What are my chances??

jdalu75
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:15:09 +0000

I’d say you’ve got a good chance but are not a lock at this time. Being OOS will hurt you, since JMU accepts two-thirds of its students from Virginia. Also, the last two years have seen a huge increase in applications to all the VA state schools – and the apps are from qualified high schoolers. My son’s group was told that JMU was admitting its best class ever this year, so next year may be even more competitive. UVa’s SAT midpoint went up something like 50 points this year. It’s the same all over.

I don’t think colleges see your AP score results – what’s more important to the admissions offices is the fact that you took an AP class, and what your school grade was. 3.5 is not a great GPA, depending on lots of factors that go beyond whether it’s weighted or not; most colleges now say that they only compare SATs within the same school system. SATs are good; try to get the math up this fall. I think your XC’s are impressive, but that’s not always high on a college’s list. The only advice I can offer: don’t sacrifice grades to add extracurriculars.

You’ll hear all kinds of crap from people who claim to know what the admissions process is like. I suggest you ignore it all. I’ve even heard that colleges “throw all the applications up in the air and pull off the top of the pile.” If you talk to anyone in a college admissions office they will tell you that they spend seven months every year reading applications. I prefer to believe them.

I’m pasting in the following from JMU’s Freshman Application Process. This is what JMU tells potential students that they value; I have no reason to doubt that. Note that the items are listed in JMU’s order of importance.

Good luck!



There are six factors which will be used to evaluate applicants for admission to JMU. The order of importance for our decision process is: Quality of High School Academics, Academic Achievement, Standardized Test Scores, Secondary School Report Form, Extracurricular Activities, and an optional Personal Statement.


Quality of High School Academics
The Admissions Committee is most interested in the quality of the applicant’s high school program of study. Students with solid achievement in four or more academic courses each year of high school will have a distinct advantage in the admission process. Competitive candidates for admission will have taken upper level coursework (i.e. Honors, AP, IB, Dual Enrollment) in the core academic areas when available in their high school.
Academic Achievement
Competitive candidates will have mostly As and Bs in the core academic areas: English, math, lab science, social science and foreign language. While we focus on the individual grades in each core academic class the admissions committee notes the high school grade point average and class rank if reported by the high school. JMU is more interested in how a prospective student performs over the four year high school program than the results of a standardized test.
Standardized Tests
Performance on the SAT I or ACT helps the committee discern applicants’ past academic achievement and their potential for future academic achievement.


JMU accepts and recognizes both the SAT and ACT. We ask that you send all of your scores. When reviewing test scores we use the highest individual verbal and highest individual math scores from the SAT. For the ACT we use your single highest composite score.

JMU requires that your official test results be sent to us electronically direct from the testing agency.


Secondary School Report and Recommendation Letter
The Secondary School Report form is available from the online application menu. Many high schools have developed their own version of this form. Please check with your guidance counselor to see if you need to provide him or her a copy before you download one. Your counselor will complete the form and submit it with your transcript. This is how the Admissions Committee will learn about your high school environment.


A letter of recommendation is optional, but to be reviewed it must either arrive with your official high school transcript, or be attached to a JMU Letter of Recommendation Cover Sheet. Letters that are not with your transcript or accompanied by the official cover sheet will not be read. Please select one person who is either an academic teacher, a principal/assistant principal, or your guidance counselor to write your recommendation letter.

The letter and the secondary school report are not the same thing. Always give the secondary school report to your counselor, even if you ask a teacher or principal/assistant principal to write you a letter.


Extracurricular Activities
We are looking for quality involvement rather than quantity of involvement. We like to see the type of involvement students have in particular clubs and/or organizations rather than just being a member. Please tell us about club, organization and athletic activity. We are also interested in students who have been involved in community service or held part time jobs.
Personal Statement (Optional)
We do not require a particular topic for the Personal Statement. We allow applicants to decide what the committee still needs to know in order to accurately evaluate their application. Please do not repeat information that can be found in the application. This space is provided to help the committee get to know the applicant better. We encourage students to be creative and have fun with it! Please know that the committee will consider content and grammar as well as spelling. Personal Statements should be no longer than 500 words.