<p>I guess the question is whether a college should control the off campus organizations a student belongs to, and I think the answer to that has to be no. AU can bar the wearing of El clothing on campus, just as it can bar a KKK hood, and I think it should, but beyond that one’s college shouldn’t be involved in one’s private life off campus. As for girls who, despite all this publicity, would knowingly be involved with an El member or attend a party they sponsored, well, they are just hopelessly stupid. When this story broke, my D called and said “I was told from day one to have nothing to do with those guys.” So she didn’t. If all AU students followed that advice, the group would shrivel and die. </p>
<p>@MommaJ Absolutely, I agree. But there are many stupid people that attend american. </p>
<p>There are lots of smart men and women also. Some who think they can handle themselves, but in the face of an organized group who work often in concert to deceive and intoxicate less experienced women it behooves all of us to not blame the victim. My D was raised in 2 parent home with uncles and grandparents who modeled steady long term relationships. And yet, I am not naive enough to think she has the experience (or when she was 18 could even conceive of young men who talk and behave this way) to identify and arm against peer predators. They do not announce themselves as such. </p>
<p>What man has to go to a party, worried and anxious. Don’t set your cup down, keep your cup covered at all times, don’t talk to anyone alone, don’t leave the room. AND then, when she wants to leave, being told she can’t. Taxi’s take too long, let a brother drive you home, have some more while you wait. </p>
<p>Don’t fool yourselves, folks. This ain’t pretty. Read the emails. And then if something happens, its her fault. No . It’s rape. And smart girls get raped too. </p>
<p>The students standing against this refuse to be silent. I applaud them. </p>
<p>Okay, I’m there with you. However, I don’t want this thread to turn into a discussion about rape culture in America. </p>
<p>@americanutruth - I’m assuming you are not attending AU law -you don’t seem like you had a great experience at the school, which is too bad.
BTW, just spent the weekend with a good friend who is very successful and does some hiring for her NGO in DC. She said that unlike in the past, she pays much less attention to the school name on a person’s resume, even those right out of college. According to both her personal and professional experience - super smart kids are graduating from all sorts of schools for all sorts of reasons - though usually financial. That’s my experience as well - D got into some very good schools and is picking American - a relative safety - because it gave her much more money than the rest. Our HS valedictorian, track star, 103 gpa etc, is going to Providence College due to full ride in honors program.
And as someone who has been in the working world for along time, and who’s husband is a uni prof, I can tell you that admission AND HR departments definitely look at school name’s as only one small part of picture. No one over 25 is dumb enough to think that only smart people come from Ivy league schools…</p>
<p>@myjanda No, I am not attending American law, and you are correct, I did not have a good experience. If it wasn’t for the money I would have left immediately due to the awful professors and equally awful administration. But we disagree about the job market, and as someone who is older and more experienced, I’m not in a position to argue with your claims. </p>
<p>@AmericanUTruth Judging by your name and previous posts I’m guessing the AU College Confidential community should take your words with a grain of salt… But from one student to another I hope you try to see some of the good in AU and don’t badmouth your soon-to-be alma mater… Everyone’s situation is uniquely different! :)</p>
<p>Au is a school that no one should attend. The only reason why I made this account was to dissuade possible applicants from coming. I had an incredibly high GPA, and will be attending an T14 law school. You should ask yourself why a good student went through the effort to do this. My opinion is not unique. There is a small niche of politically hyperactive students that LOVE Au, and then there is the rest of campus, slowly waiting to leave and never donate, or look back. </p>
<p>We attended an accepted students reception recently and at the reception they had a lovely young woman who is a Sophomore at the school from our area. She loves AU and she is majoring in public health. She has had some amazing internships. I would take this students reviews of AU with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>@AmericanUTruth - I’m glad you’ve finally decided to come clean and let us know you are disgruntled- instead of continuing to pretend you were just altruistically available to answer all questions. Do us all a favor- post your reasons for being unhappy at AU so we can see what they are- they will be applicable to some and not to others but it does no one any good if you don’t lay them out. Then consider your job done and focus your incredibly high GPA on your new school and leave AU behind so you don’t ruin it for others. People are all different and some will be happy there and some not, but as someone older, more experienced and definitely a lot wiser than you- I’d advise you to not only think about the wisdom of bad mouthing the school that will forever be on your resume, but also to wonder if you really are as smart as you think you are for wasting four years of your life being miserable. </p>
<p>@myjanda thank you for the attacks ad hominem, a really do appreciate the advice from a defensive mother like yourself. </p>
<p>If you want to take a look at the campus party scene, go ahead and look up American U in the news lately. The prevailing reputation of American U students are rich entitled party kids that couldn’t get into GW or Georgetown, which will follow your resume and is well known in DC. The academics aside from SIS are terrible, the faculty aside from a small group are unaccessible - many of the professors are truly indifferent as to whether a student succeeds or not. The career center does little to nothing to prepare students for life after college, many intelligent students are left without jobs and without the ability to move further in their studies. The price of admission is huge, as well as the cost of living. </p>
<p>There are many other places that a student can go with the same internship availabilities, with better academics, that will not cost so much. </p>
<p>Just take a second look at AU before you commit, seriously, and I’m not speaking due to broken pride or vindictiveness as you suggest. </p>
<p>@AmericanUTruth - I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being disgruntled, and I appreciate that you are willing to share your gripes in this forum. I think it’s especially helpful for those students who are not able to visit AU before they commit. As I mentioned in a previous post, my S attended AU’s admitted students day a couple of weeks ago, and encountered three students (including the two roommates with whom he was placed for his overnight) who wanted to transfer to other institutions. His interactions with those students made him question his decision to attend AU. In my opinion, it is as helpful–if not more so–to hear from the disgruntled students as it is from students who are over the moon about a school. Thanks for sharing!</p>
<p>Couldn’t have said it better myself, @myjanda!</p>
<p>OP, when you’re in law school, put a lot of time into learning how to make a persuasive argument. Everything from your screen name to your wildly broad and inaccurate generalities in this and another AU thread (e.g., “most people move off of campus by sophomore year”; “I was involved in greek life, and every student flocks to our houses on the weekends”; “the prevailing reputation of American U students are rich entitled party kids”; “the academics aside from SIS are terrible”) only undermine your credibility and cast doubt on whether any of your input is valuable. I’m sure somewhere under all the bitterness and bile you have some thoughtful and valid points to make. Come back when you can do that.</p>
<p>Thanks @mommaj.
