<p>Applicannot, what did you feel the major differences were and why did you prefer AU?</p>
<p>hello5:</p>
<p>One major difference was campus feel. I will freely admit that it was rainy at GW and sunny at American, so let that color your interpretation. The students at AU were a lot more “together”. I saw a lot of GW students and a lot of GW hoodies, but I didn’t see a lot of students interacting. At both schools it was mid-day on Saturday, but I’m an early riser, so I’m interested in this time of day (of course, that may change). The students at AU seemed to be talking and fooling around with each other. There were also a lot of obvious “happenings” going on on campus - at GW, there wasn’t even anyone in the dining hall.</p>
<p>I also liked the campus better. I do think GW has a campus and I liked it, but AU’s campus is less… boring. I know that after four years AU’s campus will be an everyday thing for me, but GW’s campus was a little bland, you know? That said, I admire GW because it has much better facilities. I also like that GW is a lot closer to the metro. The dorms are WAY better at GW - this was almost a dealbreaker for me, at AU. The beds are mostly bunked, and even then the rooms are small. I’m okay with a small room, but I’m really not okay with bunked beds.</p>
<p>I like a lot of AU’s programs better than GW’s. GW doesn’t have a good Arabic minor (you have to take Arabic and Hebrew, which is a waste of time for me). GW’s study abroad program is also lacking compared to AU’s stellar program. Study abroad is a huge issue for me. It is an absolute must. It has to be a good program because my financial aid MUST transfer and everything.</p>
<p>Another thing I liked about AU was that the info session didn’t brag. AU was frank and said look, we’re looking for A/B students with a semblance of life outside of school. They were really realistic. I like that about a beaurocracy.</p>
<p>Here are some less important things that are a matter of opinion:
–AU has a dining hall, but GW doesn’t. GW has a lot of retail food and the like, which is really unhealthy. A lot of students have commented online that GW’s food plan is lacking. Healthy food is a must for me for many reasons (and should be for any student if they are worried about stress, weight, energy, sickness…). AU had a ton of healthy options when I toured the dining room. On the other hand, it also had a McDonald’s. Ugh.
–I generally did prefer GW’s facilities. They are usually newer (or appear to be). A good chunk of AU’s campus looks “thrown together” and the facilities are either old or in the middle of renovation. AU’s dorms also stink and they have serious issues with having enough room.
–They both have campuses, but each campus has its merits. AU was nice because it is a respite from the city despite being in the city. GW was nice because it has an immersion factor. The jury’s out on this one.
–The students were also a factor for me. I’m sure it was just because of the rainy day at GW, but at first glance, but schools were very preppy. Not really snobby, but definitely preppy. Neither school was very ethnically diverse. I’m an AA, low-income student who struggles with weight, so I’m worried about the preppy factor at both schools. As a matter of hunch, though, AU’s campus “felt” better to me.</p>
<p>I think that covers it, pretty much. It was, in many cases, a matter of overall feel and information I’m slowly gathering about the programs at each school. I love them both, so it may very well come down to who gives me a better financial aid package (EFC = 0).</p>
<p>jomass,
for a real specific response to your AP question i would suggest calling the school, but in general I can tell you that AP credits can be real helpful in terms of opting out of gen ed requirements. In the case of these courses, you would likely only be taking one course in the area, so you don’t end up having to take a 200 level course as your first course. Also it can give you more flexibility in general and depending upon the actual courses yes, you could conceivably graduate early, but again i would talk with the school.</p>
<p>Thanks Applicannot for your honest assessments.</p>
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<p>AP Credit policies are pretty generous at AU, but capped at 30 credits overall and capped at 12 credits for gen ed requirements out of a total of 30 credits that you will need to fulfill to complete your gen eds. That means even if you have AP credits filling up all of your geneds, you will still need to take 18 credits at AU(which is not too bad, considering many of the gen ed requirements apply to your major). </p>
<p>In my situation I came in with 60 AP Credits, but was capped at 30. I am currently a third year senior and will be graduating a year early. I used my AP credits to fulfill the science requirement which I had no desire to take, and the fine arts requirement which I also had no desire to take. I used another 4 credits of AP to put towards my math minor for Calc 1, and basically used the rest as electives until I reached 30 credits. It is definitely possible to graduate in 3 years, and combined with my academic scholarship it is allowing me to remain debt free. </p>
<p>It is also possible to study abroad for a semester and still graduate in 3 years. </p>
<p>I have found internship offers to be very lucrative at AU. I worked for over a year at a boutique investment bank downtown, and started an internship at the Federal Reserve as a research assistant which I had to leave due to time constraints(it was unfortunate, because the position was very difficult to get and extremely challenging). This is not only in my individual case, my girlfriend works at a top of the line crisis management public relations firm and one of my friends has done well working at the National Defense Institute as well as the State Department. Depending on your interests, you can get essentially any internship you want in DC if you go for it(regardless of the school you go to). </p>
<p>Ive beat out kids for several positions at Georgetown and GW and so have my friends. Kids that go to Georgetown are marginally more intellectual as a whole than kids that go to AU, and are usually just at Georgetown because they are much more privileged than your average AU student. Since I do indeed go to Georgetown often, you notice a large disparity between personal wealth of GU students and AU students. However, it is true that Georgetown’s reputation is king of the castle in DC, whether that is due to legitimate reasons or not. </p>
<p>I would put GW students on par or maybe slightly above the average AU student. However, going to the school comes at a cost. It is much more expensive and much less personal than AU. If you do not like to party than it rarely makes sense to go to GW for undergrad. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions.</p>
<p>Ryan2288-
Thanks, that’s great info you shared. Always nice to have the option of flexibility from bringing in some AP credits. Also agree about the G-town comments and ‘privilege’ having it’s effect.</p>