James Madison College

Location| East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Established| 1967
Named for| James Madison
Colors| Green, White (MSU Colors)
Affiliated hall| Case Hall
Undergraduates| 1200 (approximate)
Website| [1]

James Madison College (JMC) is a residential college located at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1967, James Madison College was established with the stated goal to "[create a] residential college merging the best attributes of a small college with an undergraduate education". James Madison College is specialized in the study of both politics and international relations with all four of the offered majors reflecting these disciplines.

Students enrolled at JMC both dorm and attend classes at Case Hall, nestled within Michigan State University's campus. Because of this proximity to their peers, students at JMC are often more tight-knit when compared to larger colleges.

### History

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The concept behind JMC was originally seen as an attempt to combine the benefits of small liberal arts colleges with the resources of a major research university. Attributes brought from the liberal arts style colleges would be small class sizes, a closely-knit community, and a more one-to-one, personalized teaching style between students and teachers; attributes from research university style colleges would be abundant research funds, advanced labs, comprehensive specialized programs, (such as the study-abroad programs) access to a large campus and numerous Big Ten conference teams.

Despite originally being an experiment, JMC has grown to become a well-respected liberal arts program.

### Academics

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JMC offers four majors and four minors all focused on a public affairs curriculum from. At the end of their freshman year, students select their course of study. These programs are as follows:[1]

> (Majors)

>   * Comparative Cultures and Politics (CCP)
>   * International Relations (IR)
>   * Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy (PTCD)
>   * Social Relations and Policy (SRP)

> (Minors)

>   * European Studies
>   * Muslim Studies
>   * Political Economy
>   * Science, Technology, Environment and Public Policy

Unique among colleges at MSU, JMC requires students to participate in "field experience" either in the form of an internship or study abroad programs. Additionally, students are required to take a foreign language for at least two years in order to bolster global perspectives.

Among MSU students, JMC alumnus are disproportionately represented in membership at the Honors College, and in award recipients. In fact, despite JMC only representing roughly 4% of MSU graduates, they make up over 35% of the school's Phi Betta Kappa members.

#### Grading

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Unlike many other Michigan colleges, JMC is known for its grade deflation, where a majority of their student population have grades other than A+ to A-.[2] Following the belief that students should truly be challenged in their college experience, JMC developed a notion where the desired intellectual rigor of the program should be reflected in it being difficult to achieve high marks.[2]

#### Rankings

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MSU has been consistently ranked among the best schools and #1 among public institutions for best learning communities.[3] JMC is one of MSU's flagship learning communities (among Lyman Briggs and Arts & Humanities) and its small class sizes together with its liberal arts college mentality bolster MSU's rankings.[4]

1. ^ "Majors & Minors | James Madison College | Michigan State University". jmc.msu.edu. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
2. ^ a b mmiller@mlive.com, Matthew Miller | (2024-12-15). "Most grades at Michigan universities are A's but some programs give out more than others". mlive. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
3. ^ "Learning Communities Ranking".`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
4. ^ "| James Madison College | Michigan State University". jmc.msu.edu. Retrieved 2025-02-28.