Program Basics

• • James Madison University - College of Business
  • James Madison University
  • Zane Showker Hall
  • Harrisonburg, Virginia
  • 22807
  • United States
  • Program Web site: http://www.jmu.edu/cob/
  • Program e-mail address: cob@jmu.edu
  • Program phone number: 540-568-3254
  • Status: Public (state-operated)
• • AACSB accredited: Yes
• • Year in which the undergraduate business program was founded: 1972
• • Institution: Four Year
• • Business Program: Four Year

SCHOOL BASICS

• Enrollment:

  • Total undergraduate: 17,380
  • Full-time undergraduate business: 2,777
  • Part-time undergraduate business: 113
  • Distance undergraduate business: 0
• • College or university freshman retention rate: 91 %

• Percentage of students who graduate from the business program:

  • Within four years of admission to the university: 62 %
  • Within six years of admission to the university: 83 %

• Undergraduate Business Degrees Offered:

  • BBA/ Accounting, Computer Information Systems, Economics, Finance, International Business, Management, Marketing
  • BS/ Economics, Quantitative Finance
  • BA/ Economics

PROGRAM COSTS

• • Annual Tuition (Resident): $8,448.00
• • Annual Tuition (Non-Resident): $21,738.00
• • Annual Required Fees: $235.00
• • Tuition Per Academic Credit (Resident): $374.00
• • Tuition Per Academic Credit (Non-Resident): $1,003.00
• • Annual Room and Board: $8,008.00
• • Annual Cost of Books: $1,500.00

CLASS PROFILE

• Students in newest entering class that are:

  • Female: 35 %
  • International: 7 %

• Mean and median age of full-time business students in the newest entering class:

  • Mean: 20
  • Median: 20

• Percentage of newest entering class:

  • Top 10% of high school class: 26 %
  • Top 25% of high school class: 69 %
  • GPA of 3.75 or higher: 50 %
  • GPA of 3.5 to 3.74: 30 %

• SAT scores (1600 scale) for the newest entering class of full-time undergraduate business students:

  • Mean: 1145
  • Median: 1140

• Middle 50% range of SAT scores (1600 scale):

  • From: 1100
  • To: 1270

• ACT scores for the newest entering class of full-time undergraduate business students:

  • Mean: 25
  • Median: 25

• Middle 50% range of ACT scores:

  • From: 24
  • To: 28

• Citizenship breakdown for newest entering class:

  • US: 93 %
  • Canada: 0 %
  • Other Non-US Citizens: 7 %
  • Dual Citizenship: 0%
  • Unknown Citizenship: 0 %

• U.S. citizens in newest entering class:

  • African American: 3 %
  • Asian American: 7 %
  • Hispanic or Latino American: 4 %
  • Multiethnic/Multiracial: 1 %
  • Native American: 0 %
  • White (Non-Hispanic): 79 %
  • Chose not to report: 6 %
  • Other: 0 %

• Regional breakdown of U.S. citizens in newest entering class:

  • Northeast: 14 %
  • Mid-Atlantic: 82 %
  • South: 1 %
  • Southwest: 1 %
  • Midwest: 1 %
  • West: 1 %
  • Possessions and territories: 0 %

ADMISSIONS - Getting Into the Institution

• Standardized tests required of all applicants:

  • SAT or ACT
• • Interviews are: Not offered

• Application deadlines:

  • Fall 2012 1/15/2012
• • Additional application requirements: Transfer students: 1. must have completed at least 24 hours of college credit; 2. must be in good standing at their present institutions; 3. should have at least a “B” cumulative grade point average (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) in order to be competitive.
• • Total undergraduate applicants, all programs: 22,645
• • Percentage of applicants admitted: 58 %
• • Percentage of admitted applicants who enrolled: 30 %
• • International applicants: 2 %
• • Female applicants: 35 %

