<p>@lifekiwi & ddoouugg - I’m not an econ major myself, although I am an IR minor and have taken a few econ courses. Hopefully someone majoring in econ can give you a better answer, but I’ll certainly try.</p>
<p>The Econ department is definitely one of the larger departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. They even get their own building, which used to be the music building (before the new arts center was built) but was just remodeled and they’re actually moving into the new facilities next week. I have a lot of friends who are econ majors and they’re definitely excited about their job prospects after graduation, especially in an area like DC. Most of the faculty, from what I hear, have a pretty liberal bent, although it depends on the professor. The econ course I’m taking now is very free-market oriented, which is great. I think a lot of the reputation comes from a single professor who attends a socialist convention every year. I took another econ class with a very liberal professor, but he definitely kept the teaching unbiased, so that’s my personal experience. </p>
<p>The faculty runs all kinds of institutes and such that are pretty well known. There’s a lot of good internships econ majors can get, since it’s DC the sky is pretty much the limit there. Double-majoring in either SIS or SPA (international service or public affairs schools) is a very popular option, and both schools have econ-related classes as well (an entire international economic relations track in SIS, and classes like “Public Economies” in SPA). I hope that was able to answer some of your questions. Again, hopefully an econ major can step in and provide a more complete answer.</p>
<p>I got an email requesting for spring grades (I was advised to maintain a B average), is anybody familiar with this ? I am a transfer. Im hoping it is some sort of conditional acceptance, and if so what are the chances of on campus housing (note: I am an International Student)</p>
<p>Thanks guys! AU really seems like the school for me. What would you say the people are like there? Do a lot of kids seem snobby or pretentious? Geeky? Do a lot of people smoke? I’ve heard that Anderson and Letts are considered the “party dorms”, would you consider the people there not as academically inclined?</p>
<p>To the folks asking about a double major in econ, just so you know I just learned a friend of mine who is an International Relations/Economics double major was just named a finalist for a national Harry S. Truman Scholarship. If she gets it, she gets $30,000 for grad school. </p>
<p>@lifekiwi - There’s a wide range of people. Some are snobby and pretentious, but I’d say the vast majority are not. Some are geeky as well, but generally not the stereotypical “geek” you might be thinking of. Everyone is pretty smart so that kind of changes what’s “geeky” and what isn’t. Considering it is a private school on the east coast, there’s a lot of white middle-class folks, but there’s also a lot of international students and I certainly wouldn’t call it homogeneous. As for smokers, a decent amount do, but I don’t think more than anywhere else. The issue of “how close should people be to buildings while smoking” comes up every now and then but I’ve never had a problem with it. Anderson/Letts, mostly due to their large size and the fact they are connected to each other on every floor, tend to be a lot more social and “party dorm”-ish. This isn’t to say the folks there are less academically inclined, it’s a work-hard play-hard atmosphere. However people on the other side of campus generally get stereotyped as more “bookworm”-ish. Take that as you will, but usually stereotypes aren’t necessarily true. I lived on the north side of campus (not Anderson/Letts) for two years, but that was just my personal preference for a more quiet atmosphere.</p>
<p>Peter27: They request Spring Grades of everyone – they just want to make sure that you don’t get accepted to AU as a transfer and then proceed to fail every one of your classes. </p>
<p>lifekiwi: I’d also agree with iamsirjoshua. You’re going to get snobby and pretentious – just like anywhere. You’re also going to get geeky. But I find it very hard to stereotype the ‘average’ AU student and I find a lot of other people do the same. People do smoke, but most people are good about it (putting it down if you’re walking by, not blowing smoke in your face while you pass etc.) </p>
<p>Anderson and Letts do have that reputation, but quite frankly it varies from year to year. Centennial this year is silent, but last year someone set off a fire-extinguisher in one of the lounges. This year Letts is pretty tame, but next year it is switching to an entirely Freshmen dorm – so there is some concern by Upperclassmen that it will be a bit of a crazy dorm while those couple hundred freshmen get used to college. But I wouldn’t say they are less intelligent – for instance a lot of the honors program is housed in Anderson. I will say this – during the beginning of every semester South side (Anderson/Letts/Centennial) have a LOT more fire drills than North Side.</p>
<p>Do they really ask everybody for spring grades? I was told my application is on hold. How does this affect housing, I am an international student and I need on campus housing. It it basically a conditional acceptance ?</p>
<p>I posted this question about a week ago and no one answered, so just seeing if anyone has an answer!</p>
<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>
<p>@iamsirjoshua: Thanks for your answer, but are you sure your roommate is not dual-US citizen? Because US citizenship is the number 1 requirement to work for the state department or any other US government agency.</p>
<p>There are plenty of guys at AU… lets say there are 6400 students (assuming 1600 per year) at AU in undergrad and they’re 60% female, that still leaves 2560 guys… and trust me, there are a lot who are incredibly “social”. you’ll have no issues what so ever.</p>
<p>@Ruby_x3 - He is a dual US citizen. He says he does know non-US citizens who work at the State Department though, and the only agency that doesn’t hire non-citizens under any circumstances is the Department of Defense, although the White House would probably be tough too. Commerce, Agriculture, Energy, etc. are a lot easier though. It really depends on what level of security clearance you’d need.</p>
<p>I am a current AT&T customer but am considering making the switch to Verizon (especially because of the buy 1, get 1 free deal). However, I hear that Verizon doesn’t work in the dorms, so that makes me hesitant to switch. I would like a phone with full coverage on the AU campus and in the DC area. Which is better: AT&T or Verizon? What are you experiences with either carrier?</p>
<p>@Holdahand: It all depends on the classes you take. There is no overarching rule for AU classes. I’ve had 400-level classes that assign less work than 100-level classes. I’ve also had friends who don’t take above the four 300/400-level classes you need to graduate, and I have friends who take several 500/600-level classes because they’re so interested in the material. On the whole, I would say that you don’t have to study hours and hours to pass, because the vast majority of the teachers want you to do well. </p>
<p>@Davidsjudo: No. While there are approx. 6000 undergrads, they’re rarely ever all on campus at once. AU’s student population is on average less wealthy than GWU and Georgetown so people work one and two jobs. Internships are very popular, so you’ll see people coming back on to campus at 7pm in a suit who haven’t been on campus all day. A lot of students also live off campus, so they’ll block their classes together and then just head home. There is time though when it makes you wonder where these people have been hiding:
The first really nice day after winter ends. People cover the quad, “beach”, amphitheater etc. and since they’ve been hibernating all winter it looks really odd.</p>
<p>We are headed down to spend the weekend in DC and want to take our American University student to brunch/mid day dinner on Easter. Anyone have any ideas…there are so many places to choose from and its getting late to make a reservation.</p>