Anyone here go to VT or JMU?

[Deicide]

Hey,

I'm going to college next fall, and applied to Virginia Tech and James Madison U. Anyone here already go there? What major are you taking, and how do you like the campus? I want do major in Management Science in Information Technology at VT, but I'm not sure about JMU.

Thanks

 

[Triumph]

deicide? do you like that band? well if you do, then you probably won't find many friends at VT. everyone is exactly the same. i don't really like it that much. i'm going for mechanical engineering. i don't know much about JMU.

 

[yakko]

Nope.

 

[Dooling37]

JMU here...
I'm a senior CIS (Computer Info Sys) major, which is in the College of Business. It's a pretty good major, although personally I think it places too much emphasis on programming. That could be good or bad, depending on your preference. All in all, good academically, although the CIS faculty leave something to be desired.
The campus is beautiful, although getting awfully crowded with the large amount of growth recently. Parking is a b1tch, but you don't have to worry about that as a freshman anyways.
Social scene is great in my opinion. Plenty of organizations to get involved in.

Lemme know if you have any other specific ?s...
Good luck w/ your decision.

 

[Deicide]

Triumph: Yeah, not necessarily that band, but the whole genre in general. I'm not really expecting to find people who have my exact interests anyways. What are most of the people like at VT? I don't mind if they don't all like metal music, as long as they're mostly pretty cool.

Drooling: Thanks for the info on JMU. I'm not really that heavy into programming, I hate it actually. I thought CIS wasn't very focused on programming, I was looking into that major when I applied to JMU. Do they have any BA majors that focus more on administration/management in IT?

Thanks to both of you for your replies.

 

[Dooling37]

Yeah, I didn't think that CIS was going to emphasize programming much either, but you need at least 4 classes now to complete the degree.
I've actually spoken in length with one of my professors who is on the curriculum board about this, b/c I really think it's ridiculuous (I despise programming). He explained that b/c so many JMU students get jobs in the NOVA/DC area, especially in software development/consulting, they structure the curriculum based on what employers are looking for.
However, I think they're planning on seperating the CIS degree into 2 concentrations -- one for software dev(programming) and they other emphasizing more networking aspects. I'm sure that would be more admin/managerial aspects. Unfortunately, I won't be around to see it.

Other than that, what I would have done differently in hindsight would be to simply minor in CIS, and take the 3 or 4 electives that I really enjoyed and 1 or 2 programming courses (just to understand the concepts), and majored in Finance.

It is a good program though overall, and you would have at least 2 years before you get into CIS courses, so by that time it is likely they will have adjusted the curriculum.