• Relative Importance of Application Elements

  • Secondary school record: Very Important
  • Class rank: Considered
  • Talent/ability: Considered
  • Interview: Not Considered
  • Extracurricular activities: Considered
  • Volunteer work: Considered
  • Character/personal abilities: Not Considered
  • Application essay: Important
  • Work experience: Considered
  • SAT/ACT scores: Very Important
  • Recommendations: Considered
  • High school GPA: Very Important

ADMISSIONS - Getting Into the Business Program

• • Undergrad business program admissions are managed by: The business program office
  • Total undergraduate business applicants: 834
  • Percentage of applicants admitted: 77 %
  • Percentage of admitted applicants who enrolled: 100 %
• • Entrance exam other than the SAT/ACT required for admission to the undergraduate business program?: No
• • Admissions interviews for the undergraduate business program are: Not offered

• Freshman admission:

  • Does the business program admit freshmen?: No

• Internal transfers:

  • Method for handling internal transfers: Declare business major
  • Minimum college GPA for internal transfers to the business program: 2.5

CAMPUS LIFE

• Five largest on-campus organizations for business students:

  • Kappa Alpha Psi
  • Delta Sigma Pi
  • Phi Chi Theta
  • Pi Sigma Epsilon
  • Madison Marketing Association
• • Are freshmen required to live on campus?: Yes
  • Are business students grouped together in 'learning communities' in housing and other facilities?: No

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum number of credit hours required to receive an undergraduate business degree:

  • BBA 120
  • BS 120
  • BA 120

• Other requirements for the undergraduate business degree

  • General education – 41 credit hours; BBA Core - 45 credit hours; Major 24 - credit hours; Electives – 10 credit hours

ACADEMICS

• Average class size:

  • Required business classes: 33
  • Business electives: 22
  • Non-business electives: 44

• Percentage of business classes:

  • With 20 or fewer students: 23 %
  • With 21 to 50 students: 67 %
  • With more than 50 students: 10 %

• Course enrollment:

  • Percentage of required business courses reaching maximum enrollment by the first day of class: 100 %
  • Percentage of required business courses with waiting lists: 0 %

CURRICULUM

• Electives:

  • Available business electives: 75
  • New electives: CIS 428 - Mobile Computing
• • Last curriculum overhaul: 2009
  • Total business faculty: 133
  • Percentage of the total faculty that is tenured or tenure track: 67 %

• Most prominent faculty:

  • J. Barkley Rosser, Jr.
  • Daniel G. Gallagher
  • Timothy J. Louwers

• Business program's leading areas of study:

  • • Accounting
    • Marketing
    • Human Resource Management
    • Management Information Systems
    • Other
  • Other leading area of study: Quantitative Finance
• • Special programs: Madison Investment Fund – select students manage university funds; Center for Entrepreneurship – students serve as consultants for real businesses; Entrepreneur-in-Residence – successful practitioner is available to help students take ideas to reality in the form of new businesses; Business Plan Competition – six student teams are invited to present business plans to venture capitalists, with winners receiving scholarships; Business Ethics Competition – winners receive scholarships.
• • Study abroad programs: Semester abroad programs are available in Antwerp, Beijing (summer), Florence, London, and Salamanca. There are numerous short-term programs available in countries located in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America. There are several exchange programs with leading universities in Australia, England, Japan, Korea, and Spain, among others. Approximately 11% of business majors study abroad.
• • Volunteer opportunities: JMU offers opportunities for volunteer work and community service through its Community Service Learning (CS-L) partnership. CS-L joins students, faculty, staff and surrounding communities by identifying and coordinating partnerships with more than 75 community services. CS-L is an active member of community networks such as Health Community, Hispanic Services Council, Rockingham County Partners for Student Success, and Valley Volunteer Forum.

• Extra-curricular activities:

  • Professional Business Fraternities: Alpha Kappa Psi, Delta Sigma Psi, Phi Chi Theta, and Pi Sigma Epsilon;
  • Association of Information Technology Professionals; Delta Epsilon Chi; Epsilon Chi Omicron; Financial Management Association; Madison Economics Club; Society for Human Resource Management
  • General Interest – Students in Free Enterprise; and Environmental Business Club.
  • Beta Gamma Sigma – National Business Honor Society (by invitation only); Beta Alpha Psi – National Accounting Honor Society (by invitation only).

