American University v. University of Richmond

College Search & Selection
1

We put down a deposit for my daughter at American University (she was also accepted to Brandeis and Case) and she has just been accepted to U. of Richmond from the wait list. American was her top choice of school, even though the academic reputation isn’t as good as other places she was admitted, because of its School of Communications (several programs within that field, internships, alumni mentoring), Public Affairs (criminology/statistics), and is has a separate department of sociology. She also loves Washington, D.C. It would be almost perfect, except they are giving her less aid (both need and merit-based - she’s in the upper 25% of admitted students) than other schools. Richmond’s aid offer was much more generous and even more so than other schools; the difference between them is nearly $20,000/year. And although Richmond is a very good school, it has less of what she wants - their Communications programs is more rhetoric (academic) based than pre-professionals and they have a phil/econ/law/politics program, and the sociology and anthropology departments are combined.

We’re having a very difficult time with this - we can afford Americans, but it would mean less or even no money for graduate school, and the very high price would be a nagging concern. On the other hand, American truly has more of what she wants both academically and socially.

We’ve considered all sorts of factors - Richmond sponsors a Camp Kesem (for children who have or had a parent with cancer), which she’s been involved with for years, and she believes students would be more serious than American (the students at her high school who are going there tend to be slack-offs with not-great-grades; she’s proud of her academic record because she worked very hard for it and doesn’t want to be with students who won’t contribute to group work or who don’t take school seriously). On the other hand, she feels she could probably get better grades at American and possibly wouldn’t have to work quite as hard as she did in high school. She also feels the students at Richmond are preppy and may feel entitled and that ‘they can get away with anything’ (speaking again from high school experience).

She’s very social, would like to be in a more diverse environment than her suburban high school, and wants to explore the city (less to explore in Richmond). My DH and I think A.U.'s emphasis on internships and ‘real-world’ experience would be great for her. But again, there’s that $20,000/year difference (she can probably graduate in 3 1/2 years but that won’t save much compared to the overall difference).

We’re truly not sure what to do. American is clearly a better choice for her, but she (and we) are concerned about the money difference, which is large, and also the fact that she (and to an extent, we) are bothered that she received less aid from American than all of the other schools. We’ve already appealed to A.U. and were granted $5,000 in additional merit aid (they said ‘no’ to more need-based aid; apparently they’re counting our home as an asset).

Any suggestions, ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

DragonBoatMama

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You can do a lot of exploring with $80k

3

It is a tough choice, in that you want her to go where she will be happy. A few things that might tend toward Richmond (besides money):
-My impression is that neither AU or Richmond is a school where you walk off campus and are in the main city environment. For both you have to take a bus, Uber, or (in DC) Metro to get places. So the experience may not be that different, although it’s true that when you get into the city DC has more to offer than Richmond.
-Richmond seems to participate in AU’s Washington semester program. If she goes to Richmond, she might be able to spend junior year with a semester at AU and a semester abroad in a big city, which could broaden her experience.
-AU would have more emphasis on internships, though if she makes the effort she probably can also get them in Richmond, as it’s a good-sized city with a state government.
-Student culture could be a bit of a wash, in that both places would have lots of serious students who are not obnoxious preppies, even if the overall groups lean in different directions. If she’s sociable, she can probably find a good group.

I’d say that if she really would be much happier at AU and feels it is a much better fit, it may be worth sticking with. She should consider how she might be able to be pretty much as happy at Richmond, though.

4

Instead of focusing on how the majors are offered, look at the specific coursework listed in the catalogues. She may be able to put together what she wants at Richmond.

Wow, $80k difference over four years. That is a lot of money. If she still wants a year or two or three or four in DC after finishing college, her living costs there while completing unpaid internships or working in dreadfully underpaid jobs would be entirely covered. She’d also have much more flexibility in where she completes summer internships.

5

A wonderful, beautiful school with a better reputation for $80,000 less? Unless you are quite well off, this is a no-brainer for Richmond.

I’m sure UR has many connections for internships in Richmond and in In D.C.

I wouldn’t get too concerned about specific programs at the undergrad level…that sort of thing is usually more important at the grad level.

My 2 kids got bachelor’s degrees a yr. ago, & luckily there was some $ left in the college fund. That money has come in very, very handy for grad school, internships, moving expenses, cars, etc. In other words, your expenses are not over on graduation day…there are plenty of things that will pop up, & having a post-graduation fund anywhere near $80,000 to reach into will prevent a lot of tears & headaches.

1 Like
6

@DragonBoatGirl just read your other post. You mentioned your D is social so I thought I’d share FWIW a good friend’s S attends Richmond and it is quite a party school…Thurs, Fri and Sat, frats, private parties and clubbing. I’m certain that doesn’t describe the entire student body but a good portion of it. His group also spends quite a bit of money going out to eat, vacations, road trips etc… again not that this is special or unique to UR just sharing some additional info.