I agree with Ireneb that it is very helpful to hear the negatives about a school as well. That’s why most of us are on CC to begin with, to be able to make -or help our children make- an informed decision on where to study for 4 years.
Everyone is different and I would have totally appreciated an honest and thoughtful discussion from someone on why he was unhappy with AU. If americanutruth had written a post about his negative experiences that might have been very helpful to people. However, to create a thread ostensibly to be helpful and simply answer questions and then to say things like"many stupid people go here" " no one should go to AU", “awful professors” “terrible academics”… etc, is completely unhelpful IMO and makes the poster come across as less than credible. Why would someone ever stay 4 years at a school they obviously reviled so much…</p>
<p>AU is a fantastic school!
S is a sophomore and we couldn’t be more pleased with AU. He is constantly busy with his SIS and business classes (minoring in business). S has always been an A student and had a wide choice of schools from which to choose, and he chose AU because of the SIS program. He’s joined a fraternity that requires a high GPA minimum to join, and he spends a good deal of time in community service. AU is a place where students can thrive in an environment where creativity and diversity of opinion are not only encouraged but expected. S loves being in an environment where students are well-versed in what’s going on in the world and enthusiastic about debating all sides of important issues. S has made a friend for life with his freshman roommate, and he considers his fraternity brothers his family. All of these young men are very respectful, ambitious, and will go far in their careers. I couldn’t be more pleased that S chose AU as his first choice.</p>
<p>My D is a sophomore at AU double majoring in Theater Performance and Public Communications. She recently got several offers for internships this summer, all found through AU. She will be doing PR work for Fords Theater this summer and she is thrilled with the opportunity to “marry” her 2 majors and passions. She also found the Study Abroad office to be helpful in her process of applying and auditioning to study abroad next fall. She will be in London studying theater at BADA for the fall semester next year…again, a chance of a lifetime. Many of her friends have done multiple internships in a variety of interesting organizations. While she hasn’t loved every single one of her professors, the vast majority of them have been extremely knowledgeable and accessible. She has lived on campus for 2 years and was planning to live on campus a 3rd year, until she was accepted into the study abroad program next year. The campus is beautiful, she has met people from all over the world, has performed in many varied and creative theater productions, is learning a lot in all her classes and LOVES living in Washington, D.C. Her father and I are thrilled with her experience at AU so far and even more proud of her for taking advantage of the wealth of opportunities found there. With most schools, I would guess that you get out of it what you put into it to a large degree. Perhaps the OP will have better luck at his next school.</p>
<p>How would. You describe the politics on campus? Left, right? Center? Does one world view have “trouble” if they express their views in polite ways? </p>
<p>My son was also a 2013 AU grad. He was a business major (somewhat unusual at AU) but took a lot of classes in the other schools as well. He is an outgoing, friendly nerd that found he could feed all his interests at AU, taking classes in areas from entrepreneurship to middle eastern politics to mythology–and there were a lot of other students like him on campus.</p>
<p>He had a wonderful four years…he worked hard in his classes, he worked several excellent internships (most of which were paid), was involved in a fraternity, was active on the club team for his sport, made a great group of friends from all over the US and all over the world. He has a challenging job that he really enjoys. Same goes for his friends.</p>
<p>His time there wasn’t perfect. No experience over four years is. One advisor signed off on a waiver of a graduation requirement for him (letting him substitute a course he was more interested in, and made more sense for him, than a course otherwise required ) ; he had to hustle to get the requirement in his last semester on campus, because another advisor said the requirement could not be waived, and the first advisor wasn’t on campus any more.</p>
<p>But overall, he is sure that AU was the right place for him, and gave him opportunities he might not have been able to get elsewhere.</p>