FINANCIAL AID

• • Who manages financial aid for the business program?: Central financial aid office at the university
  • Financial aid web site: http://www.jmu.edu/finaid/

• Scholarships

  • Scholarship money distributed to business students last year: $752,865.00
  • Expected scholarship distribution to business students this year: $1,233,665.00
  • Scholarships are awarded to business students based on: a combination of need and merit
  • Students receiving institutional scholarships in the current academic year: 7 %
  • Students receiving full-tuition institutional scholarships in the current academic year: 1 %
  • Institutional scholarship money distributed to undergraduate business students based on need: 63 %
  • Institutional scholarship money distributed to undergraduate business students based on merit: 37 %

• Loans

  • Does the school offer a guaranteed loan to all business students, regardless of nationality?: No
• • Mean outstanding debt, most recent graduating class: $18,719.00

CAREER SERVICES

• Employment Information

  • Percentage of most recent business graduates who supplied information regarding employment: 55 %
  • Percentage seeking full-time professional employment in business: 53 %
  • Percentage not seeking full-time professional employment in business: 47 %

• Received first job offer:

  • By graduation: 47 %
  • After graduation, but within 3 months: 26 %
  • More than 3 months after graduation : 17 %
  • No job offer reported: 10 %

• Accepted first job offer:

  • By graduation : 47 %
  • After graduation, but within 3 months: 26 %
  • More than 3 months after graduation: 17 %
  • No job acceptance reported: 10 %
• • Companies recruiting business students on campus: 90
  • Companies posting job offers for business students on school job boards: 633

• Top employers (number of students hired):

  • Deloitte 12
  • KPMG 9
  • Fannie Mae 7
  • Freddie Mac 7
  • CGI 6
  • DRC (formerly HPTi) 4
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers 3
  • Ernst & Young 3
  • IBM 3
  • Cvent 3

• Compensation

  • Mean base salary: $52,512.00
  • Median base salary : $55,000.00
  • Mean signing bonus: $1,980.00
  • Median signing bonus: $2,000.00
  • Mean other guaranteed compensation: $0.00
  • Median other guaranteed compensation: $0.00

• Most recent graduates accepted jobs in the following functional areas:

  • Consulting: 9 %
  • Finance/Accounting: 44 %
  • General Management: 12 %
  • Human Resources: 4 %
  • Management Information Systems: 10 %
  • Marketing/Sales: 15 %
  • Operations/Production: 1 %
  • Logistics/Transportation: 1 %
  • Other: 4 %

• Most recent graduates accepted jobs in the following industries:

  • Accounting: 31 %
  • Consumer Products/Retail : 19 %
  • Consulting: 11 %
  • Financial Services: 13 %
  • Government/Education: 6 %
  • Pharma/Biotech/Health: 2 %
  • Manufacturing: 2 %
  • Media/Entertainment: 1 %
  • Petroleum/Energy: 0 %
  • Real Estate: 0 %
  • Sports/Leisure: 5 %
  • Technology/Science: 3 %
  • Non-Profit: 1 %
  • Transportation: 3 %
  • Utilities: 2 %
  • Other: 1 %

• Job offers accepted by most recent graduates in North America:

  • US: 100 %
  • Canada: 0 %

• Percentage of 2009-10 academic year graduates who accepted jobs in regions of US:

  • Northeast: 8 %
  • Mid-Atlantic: 88 %
  • Midwest: 1 %
  • South: 1 %
  • Southwest: 1 %
  • West: 1 %
  • Possessions and territories: 0 %
• • Career services offered: Career Panels, Career Fairs (Fall and Spring), Internship Fair, Mock Interview Program, Resume Review Programs (including opportunity for employers to review resumes – Fall and Spring), Career Programs (interviewing, etiquette, financial planning after college, networking, job search strategies), Individual and Group Counseling Appointments, On-line Recruiting Management System and Networking Module

