<p>What are the differences between these two schools?</p>
<p>GW is more selective, more expensive, is a city school, enjoys higher ratings on most college rating systems. The students have higher test scores, on average and were better student overall in highschool. American is not right in the city--it has a campus, and enjoys an excellent reputation for its selectivity. It is a best buy in my book. A kid who gets into GW comfortably may well get a merit award at American for $5K and also enjoy $10 less in tuition, but still get professors and course content that is right up there. If it weren't for the higher powered GW and GT right there, both Catholic (though S says changing their name would be a big step forward) and American would probably be much higher ranked. I would not hesitate to recommend American.</p>
<p>GW is not Catholic. Catholic University and Georgetown are. American is technically in the city, but I agree that it is in a more residential part of the city. GW seems to have a reputation for snobbism and an unfriendly atmosphere. American is more low key. They both offer all of the advantages of being in Washington, DC.</p>
<p>I go to GW, so you can PM me with questions if you have them. I've had a really good experience at GW. Many people overgeneralize GW as having "no campus", which is completely false. GW does, in fact, have a campus, and is easily mapped out on a map of Foggy Bottom(the neighborhood GW is located in). The fact that there's tall buildings and a subway station doesn't equate to having no campus. GW does not have the traditional campus that AU or GT have, but it has a much more distinguished and traditional campus than NYU or BU. We have a nice quad, distinguished campus boundaries, and student events all the time. During the school year, you can find many students talking on the sidewalks steps or hanging out at a Basketball game. The large student body makes the campus seem more unified. </p>
<p>The Foggy Bottom residents hate GW because they think we're encroaching on their quiet neighborhood(which is arguably true). This strains GW because it has such strained relations with the neighborhood. The Foggy Bottom residents don't all hate us, though, we have many activities and events for them, and a GW dorm houses many elderly residents who lost their homes in a recent fire.</p>
<p>GW is located on a very urban campus, and is perfectly-suited for a city person. It's the best situated out of all the DC schools. It's only a few blocks from the White House, and contains many gov't buildings on campus. The students can be snobbish, but I would say the same for GT and AU.</p>
<p>AU and GW are both strong in the same areas(economics, international affairs, journalism, and liberal arts). GW is more selective, and seems to have more prestige(if you care). </p>
<p>GW is very expensive. I would have never gone here if it weren't for my generous financial aid package. My scholarship is very unusual for GW. I don't know very many people here who got as much money from the university as I did. I had high stats(1520 SAT, Sal.), but there's plenty of people with great SATs like me who only got $20,000 scholarships. AU is $10,000 cheaper. Don't forget, though, that GW gives lots of small merit scholarships totaling 8000-12000 a year(this makes the price even with AU but you need 1400+ SATs to get them).</p>
<p>If your parents are wealthy, I would go to GW because it's a better school academically and has a better location. When comparing aid, I would recommend paying an extra $5000-10,000 to go to GW, but not much more. If you get a hefty aid-package from AU and not GW, then go to AU. They have an incredible honors program, and AU graduates have loads of opportunities career-wise upon graduation.</p>
<p>GW is better.</p>
<p>If you're interested in a "traditional" campus, look into GW's Mt. Vernon campus. It's a ten minute drive from Foggy Bottom and is still located in DC. It's a really pretty old women's college GW bought out, and is much more residential and not as urban-feeling.</p>
<p>It depends on what you're interested in studying - if it's international relations, then I would suggest that Americac's School of International Studies (SIS) is outstanding - with many courses focused on political economy, international development, geo-political global issues</p>
<p>GW's program is just as good or better. <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eelliott/%5B/url%5D">http://www.gwu.edu/~elliott/</a></p>
<p>Jamimom,</p>
<p>I have seen you in this board for a long time so I trust your opinion. Could you please expand on the comment "though S says changing their name would be a big step forward" about Catholic University in DC?</p>
<p>It just popped up in my daughter's radar screen.</p>
<p>Thanks...</p>
<p>GW is definitely a much better school than American. I agree with most of the other posts here...American is really very distant from the city and a lot of times that can limit the opportunities that students can have and take advantage of. The Elliot school at GW is excellent and I think doesn't get the attention it deserves simply because Gtown's SFS is so close (I just graduated from SFS). GW is pretty much right in the middle of the city which makes access to some of the great opportunities DC has much easier for students. I worked in the GW area this past academic year and it's a wonderful place to work and play!</p>
<p>GW is wonderful, especially The Elliot School, which has a great reputation for international affairs. I would go to GW over AU in a heartbeat, considering GW's better reputation and and student body.</p>
<p>AU is further away from the heart of the city, but it is still located in the district, and in the nice Northwestern area. A student at GW has easier access to Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and most government buildings, but AU is still a short metro ride from all that as well.</p>
