Hi! Today, I have a really exciting post to share because I GRADUATED COLLEGE! I can’t believe the day finally came. Keep reading to find out more about my graduation day and to hear a little bit about my overall experience at James Madison University.
Graduation was a blast! For a while, I didn’t even want to go to my actual graduation because, at least at JMU, you have to sit in an assigned seat so you’re not next to any of your friends and also I didn’t necessarily want to stick around all week after finals ended to just walk across a stage. But I’m so glad I did! A lot of my family came to town and a good amount of my friends were there as well so it was really nice to have so many people that I love all together. As far as my overall experience at JMU, I’ve broken it up into different categories so scroll down to hear what I liked and didn’t like!
Choosing JMU In the beginning of my college search, JMU wasn’t even on my list because I thought they didn’t have a football team (why the heck did I think that!?) and I was looking for a school with sports and a lot of school spirit. After my junior year of high school, my family and I did a college road trip and, while we were on our way to Virginia Tech, we were driving through James Madison and my parents persuaded me to stop and look around because we were there anyway. As soon as I got out of the car, I fell in love! JMU is so pretty and I knew right away that it was the school for me.
Distance From Home JMU is about 4 hours away from where I grew up and that turned out to be the perfect distance for me! It’s close enough where I could get home in a few hours if I needed to but it’s far enough that I definitely experienced a different landscape and was pushed out of my comfort zone in terms of not knowing everyone that lives in the area, like in my hometown. It’s also close enough to do a little weekend trip when I want to go back and visit friends!
Harrisonburg I really liked living in Harrisonburg! The city is definitely the way it is because JMU is located there but I had a great time. There are a lot of restaurants and things to do and downtown is so cute! There are a ton of little boutiques (the Yellow Button is my FAVORITE, go visit!) and coffee shops and you can always find a parking spot. The only thing I didn’t love about Harrisonburg is the mall. It’s gotten a little bit better recently because they added an Ulta and an H&M but it’s not like the malls you’re probably used to. But hey, it was good for my wallet!
My Major & Minor My major was my favorite thing about being in college! I was a Media Arts & Design major with a concentration in Integrated Advertising & Corporate Communication. For most of my college career, I also had a minor in Studio Art. Within my major and minor, I learned a lot about the advertising and marketing industry, graphic design, photography and videography, principles of art, and writing. My major prepared me for a career in a lot of different areas and I’m very thankful for that. It also helped me develop many of my passions and I love, love, loved it! If you go to JMU and want to chat more about the SMAD program, please comment below – I’d love to reach out to you!
Clubs & Organizations Throughout my time at JMU, I was involved in many clubs and organizations! My main activities were Sigma Alpha Omega, InterVarsity, and the Madipalooza Marketing Committee. Sigma Alpha Omega is the Christian sorority at JMU and this was my favorite organization that I was a part of. Joining a sorority that was full of women who were like-minded and focused on the same types of things as me was really cool! InterVarsity was also an organization that I spent a lot of time in during my first couple years in college. IV is a fellowship on campus and they offer small groups and a large group church-like talk and it really helped me find my place at JMU! The Madipalooza Marketing Committee is also something fun I did so if you don’t know what Madipalooza is, look it up – it’s incredible!
Housing I lived in a lot of different places during my time at JMU – Weaver Hall, Chesapeake Hall, the Grace Street Apartments, Campus View Apartments, and the Copper Beech Townhomes. It’s nice because there are a lot of options when it comes to places to live in Harrisonburg and a lot of them are good ones! You can also choose to live by yourself or with others. Some places even offer up to 6 bedroom units! I recently did a blog post all about the best places to live on and off campus at JMU so click here to check it out.
That’s all for today’s post! I really hope you enjoyed it and if you have any other questions about JMU or college in general, please write them in the comments. I’d love to share all the information that I can with you! Have a wonderful week and I’ll see you next Tuesday for another post.
CONGRATS!! You should be so proud of yourself! Graduating is such an amazing feeling! Thank you for sharing this post, it was awesome to read about everything you were involved in.