James Madison University Overview

James Madison University is a public institution located in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Harrisonburg is a great location for students who prefer city over country life.

What Is James Madison University Known For?

• Students at JMU have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 2%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
• The highest award offered at JMU is the doctor's degree.
• In 2017-2018, 79% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from JMU with a bachelor's degree make about $56,600 a year. That's 39% more than those who graduate from other schools.
• The average JMU student graduates in 4.2 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

James Madison University Rankings

JMU landed the #127 spot in our 2022 ranking of best colleges. We analyzed 2,587 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation. Out of the 73 colleges in Virginia, it is ranked at #6.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

JMU has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#123	Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#123	Best Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at JMU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Other Philosophy & Religion Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#4	Best Philosophy & Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#5	Best Information Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best Hospitality Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#10	Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#10	Best Health & Physical Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#40	Best Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#42	Best Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#49	Best Computer & Information Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#74	Best Business, Management & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards JMU has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#4	Best Philosophy & Religious Studies Schools	College Factual
#15	Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools	College Factual
#34	Best Communication & Journalism Schools	College Factual
#40	Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools	College Factual
#47	Best Computer Science Schools	Computer Science Degree
#81	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual

Where Is James Madison University?

Contact details for JMU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	800 South Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Phone:	540-568-6211
Facebook:	http://www.jmu.edu/jmuweb/facebook
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/JMU

How Do I Get Into JMU?

You can apply to JMU online at: www.jmu.edu/admissions/apply/

Admission Requirements for JMU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into JMU?

The acceptance rate at James Madison University is 80%. This means that is not quite as selective as some schools, but you'll still need to submit a good application if you want to be considered by the admissions department.

Approximately 38% of accepted students are men and 62% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 76%, and the acceptance rate for women is 83%.

Average Test Scores

About 56% of students accepted to JMU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 570 and 650. Math scores were between 550 and 630.

JMU received ACT scores from 14% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 23 and 28.

Can I Afford James Madison University?

The overall average net price of JMU is $38,766. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At JMU, approximately 40% of students took out student loans averaging $8,938 a year. That adds up to $35,752 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at JMU is 2.3%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

James Madison University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 19,727 undergraduate students at JMU, with 18,420 being full-time and 1,307 being part-time.

There are also 1,867 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 18,420 full-time undergraduates at JMU, 41% are male and 59% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of James Madison University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	873
Black or African American	881
Hispanic or Latino	1,334
White	13,902
International Students	222
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,208

Geographic Diversity

Virginia students aren't the only ones who study at James Madison University. At this time, 33 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 73 countries are represented at JMU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Vietnam, and South Korea.

Online Learning at James Madison University

In 2019-2020, 20,632 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at JMU has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 15th most popular in Virginia for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of JMU

The following table shows how JMU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Communication Sciences	#28	#31
Computer Information Systems	#52	#67

Online Growth Rankings of JMU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at James Madison University was 159.0%. This is the #321 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at JMU regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of JMU majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Computer & Information Sciences	19%
Education	16%
Instructional Media Design	70%
Teacher Education Subject Specific	91%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at JMU ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at JMU.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Educational Assessment	#1
Other Computer & Information Sciences	#7
Special Education	#25
Instructional Media Design	#31
Computer & Information Sciences	#40
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#43
Education	#130

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

James Madison University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Mental & Social Health Services	469	0	0	0	469
Communication & Media Studies	451	0	17	0	468
Health & Physical Education	252	0	48	0	300
General Education	0	0	298	0	298
Nursing	252	0	26	14	292
Liberal Arts General Studies	290	0	0	0	290
General Psychology	254	0	10	5	269
General Biology	197	0	13	0	210
Business Administration & Management	141	0	47	0	188
Hospitality Management	179	0	0	0	179
Marketing	174	0	0	0	174
Information Science	168	0	0	0	168
Finance & Financial Management	163	0	0	0	163
Accounting	103	0	54	0	157
Communication Sciences	81	0	44	7	132
Computer Information Systems	116	0	11	0	127
Fine & Studio Arts	120	0	2	0	122
Political Science & Government	96	0	11	0	107
Music	77	0	16	6	99
Science, Technology & Society	96	0	0	0	96
Health & Medical Administrative Services	82	0	0	0	82
International Relations & National Security	82	0	0	0	82
General Engineering	78	0	0	0	78
History	62	0	16	0	78
Public Administration	59	0	17	0	76
Legal Research	74	0	0	0	74
Mathematics	70	0	0	0	70
General English Literature	59	0	7	0	66
Economics	61	0	0	0	61
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	60	0	0	0	60
Geography & Cartography	59	0	0	0	59
Drama & Theater Arts	55	0	0	0	55
Systems Theory	53	0	0	0	53
Writing Studies	36	0	8	0	44
Allied Health Professions	15	0	27	0	42
Student Counseling	0	0	41	0	41
Social Work	41	0	0	0	41
Sociology	36	0	0	0	36
Food, Nutrition & Related Services	34	0	0	0	34
Special Education	1	3	28	0	32
Chemistry	31	0	0	0	31
Anthropology	30	0	0	0	30
Other Philosophy & Religious Studies	26	0	0	0	26
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	0	25	0	25
Geological & Earth Sciences	25	0	0	0	25
Other Education	0	23	0	0	23
International Business	21	0	0	0	21
Biotechnology	20	0	0	0	20
Physics	13	0	0	0	13
Business/Managerial Economics	11	0	0	0	11
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	0	11	0	11
Instructional Media Design	0	10	0	0	10
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	0	8	2	10
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	0	7	0	7
Educational Assessment	0	4	0	0	4
Educational Administration	0	3	0	0	3
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	0	3	3
Child Development & Psychology	0	0	0	3	3
Other Computer & Information Sciences	0	1	0	0	1
TOTAL	4,873	44	792	40	5,749

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Asheville Post Card Co., Asheville, North Carolina under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.