James Madison University Top Questions

I would say the worst thing about my school is how hard the professors are on you even in your general classes. My professors this past semester made the classes a lot harder than they should have been and it just put more stress on me as a student.

The internet connection is the only downside to this school. It is not very strong outside of the libraries and computer labs.

Not near the beach or closer to my mom.

The worst thing about my school is the weather. For instance, it was 72 degrees and sunny a couple of days ago and now it is 18 degrees and snowy. Other than the weather, I cannot think about anything worse about my school, because I am attending my dream school.

Many programs, during my time period, were under reconstruction which often left advisors and students confused as to requirments for their desired degrees and what this new direction meant for each school.

The location of the school is not my favorite. It is in the middle of nowhere and Interstate 81 runs through our campus separating our campus into two parts which is connected by a bridge running over the interstate. I also wish things (shops, our "main street") was closer together and everything was within walking distance. There is a heavy reliance on cabs, buses and having your own car.

The worst things about James Madison University are the meal plans and parking. The meal plans are too restrictive, too costly, and the benefits do not carry over to other semesters. The parking at JMU is almost non-existant. It is extremely limited and the parking regulations are prohibitive. People get parking tickets frequently.

There isn't anything that I really dislike about JMU, but if I had to choose I would say the lack of diversity on campus is a shame.

The worst thing about my school is the weather. I am not a big fan of cold weather and I have never lived in a place where it gets this cold. Snow is pretty but not for me. I perfer to be hot than freezing cold, and right now thats all i am!

When posed this question, I really have to contemplate about any negative aspects pertaining to James Madison University. If I had to identify one negative aspect, it would be the lack of encouragement for students within specialized degree programs to congregate and participate in extracurricular activities within the campus environment and on a broader outreach throughout the community. One idea for alleviating this negative aspect would be for faculty within the specialized degrees to encourage and promote the unification of students within the specialized degrees to make a positive difference throughout the University as well as the surrounding community.

The worst thing about JMU is the housing. The on-campus dorms are nice, however they are very hard to get. Many people can not live on campus after freshman year, and they are forced to move off campus. Then when communting the parking is horrible, there is not enough parking for all the students that live off campus, and parking services ticket all the time.

The worst thing about my school would be the class sizes. JMU is growing every year. With a bigger school comes less individualized attention. In a lecture hall of 100 people it is hard to ask questions, or be motivated to come to class at all because the teacher will not notice if you do not show up. You are a number, you are not known by name in most classes.

Campus is to large and spread out. Many of my classes are in the evening and walking across campus from dorms to class can be scary.

The worst thing about JMU is our meal plan options. The punches are very restricting and as a result they go to waste or we?re forced to eat when we?re not hungry. If JMU implemented a roll-over system, the students would save a lot of money and all the stress over meals would go away.

The worst thing about my school is that the strictness of the officials is not that great. It is frequently loud in my residence hall and people walk around obviously drunk and do not get reprimanded. I do not feel that people who fraternize with illegal products deserver to be accepted to a higher field of learning.

The school is too big, and on top of that, there is not much diversity. It isn't really "diverse" if you have to dig in and search for it. Also, regarding the size of the school, a lot of classes are unavailable. Faculty aren't much assistance either. I tried to ask my advisor how I could use my nursing degree abroad, and all he explained to me was the nursing application process. It's hard to find the right resources here.

The relationship between the harrisonburg community and JMU is pretty bad, though slowly increasing. Some locals see JMU students as 'rich college kids,' not too much respect from some of the harrisonburg population.

There is not much to do in Harrisonburg, thus most people turn to alcohol for entertainment. This seems to be all people can talk about and think about.

The worst thing is probably the diversity. There isn't much diversity on campus and I don't feel like the school does enough to keep promoting it. But not only that, I don't think the students are really interested in diversity. Most of them are Caucasian from pretty well off families and they stick to what they know, not really giving other cultures that much of a chance, at least that's how I see it.

Majors that attract a large number of students, such as business, make it difficult for students to sometimes apply to classes needed to enter the College of Business. The number of students outnumber the limited physical (classrooms) and intellectual (professors) resources.

