Ask a current AU student

Colleges and Universities A-Z American University
241

<p>That’s the stereotype for sure. And the New Jersey thing is more true than not – the majority of people here are from the east coast and there is a very large amount from New Jersey. </p>

<p>But I’m from Michigan – most of my friends are from the midwest and out west beyond the Rockies. AU also prides themselves on inviting a large international class in. It’s all about who you surround yourself with – none of my friends are stuck up, and that’s probably because none of them are paying full price to come here. All are on some combination of financial aid and academic scholarships. Are there stuck-up people here? You bet. I actually would say that people here are less competitive than I have seen on websites, at least that is the impression I get. The Competitiveness only ever comes out for top notch internships.</p>

<p>At AU – the dating pool depends on how far you’re willing to extend your social life. A lot of my friends are in long distance relationships either with people they met abroad or from back home or even online. A lot of my friends also date people from other surrounding schools that they met through mutual friends (UMD, GW, Georgetown, UVA). And some of my friends also date other AU boys – but thanks to the region that AU is placed in … you really don’t notice the ratio of gay to straight boys as much as you would if we were an isolated school.</p>

242

<p>Awesome thanks! So just to make sure I understand you, there are stuck up people but it’s not an atmosphere of “i have more money than you” or “im smarter than you” etc.? And the from the east coast thing - is that bad? I’m from WA state, and I have nothing against east coast people, but some say it like it’s a bad thing… like “eeew everyone at AU is from New Jersey!”</p>

243

<p>Our daughter is a sophomore at AU and also from WA state (Olympia). She has friends from all over the world a AU, though yes there are a lot of students from the Mid-Atlantic States. I am sure you can find students you will not be comfortable with but my daughter has found a wide range of friends. She even has a friend from her HS who is a freshman this year.
AU does pretty well with financial aid and while the majority of students are white there are students of all colors (including my daughter). The faculty is also very diverse and she has learned lots from many faculty that is not necessarily related to her course work. She also has a number of friends doing graduate work at AU and the graduate students are very diverse.
Good Luck
Ellen</p>

244

<p>Thanks! If you don’t mind I have a few more questions…I’ve been really on the fence about AU lately.</p>

<p>Did your daughter visit before she chose AU? I visited DC last spring and looked at Georgetown and GW. I didn’t like GW’s urban non-campus, and Georgetown seemed pretentious. I fell in love with DC though and soon discovered AU. My parents aren’t big on the idea of going across the country again, and I’d hate to travel that far again and not end up going to AU. </p>

<p>I know you can’t generalize an entire group, but I always hear that people at AU are political snobs. Idk. it’s hard to explain my concerns. I am interested in politics and such, and I don’t mind what other people do/believe. I just don’t want them shoving their knowledge and opinions on me. And I don’t want a school where everyone thinks they’re right about everything. </p>

<p>Oh and assuming your daughter is straight - has she said anything about meeting straight guys and interacting with other DC schools?</p>

245

<p>Hi, I’m a current student so I hope I can help. Of course there are some people that are “political snobs”, but they’re the minority. The vast majority of people are looking for lively debate and chill conversation, and from my experience are open to a wide range of opinions no matter what their own are. It’s really beneficial being able to hear everyone’s thoughts, and obviously there will be people that agree with you as well. The school is largely fairly liberal, but the conservatives, libertarians, anarchists, what have you are all present and often very vocal so they’re easily found. I certainly don’t think the label of “political snobs” applies for the vast majority of students. And yes, there’s even a few students who don’t care about politics at all. </p>

<p>Also as a straight male, I can give you my perspective on that, if it helps any. I often don’t even notice the gender imbalance (not sure if girls notice it more), and if you can’t find someone on campus there’s a lot of other places to look. Simply by going to a club or a joint event or a big speaker or a concert (etc etc.) you can meet people from all the surrounding schools and even the world. There’s just so much to do in DC. We’re less than two miles from Georgetown and a 20 minute metro ride from GW, so those are the easiest to get to. Catholic is on the same metro line, and both Mason and UMD are reachable via metro as well. I met my girlfriend at AU two years ago, and we’re still together, so take from that what you will.</p>

<p>Here’s some stories that recently ran on the AU Web site on about alumni, student, and staff couples that met at AU. Not all of them are exactly relevant, but very cute:</p>

