American vs. Pitt

Colleges and Universities A-Z American University
1

<p>I’m a senior from King of Prussia, PA (outside of Philly), I’ll be majoring in political science, I plan to go into a career as a lawyer and maybe politics, and I’m between Pitt and American:</p>

<p>I want a pretty big school, I want to be NEAR a city, but not right in the center of downtown. I want the school to have a campus, not just buildings in the streets.
I want to have a nice looking campus with grass, where it’s easy to tell where the campus ends. I don’t really want to walk across regular streets to get to a class.
I want a school with a lot of school spirit and good athletics (I play in the marching and pep bands).
I want a relatively prestigious school that people would be impressed with.
I want a school where I could get good internship opportunities in the political field.
I want to be very active with many things around campus (marching band, pep band, a cappella, politics, radio or TV station, etc.)</p>

<p>So we all know Pitt has more school spirit and better athletics while American has more internships, but with everything I’ve said…where should I go?</p>

2

<p>As a native of SE PA, I looked seriously at both schools, and the only thing that Pitt has over AU is athletics and school spirit. AU is in a better location, and DC offers both better opportunities and better weather than Pittsburgh. If you want an internship in politics, this one’s a no brainer. In terms of getting involved on campus, it isn’t hard with a little commitment to snag serious leadership positions at AU by the end of your freshman year. I can’t speak for Pitt extracurriculars, but with such a large student body I can imagine it’s more difficult than AU in that regard. Our campus is much nicer, with a large quad, and it’s largely self-contained. It’s also in one of the nicest residential neighborhoods of DC. Pitt may be in a more urban environment, but Oakland, where Pitt is located, can be a little sketchy. We have very little school spirit, but think of it this way - you have better chance being the captain of the band here than at Pitt. It’s a trade-off, and it all depends on your priorities, but I attend AU and it’s great.</p>