American University Visit

Colleges and Universities A-Z American University
1

S20 and myself are flying into DC for a couple of campus visits on November 1 and 2. Are there any places in or around American that are musts around or in campus that might not be on the tour.

I’m not really looking for the normal DC stuff. Thanks!!

2

My kids always thought the Darth Vader gargoyle at the National Cathedral is cool- just about a mile from AU

3

So my son and I toured American on Saturday and came away very impressed. If you would have asked him b4 the trip he would have said that American was well below GWU. Well, after the tour the ranking has flip flopped.

We were staying downtown near Metro Center, so we took the red line to Tenleytown and walked to campus (12 min, yes I timed). In all the trip from Metro Center Station to the Welcome Center was under 30 minutes.

Admissions did a great job with the information session, but aren’t they all?? The student guide is the most important part of the tour, they make or break it, Jaryed (SP?), was awesome. We got to see a dorm room, and the community space in each dorm (short Q&A). Then on to the, what I’m going to call the academic quad. There was a lot of construction (changing hot water pipes), but there was still plenty of activity, even at 10:00 am on a Saturday. We made stops at SIS, school of communications, and the athletic building.

  1. Very nice, traditional campus. Plenty of trees and green space, but it appeared compact enough to get around easy.
  2. Freshman dorms are either new or have been renovated. Lots of storage in each room. The community space/kitchen was much nicer than mine in the early 90s (Creighton). I know, hard to believe, Ha!!
  3. Most of the academic buildings that we saw and walked by, appeared to be relatively new/renovated.
  4. Although we didn’t head over to the East Campus (across the street) it sounded like there are plenty of resources earmarked to STEM.

So summarize, my son is strongly considering going ED2 for American. We should know his other top choice and any financial aid/merit scholarships by the Jan 15 ED2 deadline.

4

To be honest, there really is not very much going on around AU in the sense that you need to take a shuttle to access Metro, grocery stores, etc, and it is in a predominantly residential area of DC. GWU or GU would be best if you’re looking for a school that easily integrates being in DC with your day to day college life.

With that being said, Compass coffee is a relatively new study spot not too far from campus. Few things notable things to miss in the immediate area.

5

You only “need” to take a shuttle to the nearby Tenleytown-AU Metro stop if you can’t handle a 15 minute walk. There is no Metro stop anywhere near Georgetown. GWU (Trader Joe’s) and Georgetown (Safeway) do get pluses for more convenient grocery shopping. I went to AU for 4 years with only my first semester on a 10 meal/week plan (no longer available)–and 0 meals/week after that–and I was able to get my grocery shopping done using shuttle and feet–no car. Location is a mixed bag among these three schools.

6

@pswillia Agree, we made the walk from Tenleytown-AU Metro stop to campus in under 10 minutes. It is certainly no easier to get from GTown to the mall than it is from AU. We took an Uber from Metro Station to GTown Friday evening and it took 20+ minutes.