<p>[From</a> Classmate to Mate, Romance Blossoms at AU](<a href=“http://american.edu/alumni/news/From-Classmate-to-Mate.cfm]From”>http://american.edu/alumni/news/From-Classmate-to-Mate.cfm)
[Kogod</a> Couples Celebrate Valentine’s Day](<a href=“http://american.edu/kogod/news/20100210_ksb_valentine_day_alumni.cfm]Kogod”>http://american.edu/kogod/news/20100210_ksb_valentine_day_alumni.cfm)
[Office</a> Mates to Soul Mates | American University](<a href=“http://american.edu/americantoday/au-insiders/20100119-AU-love-connections.cfm]Office”>http://american.edu/americantoday/au-insiders/20100119-AU-love-connections.cfm)</p>

246

<p>@Karissa - I’m originally from Seattle and applying to AU as well. From my experience, no matter the school, it is always possible to find friends with compatible personalities as there are thousands of people from all over the country attending most major universities. It is pretty easy to meet other people who live all over DC as well as most college students tend to go to similar areas to hang out in outside of college campus. When I am visiting my friends we’ll go to georgetown one night, then adams morgan, then foggy bottom, then U street etc.</p>

247

<p>How can international students take advantage of the D.C location and all the internship opportunities it presents if internships with the state department all require heavy security clearance and US citizenship? Given the int’nl population, isn’t that a huge drawback if you can’t do all these things that are the main reason people come to AU for? Or are int’nl students just not interested in government/public affairs and come to AU because of other reasons. (and yes i’m aware there are many other valid reasons to come to AU)</p>

248

<p>I visited AU last week and fell in love with it. In fact, I liked it way more than i thought I would (I truly disliked GWU!)
However, there was one thing i noticed…the girl to guy ratio. Can a student elaborate on how they feel about this, please? I am a very social female, and I want to make sure that if I end up at AU, there will be a sufficient amount of males.</p>

249

<p>@Ruby_x3 - My roommate is a french citizen and has been hired by both the State Department and the British Embassy, so I’d say there’s definitely opportunities for international students with US government agencies. There’s also a lot of non-US governments who have offices/embassies in DC, and a LOT of non-profits, NGOs, Fortune 500 companies, etc etc etc.</p>

<p>Hope that helps!</p>

250

<p>I have a question. When a student drops a course online within the allowed 2 weeks at the beginning of the semester, do they also have to notify the instructor of the dropped course or registrar in addition??? Or just drop online??? Any input would be great.</p>

251

<p>@jamjamjam - I’m curious what you like at AU over GWU? I’m gonna guess many applied to both including myself and I’m haven’t had a chance to visit to decide which is the better fit yet. On paper I’m liking the sound of AU more though…</p>

252

<p>Kulakai - My comments of AU vs. GW via my “S”'s comments - he will be an IR/IS major 2010-2011. We visited both. While both have strong IR programs which are very equivalent in program, structure and reputation and getting internships, they are night and day with respect to college environment.</p>

<p>This is where it comes down to “student” preferences. My “S” prefers being closer to DC/State Dept etc.and an urban “campus”. He’s not sports oriented. He liked being in the city.</p>

<p>AU feels like an “Oasis” in DC with an actual quad, but he felt relatively far from things. However, the shuttle/Metro is not far to access DC internships, etc.</p>

<p>One thing to note - AU is not as expensive as GW - although you have to guage FA offers -we hoping for similar offers.</p>

<p>Also, GW is tending to place more freshman at their “Mount Vernon” campus for the 1st year - which would defeat my “S”'s purpose of being in the city. Although, it would only be his first year.</p>

<p>This is a STUDENT choice in my humble opinion as a parent - you really need to visit each to know this. It was obvious for my “S” within 10 minutes.</p>

253

<p>I have a D at AU and my S attended GW for a year before transferring, so I have spent some time at both. The environments are indeed very different. I wouldn’t recommend GW to anyone who wasn’t committed to an urban vibe, i.e., a true city mouse–the city is always with you at GW, and I personally think the experience of city living dominates a student’s life there more than the college experience. AT AU, one can completely ignore DC at times, staying in the campus cocoon, and plunge in to urban life at others. S found too many of the students at GW to be into clothes, trends, and clubbing (not his things at all). I don’t see this at AU. Of course GW does have a higher ranking and is somewhat more well-known. As mentioned, a visit to each school will reveal much.</p>

