Early Action (non-binding)
Early Action is more competitive than the Regular Decision process. To be admitted through Early Action, a student needs to be superior in curriculum, grades, test scores and extracurricular activities. For the last two years, 35 to 42 percent of the students deferred from Early Action to Regular Decision were eventually admitted. Students who apply through the Early Action process do not have an advantage over students who apply Regular Decision.
Early Action Application Deadlines:
November 1: Application deadline for all admissions materials
Mid-January: Admission decisions mailed
May 1: Intent to enroll deposit deadline
Regular Decision
Students who apply Regular Decision are not at a disadvantage compared to those applying Early Action. In most years, around 90 percent of the applicants are competitive, but due to space constraints we typically admit about 60 percent.
Regular Decision Application Deadlines:
January 15: Application deadline for all admissions materials.
** Due to the 15th falling on a Sunday and the Martin Luther King holiday, the 2012 deadline for regular decision is January 17th.
Early April: Admission decisions mailed
May 1: Intent to enroll deposit deadline
James Madison University requires new freshmen to start in the fall semester.
This requirement is founded on our number one concern for student success. JMU’s freshman Orientation Program-1787, and the fall semester are designed specifically to address the difficult transition from high school to college by introducing students to the wealth of support services available university-wide and to lay the foundation for academic achievement. Many of our academic programs and their prerequisites are predicated on fall entry for freshmen and cannot be replicated during other terms.
Important Factors in Admission to JMU
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.
1. Quality of High School Academics
The Admissions Committee is most interested in the quality of the applicant's high school program of study. Applicants are evaluated in the context of their high school.
Competitive applicants should minimally have the following:
- 4 years of math with at least one full year beyond Algebra II in a course for which Algebra II is a prerequisite (i.e. pre-calculus, trigonometry, discrete, statistics, analysis, etc.). Computer and consumer math do not count and will not be evaluated as a full year beyond Algebra II.
- 3 years of laboratory science (preferably including biology, chemistry and physics; general science or earth science usually does not count as a lab science)
- 3 to 4 years of one foreign language or two years of two different foreign languages
- 4 years of English
- 4 years of social studies
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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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. Ask your guidance counselor to complete the Secondary School Report Form and send it along with your official high school transcripts and optional letter of recommendation.
If you choose to send one letter of recommendation, it must be sent with your high school transcript in order to be considered or read. JMU’s Admissions Committee will not review more than one letter of recommendation per applicant.
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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
Need more information? Please check out our Frequently Asked Questions section, contact your admissions counselor or join our mailing list.