There are a lot of rich kids here. So the professors assume that we do not work and that our parents pay for our school. But I work as much as I can and I pay for school by myself. So I feel like I do not do as well as the students who do not have to work and can focus solely on school.

The school is located in a very small town with very little places to go.

Crime at parties.

Closed off social groups

The worst part about JMU is the financial aid. They do not offer much financial aid. They also do not offer many scholarships, which is very unfourtunate.

the uniformity, and not in the cliche "rebel" sense. More like students feel that doing something different is "outside" but the students themselves are unique and full of potential while not willing to take chances

It's really intimidating that JMU only guarentees housing for freshmen. You have to make a decision of where you are going to live and whom with by mid october/early november if you decide to go off campus, and if you decide to stay on campus you may or may not be offered a dorm until December. That can be stressful!

Commute

There is a large focus on alcohol in most of the off-campus activities. I am underage and don't feel the need to drink while most people my age cannot legally do so and yet this is all they want to do in their free time, whether it's on weekends or during the week.

Financial Aid not given to those who need it. Faculty not forgiving when it is necessary and overly forgiving when it isnt needed.

JMU is growing and adding more students and therefore it is hard sometimes to get the classes you need. There needs to be more professors to accomodate the increasing number of students.

As an accounting major, I have had some issues with the business school here. I think the academic advisors in the business school are very unhelpful and many times they fail to even respond to an email. Selecting classes at this school is always a pain because it's rare you get every class you need, especially business classes. They need to physically expand the business school to meet the demand of students that come to the school for the program, not simply reject students and neglect others by making ridiculous requirements for admission.

No diversity; lacking ethinicity-wise and socioeconomic-status wise.

I think the financial aid is horrible! I filled out my FAFSA early this year but I didn't get my loans until after I took my midterms! I pay for almost everything by myself and it was a huge stress factor for me. I don't know why it took so long for me to get my loan money. I went and spoke with the financial aid office many times and could not get to the bottom of this problem.

Not enough racial diversity. I like getting to know people and people of different races have a lot to teach.

The worst thing about JMU is that it can be a big party school and if you don't want to go out and drink there isn't a lot to do on the weekends. Also if you don't go out one night because you want to sleep, or have a test it will probably be loud Thurday night- Saturday night.

A bit too much focus is placed on the drinking on weekends. There is a lot of other things to get involved with but people just don't see it because of all the parties that are advertised.

The lack of diversity

Alocohl related events

The cost to attend this school.

Lack of diversity. Because it narrows the possibilites to change yourself.

The lack of diversity. This school is comprised of primarily white people and females. I believe that if there was more diversity here, people at this school would be more open to new experiences, understand other cultures better, and ultimately learn more about the world.

This school is awesome

The reputation women at my school have for being 'slutty' (even though not all of us are), and the focus on binge drinking and partying which makes it difficult for a non-drinker to fit in socially at events not sponsored by the school.

Cannot double punch (get two meals at once) on the weekends...inconvenient for guests.

Student life is not very campus-based. A lot of times there are tailgates where most people don't even attend the game after. It would be nice to see more people become more active in regards to school activities other than classes.

I feel like many students don't take their work as seriously as they should, and there is only a small group of non-partiers. But then, I'm sure most colleges are like this to some degree. I guess one of the biggest issues is registering for classes, specifically for underclassmen. There are so many students that by the time underclassmen get to register, most of the classes they need or want are filled. True, there are a good number of GenEd classes to select from, but sometimes a student needs specific ones for their major or minor.

I think one of the worst things about my school is how big of a party school is it. We have so many people going out and drinking on the weekends and even people who drink during the week. I don't know even know how it's possible that they stay focused on school or manage to graduate. I don't drink and I have a hard enough time trying to balance a social life and school without drinking.

Not diverse enough, everyone seems to be the same. Also, it can be hard to fit in here if you do not fit the typical stereotype.

The amount of pressure placed on students to maintain certain GPA's to get into their major/school within the college, because of a limited number of spots. I'll present my real-life scenerio, that's currently playing out. The school of Nursing only accepts 60 people a semester for their program, I had the required GPA (3.2) all the grades and pre-req classes, however I am on the waitlist, while there is a girl who has a 2.3 that got in over me, because she is a junior. That's just wrong.