American or George Washington

<p>Studying Economics for the moment but very well may switch to computer science or take the premed track. I’m not sure which school to choose. One one hand, George Washington is superior academically but on the other hand is it worth sacrificing a campus with the easily accessible city? About the same financial aid so money isn’t an object. which school do I choose? Any insight or personal experiences would be very appreciated.</p>

<p>They are really not similar schools at all, and if they weren’t in the same city, I doubt people would compare them. The majority of American students are outside the liberal arts; the majority of GW students are in them. If you are serious about pre-med or engineering, go to GW.</p>

<p>GW has been far more accommodating during the admission decision period than American. American even refused to allow my son to sit in on a class when we visited D.C. On the other hand GW arranged for the classes and the professors made an effort to meet with my son afterwords. GW also offered a 30k scholarship v American’s 18k. Needless to say, American is out of consideration. If this is how concerned they are when attempting to sell the school, it does not bode well for their concern later.</p>

<p>We’ve had the opposite situation. American has offered double the merit scholarship money at $20,000, plus honors program. We’ve gotten a letter or correspondence every day for a week from AU, and finally today received the admissions packet from GW. My son thought his top choice was GW, but he’s leaning towards AU because of the cost difference. Unless he chooses Chapel Hill (in state), cheaper, closer to home and his girlfriend’s going there. But he thinks he wants to study IR, so AU is very attractive.</p>

<p>I’m in agreement with jbnc11. AU has been very pleasant to deal with since day one. During all of my campus visits this past summer, AU was probably the most pleasant and hospitable out of all of them. Since my acceptance, they’ve sent letters, emails, and a phone call. They even sent a letter to my mom, commending her on her role in where I am today! They didn’t offer me a huge scholarship but it was still reasonable, and believe me, they made up for it in AU grants! They are the only school that has gone out of their way to show me that they want me at their school, and I know I’m not the only one - I get the feeling that this is the norm for them to go all out to show students they’re interested. Things like that say alot and gives some insight on how they treat current students.</p>

<p>Dad101 - It is likely a huge mistake that someone made to not let you sit in on a class. Did you go through AU Ambassadors? They should have accommodated for you very well if you had. However, you should not expect professors to come to you and cater to you in my opinion… likely the exact opposite.</p>

<p>Don’t count any school out because of how you think one (or all) admissions staff treat you. Their job is to sell the school and don’t doubt every single other school’s admissions team does the same thing. Luckily, the second you accept, the admissions staff never sees you again so don’t judge a school by it’s cover-- or in this case, its admissions staff.</p>

<p>Admissions is the front line for the university. They set the tone and create the image. In this case, it appears they failed.</p>

<p>I also think GW has to try exceptionally hard this year after losing their USNWR ranking.</p>

<p>Does either school have much school spirit? Sports teams?</p>

<p>American really lacks when it comes to school spirit</p>

<p>My older son is a comp sci major at GW. He absolutely loves it. Loves GW, loves the School of Engineering (SEAS) and loves being in DC. SEAS, which includes comps sci, is really a small school within a school. He really thinks he’s learning a lot and has met some great students and professors. In his freshman and sophomore years, he has chosen to live in SEAS housing.Also, GW has more of a campus than it first appears. True, it’s not nearly as campusy as AU, but for being in the middle of the huge city, it’s pretty nice.</p>

<p>My younger son is considering AU, because of the CLEG major. So, we like both schools, but they really are different.</p>

<p>also if you choose CS, AU doesn’t have that</p>

<p>Hey nan I think you may be wrong. I have many CS friends and AU has the major posted on its website. See below: </p>

<p>[BS</a> in Computer Science | American University](<a href=“http://www.american.edu/cas/cs/BS-COMP.cfm]BS”>BS Computer Science | American University, Washington, DC)</p>

<p>Thanks slmx38! My daughter just decided on GW and will be a CS major. She attended an engineering presentation during admitted students days and loved the SEAS group. Everyone had a great sense of humor and appeared to really enjoy it there. </p>

<p>She is having trouble deciding on a major (business and CS) and AU’s CS program seemed to be extremely small (not that GW’s seems to be much larger) so she was going to major in business at AU but was still really interested in CS. GW will let her get a BA in CS and get a double-major or two minors and that’s what sold it for her. She also loved the location.</p>

<p>The Admissions and Financial Aid departments were great at AU and so was the Business School and, as a parent, it was hard to see my daughter turn them down but GW was the better choice for her and she is excited and not second-guessing her decision.</p>

<p>MSNDIS - Not to challenge your D’s decision, but double majoring in CS and Business is completely possible at AU too… Double majoring in general at AU (and… well a bunch of private schools) is pretty common. But still, glad she made the decision on her own! Congrats.</p>

<p>bk4972b - My D is aware of that but there were only 8 CS graduates in 2012 at AU so she didn’t think the program was that strong. As I stated earlier, GW’s is not that strong either but it is a little larger. She loved the business school at AU though. GW just clicked for her. As a parent, I liked that AU’s classes are smaller and there is probably a lot more interaction between the students and the professors. I think my D will get that same experience in SEAS at GW but I think the general ed classes will be a different story at GW. There are very large classes there (100 and 300 students per class are some of the numbers we heard). That is smaller than our state flagship with 600 and 900 students in some classes but it is definitely not like AU.</p>

<p>MSNDIS., Congratulations on your D’s decision I hope your D has as good an experience as my S. I think you are right about the gen ed. classes as GW, but even those seemed fine for my son. He has sort of accepted that his freshman year has been a lot of large classes, but second semester has been better than first because the comp sci classes are more in depth and interesting than in first semester. He is really excited about next year when he gets to select his comp sci concentration and get even further into the major. He has met a few of the professors that teach the upper level classes and is looking forward to having them. I don’t know about your daughter, but my son is pretty shy, so it really helped him to live in SEAS housing freshman year. He has found the atmosphere of the SEAS school to be very collabortive—the students really work together and help each other out, rather than work against each other. I hope your daughter has a great experience, too.</p>