<p>Catholic University has a mixture of dedicated Catholic students, faculty, and staff, and others who are there for other reasons, often including location. I agree with your son- people may hesitate at going to a school that automatically attaches a religious label to them. However, plenty of people around here go to the graduate schools. The undergraduates seem to come in from all over, not many from the local area.</p>
<p>Artiesdad, I was being a bit facetious. My kids all went to Catholic schools at some time in their lives. My son swore he would not go to any Catholic college. But he found Georgetown, BC and a few others "acceptable" in his book. One of his comments was that the Catholic schools could go a long way in appeal by changing their names, particularly schools like Catholic U, Sacred Heart, Misericordia, Salve Regina, Holy Cross. He actually had a comedy routine about the subject which was not appreciated by his school. He called Notre Dame, "Yo Mamma". (Yeah, he should have known that Notre was "our"). But his stance was that a college like Catholic University would have far more universal appeal if it had a different name. An 18 year old Catholic kid's opinion, but I have seen kids recoil from schools with obviously Catholic names, so he does have a point, I guess. I would not let it bother you. Most kids would love to go to "Yo Mamma" and have no qualms about the name.</p>
<p>We visited Catholic U along with the other DC schools and I think it is a great school. The biggest drawback it has is that it is in a less savory neighborhood than the other schools. Also it is predominantly Catholic, unlike Georgetown. But it is priced more reasonably and it, along with American offers many merit awards at lower threshhold levels than GW. My son, by the way, preferred GW to GT and American was about even with GT--and only because of the prestige of GT, which he fully acknowledged as GT was the hottest school for his graduating class. 5% of the 200 kids ended up there, maybe even more as the waitlist was not resolved at the time I got the numbers. S was waitlisted at GT, accepted to GW with a small award, accepted American with a nice scholarship. He chose not to stay on the GT waitlist.</p>
<p>".American is really very distant from the city and a lot of times that can limit the opportunities that students can have and take advantage of. "</p>
<p>Having gone to grad school at GW, gone to summer school at American, and having lived in D.C. for more than 10 years, I feel free to comment.</p>
<p>American U is in the city. It is in a lovely, suburban-like upper class neighborhood near the Maryland border. While it is not blocks away from the White House and State Dept. as G.W. is, it still is a very easy bus ride, car ride or subway ride to governmental and association buildings that are downtown.</p>
<p>In fact, if one really likes to walk, it is possible to walk from American to Georgetown, as I used to do during my summer at American U. </p>
<p>In my opinion, American U has many advantages: a more attractive campus than GW has, a lower price range, and the same internship, research, etc. opportunities combined with similar opportunities to work with professors who have government, media and other major real world experiences.</p>
<p>If one is willing to live even father away while having still lower costs, check out the University of Maryland -College Park. It is near a subway that goes into D.C., and has excellent professors, wonderful internships both in D.C. and Annapolis, good merit aid, and a relatively low price.The honors program and learning communities offer small classes and other perks.</p>
<p>The campus is large and lovely.</p>
<p>Jamimom,</p>
<p>Thanks for the detailed reply. We are in the oposite situation. Our D went to catholic schools early on and is now in a public scool. Up to now she is concentrating on Catholic colleges and universities, although we are making sure she keeps all her options open. Along with Catholic and GW she visited American and is also looking at Goucher, which somebody in this board recommended. GT is out of the question because her GPA and test scores are out of range.</p>
<p>With some prejudice I also beleive GT, unlike Catholic or St. Joe's in Phily, is not a place where a Catholic identity is as clearly visible the everyday life of the school. This is something our D has expicitly cited as something that she wants to have.</p>
<p>Given the current climate I can see how the Catholic label can be a liability. On the other hand we are looking at schools like St. Josephs, in Philadelphia, who are seeing a substantial increase in the number and quality of applicatns and unfortunatelly (given that this our daughers top choice,) are significantly more competive than they were a few years back. I also believe (hope may be a better word) that things are changing. The main reason our D is looking for a Catholic school is the influence of our parish Youth Group. With 200+ high schoolers participating in its many activities it is a very positive influence in the community. As weird as this may sound it is actually acceptable (and cool) to come in late on certain Wednesdays because you were in morning mass. Least people think we are a "Bible Belt" community, we are actually a suburb of NYC. We are also not the only commujnity where this is happening :-)</p>
<p>The beauty of the college search process is that in the majority of the cases the kids will find the right match. Of course I am calling the process "beatiful" only becasue this is our second time around and this time we are not playing in the in the hyper competitive HYPSMCXYZ admissions anvironment that our son got involved in:-)</p>
<p>I agree with Northstarmom re: AU. I also took courses there at the School for International Service with students from all over the world (in fact, as an American, I often felt like I was in the minority which was refreshing...) Can't speak for other programs but that dept. was truly rewarding and gave me an extensive list of academic and professional contacts from all over the world...</p>
<p>GW has a much better reputation. AU has a huge gay population.</p>
<p>Yeah AU has many gays. They make up like half of the guys there. This would actually be a postive though for many guys.</p>
<p>Actually, that could be a positive for many girls, too.</p>