(03-05-2015 08:15 PM)Dukes 92 Wrote: So for 2014 we had an acceptance rate of 66% in order to maintain numbers (yield is declining) and we had 850 fewer applications (due to our student fees I am sure). 2013 had a 60.54% acceptance rate. Middle 50% SAT score range is 1050-1220 vs. last years 1060-1240. Average SAT lower now as well 1141 from 1152. I am surprised we are rated as high as #2 frankly.
For a University to be cited as an "up and comer" over the last 15+ years it seems like we have only moved backwards. Getting into JMU now is probably easier than George Mason....we have come a long way from being easily recognized as the third best public university in the Commonwealth to now. Whatever the administration is selling in terms of both academics and sports...people are just not buying it! I always thought that part of the University's mission was to increase the value of an alumni's diploma. Is it really any surprise why our giving rate is so low?
You're free to spout nonsense, but your conclusions extrapolated from admission numbers are domonstrably wrong.
Firstly, your statement "Whatever the administration is selling in terms of both academics and sports...people are just not buying it!" (besides being flat wrong) is just plain silly. I give you an ever increasing student enrollment of over 20,000 and an incoming Freshman class of over 4,000 as proof you have absolutely zero idea of what you're talking about.
Secondly, you are quite right to hope that your diploma would be held in increasingly high regard by those you come into contact, yet once again, demonstrable proof that your statement misses the mark is to be found in the numerous national publications and polls that consistently rank JMU as an extraordinary educational experience and outstanding value. Just this last week the Theatre program was identified as the 9th best Liberal Arts Theatre Program in the country (in large part because of the Forbes Ctr. and the success our students have in national theatre competitions). These accolades for JMU are increasing, not diminishing, and collectively have elevated JMU into rarified (and envied) territory in the realm of American public universities.
Still, I would submit that the value of your diploma (and the increasingly high regard you hope is attached to it) comes most directly from and through your own actions. You (and your fellow graduates) have the opportunity to personally demonstrate everyday to others that the "higher education" you received at JMU sets you apart and above the graduates from other insitutions. How well you accomplish your personal goals in life post-graduation as a JMU alum is the real measure of the value of your diploma.
Lastly, your non-sequitur (posed as a rhetorical question) suggesting historical giving rates by JMU alums are somehow tied to the insitution's current admission profile is just plain loco. JMU's present admissions profile is the result of an intentionally planned and well-managed growth to meet the needs of the Commonwealth of VA. The byproduct of this planned growth has nearly doubled the size of the student body since you graduated (based on your ID I'm assuming that date was 1992 for you), and has increased the size of the living alumni pool by at least 20%.
Since the time of your graduation I hope you've done extraordinarily well, and that your professional aspirations and dreams are coming true. If your ability to give back to JMU has grown since you graduated, and you count JMU as part of the reason for your success, it would only be normal that you would want to help assure that other present day JMU students have an even better quality of education than you experienced. Who knows, that experience might even include low-level FBS football. Most of us on this board certainly feel that way, and I certainly hope you are putting money where your heart rests. Yet, let's take a look at the big picture...the raw numbers as it reflects larger enrollments, admission profiles and giving rates.
7% of 20,000 (today's enrollment) is more than 7% of 11,000 (the enrollment in 1992). Agreed? Yet, while the larger number of presently enrolled JMU students continues to dramatically grow the alumni base, the percentage of those giving has remained the same. Yet, based on your notion that lower admission standards have led to the present 7% of those giving, you would have to assume that the initial number of givers would have been higher in 1992. But the percentage of givers has remained the same, suggesting something other than admission numbers are the root cause. Indeed, the simple fact is, the present admission profile has nothing to do with present percentage of those who give, and the reason(s) for the lower than desired giving rate remain something of an enigma.
I assume that any JMU fan posting on this board is truly interested in the wellfare of the insitution. Clearly, '92 you're interested and concerned, and for that I thank you. Still, your concern about admissions is misplaced. One way to enhance the quality of students looking to enroll at JMU and the value of your diploma is to provide the kind of financial support that makes JMU an even better deal. For example, JMU is moving to establish not just an "Honors Program" but an "Honors College." That takes $$, and lots of it. If JMU had the means and ways, JMU could seek to provide the kind of financial incentives to attract substantial numbers of National Merit Scholarship recipients. That would make a national splash if we bought 80-100 NMS kids. Or perhaps if JMU had the means through the generosity of its forward thinking benefactors, the institution could establish significantly more distinguished and endowed professorships to attract and hold up for public consumption and bragging rights. Just think what impact would be made on JMU's profile if we boasted a number of Nobel, Pulitzer, Fields or Pritzer Prize winners on its faculty?Again, anything is possible, if the money is there.
In the meantime, look in the mirror and ask yourself what you can do (in your daily life at home and at work) about how your JMU diploma is indeed the manifestation of a superior learning experience. That doesn't require you to send a dime to JMU, but it's the best way to represent.
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OT: LinkedIn post by Jason Bourne
![[Image: 4396733-0654540819-Jason.jpg]](http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11116/111165259/4396733-0654540819-Jason.jpg)
