), and then transfered back to my home state of New Jersey to attend Rutgers University. There were many aspects that I liked about JMU, but I believe this school is overrated and I found many of the positive things people told me about this school to just not be true. I mainly tranfered because JMU lacked a solid science department (exluding their ISAT), and JMU didn't have the majors I was interested in (nutrition and biochemistry). However, there were also some other reasons that prompted me to leave this school. I'm a white male, yet I can't believe how homogeneous the student body and faculty here are. Everyone at the school looked the same and acted the same (almost all your typical white conservatives), and I didn't like the conservative atmosphere. Furthermore, almost everyone here considers a good time to be getting drunk, even on weekdays. I like to drink on occasion, but I'm an athlete and don't enjoy getting "messed up" as often as most people here do, which made me feel excluded many times. Also, if your not a heavy drinker or partier (partys run rampant on all of the off campus apartments) there is NOTHING to do in this area. It was also tough not to have a car (freshmen can't have cars unless they're in a frat or for a special reason) to get around, and my parents had to drive very far to come pick me up for holidays which was very burdensome. I also found the academic atmosphere to be woefully lacking among most of the student body. I lived in a dorm called Eagle, and it was the noisiest dorm ever and I could hardly ever study in my room and get a good nights sleep, not to mention the fact that the elevators always broke down and they always closed the kitchen due to drunken vandalism. This dorm also had no air conditioning, which was horrible when it got hot and you lived on a higher floor. The food here is also overrated. While it does taste good, most of it is very unhealthy at the main dining hall called "D-Hall." The rec center had great equipment and facilities, but is always way too crowded. While most of the faculty and staff here are generally very nice, I encountered some sour apples in the science department when I was trying to change my major. The campus aesthetics were great, but they weren't anything mind blowing like some people claim and it's not any better than many other colleges I've seen. Two things that were spot on about this school though were the girls and the parties. Girls were amazing and that is one thing I actually really do miss. Most of the people were friendly, yet they could be very closeminded. If your thinking of majoring in science or math here (excluding ISAT programs), I would go somewhere else. This school is more geared towards liberal arts and humanities. If your not a mega partier or drinker I would go somewhere else.

1st Year Male -- Class 2008

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Surrounding City: F