INTERNSHIPS

• • Companies recruiting business students for internships on campus: 51
  • Companies posting internship offers for business students on school job boards: 363

• Internship pay

  • Internships that are paid: 82 %
  • Average internship length, in weeks: 9

B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

• • Total number of undergraduate business program graduates since inception: 24,944
  • Total living alumni of the undergraduate business program: 24,583
  • Percentage of living alumni who contributed to the business program or university in the last academic year: 9 %

• Alumni gifts

  • Mean Gift: $1,020.00
  • Median Gift: $51.00
  • Did the business program receive a gift of $10 million or more in the last academic year? No

• Prominent alums of the undergrad business program

  • Michael Thomas Senior Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton
  • Amy McPhersen President & Managing Director, Europe - Marriott International
  • Enrico Gaglioti Partner, Goldman Sachs and Company

• • -The emphasis on real-world application is amazing. I don't feel like I'm wasting my time learning things I will never use again, and yet I still feel like i have received a well-rounded application.
    
    -I don't know how they would be able to do this but I wish they could make some of their upper level classes more hands on. I am a senior and I was a little disappointed with some of my management classes this semester, they were a little dry. On the other hand, my CIS and Entrepreneurship class were perfect!
    
    -I believe that the school focuses on teamwork and leadership. The classes that are required before you get into you major give you all the knowledge to excel once you get into your major. The COB 300 business program teaches you extensive team work and communication skills. The major classes focus on the most important and current skills necessary to succeed in the business world. The business school has not only given me the technical skills but also the organizational insights that will allow me to succeed in my field.
    
    -There could be more courses offered to students before students apply to COB 300. Because of the common prerequisite classes students are required to take, I was only able to complete one common CIS course that all business students take, and one introductory programming course.
    
    -For the most part, most classes are the perfect size. They are not too big, and it allows you to get to know the other students and the professors. I also really enjoy my professors; I think the teaching quality is one of the best aspects of JMU. The professors are all very interested in teaching and have great experience to bring to class. They are always willing to help, even if it is not related to class specifically.
    
    -I believe that our business program needs to be more selective in who they admit into the program. The standards should be increased in order to make us more competitive.
    
    -The dedication and energy that our business professors put into each and every class is outstanding. These professors know their stuff and they do all they can so that we (their students) can too gain knowledge from their experiences.
    
    -The business building could use an update like the rest of campus. For being such a highly regarded program the building looks dated, and the classrooms lack windows. A lot of money is being spent on improving the rest of campus, would like to see some more allocated towards the business building.
    
    -The variety of business classes the program makes you take before you can even be accepted into the program gives you a great understanding of the business world. Also, every class in some way strengthens your interpersonal skills.
    
    -There is a large sense of community in the College of Business that leads to students that enjoy their classes and enjoy being challenged. This allows professors to teach difficult topics that students are eager to learn.
    
    -The enrollment process, particularly choosing electives for you major, must be completely restructured. Every semester it seems that I am forced to get an override to get into a class that I am required to take, and feel as though the administrators are very reluctant to let me in. I have been forced many times to take classes that I don't need or do not wish to take.
    
    -The small class sizes and helpful atmosphere gave me a comfortable environment to learn and grow as an individual. Furthermore, the outside help professors offered was outstanding and I felt very comfortable going to see them for help.
    
    -The classes themselves are not that difficult, there are a lot of easy teachers, and the course content itself could be more challenging on most fronts. Honestly a lot of the students do not want to put in any ounce of effort more than is necessary, the classes should inspire the students to want to learn more.
    
    -They do a really good job making mock/real interviews for us. Companies can post job offers on the Recruit-a-Duke website. The website allows us to post resumes and apply to the various job postings. The emphasis of team work and working with people is something that the entire university embraces and the COB is just an extreme. Especially as a management major, all of my classes are in teams and I love it. I think that they did a great job of teaching us how to work well with one another, not just on a class level but also from the business perspective of the real world.