254

<p>For an actual student:</p>

<p>What “Traditions” are there at AU?</p>

255

<p>AU and GW are not at all similar schools, and it is not just location. The vast majority of GW students major in the liberal arts (with many in the sciences), and in engineering. The majority of AU students are in IR, business, communications, and public affairs, with a minority in the liberals arts (and many fewer in the sciences), and none in engineering. (AU has double the number of GW students in IR, despite having only half the number of undergraduates overall.) AU, by the way, has a substantially higher ranking in business, and the same in IR.</p>

<p>If they weren’t in the same city, they wouldn’t be compared.</p>

256

<p>@dadwonders - there are certainly a few of note, I hope these sorts of things are what you’re referring to. </p>

<p>There are a lot of traditions near the beginning of the academic year, such as Opening Convocation (bagpiper procession and freshmen do a little parade sort of thing welcoming them to academic life), and the All-American BBQ, where you can meet folks like President Kerwin. </p>

<p>There’s Artemas Ward Week in the Fall, which is a week of events, with the name referring to the Revolutionary War hero whose statue stands right outside the entrance to campus. </p>

<p>For sports traditions, there’s a big basketball game (referred to as Phil Bender, in reference to Bender Arena, with “Phil” being a homonym of “Fill”, but lots of stories go around about whether “Phil Bender” is a real person) in the spring versus one of our big athletics (mostly basketball) rivals, the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. There’s also the annual President Shoot-out where at halftime the Student Government president takes on the President of the University (who tried to walk-on to the team when he was an undergrad), and the SG Pres won for the first time this year. While not an established “tradition” per se, people also recently started dressing up the statue of Artemas Ward (it’s a feat, the statue is about 15 ft. tall) in student section gear.</p>

<p>In the spring there is Founder’s Week, which celebrates the founding of the University when the charter was signed by Congress. The highlight is the Founder’s Day Ball, which is a big formal dance for the entire university community held at a prominent DC location (in recent years the Italian Embassy and Andrew Mellon Auditorium, this year was scheduled to be at the Old Post Office Pavilion, but the recent blizzard postponed it). </p>

<p>There’s rumored to be some things that occur near the giant Moai statue on the North side of campus around finals time, called “primal scream”, although I have never witnessed it personally. While also not a “tradition”, the Kennedy Political Union, the student-run speaker’s bureau, is an absolute institution upon itself and the speakers it brings to campus are always looked forward to, and despite the name they’re not always political in nature. Most elections, but particularly Presidential ones, are HUGE, and attending viewing parties for those could be considered a tradition as well.</p>

<p>That’s everything I have off the top of my head, if that didn’t quite hit the mark of what you were looking for let me know. I have a friend who wrote a senior thesis on the history of the University and I’m sure he knows of a million and a half things I do not.</p>

257

<p>Sir Joshua:</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply, I love it! Appreciate the time you took to answer, loving the people more and more as I meet them (online and at the school).</p>

<p>OK, Primal Scream at another college involves running naked. Same at American?</p>

258

<p>I posted this in another thread, but I know this isn’t the most active forum so I thought I’d post it here too. I’m a high school junior and I’m looking at schools I think I have a decent shot at. AU is my favorite by far. I’m thinking about a double major in Economics and Political Science, but I’m also interested in History, Math, and Foreign Languages.</p>

<p>I loved AU when I took a tour there and I know they have a strong Political Science program, but how strong is it in the other subjects, specifically Economics? Are the professors compelling and dedicated to teaching? Are they politically biased (does it come through in their teaching)? How would grad schools or employers view it?</p>

<p>If you were are involved in the Econ program I’d love to hear some feedback, but any responses are greatly appreciated.</p>

259

<p>I would also like to know about that question. I’m thinking about Econ and IS double major.</p>

260

<p>I double-majored in political science and economics at AU, graduating in 1995. My first major was political science, but after taking a few intro economics courses, I became much more interested in economics. Double-majoring in these two areas is relatively easy because many courses meet the requirements for both majors.</p>

<p>When I was at AU, there were two economics tracks–economics and economic theory. My major was economics; economic theory was the more hard-core, math-oriented version. I believe that AU still has two tracks, a BA in economics and a BS in economics–I assume (but don’t know) that the BS is essentially the same as the old economic theory program.</p>

<p>As far as taking courses beyond economics and political science, there is plenty to choose from. I took quite a few history and courses and a couple of business courses–it was no problem to fit them into my schedule, and most of them counted towards one or more of my majors. So adding a foreign language or other “concentration” is achievable.</p>

<p>You should also know that the School of Public Affairs offers an interdisciplinary major known as CLEG (communications, law, economics, and government). This has political science and economics, plus a lot more.</p>