<p>Why is AU better than GWU?</p>
<p>It would help to know what you are trying to evaluate.</p>
<p>any way you can think of</p>
<p>absolutely not, in no way at all!</p>
<p>i hated AU. It seems to me that they try to make themselves to be better then they really are. I get the impression their academics are laughably easy. </p>
<p>But academics at GW are MUCH better, dorms are nicer, just EVERYTHING</p>
<p>"Better" is relative. My son and I visited both schools last week and he disliked GWU and liked AU for a variety of reasons. We both thought the dorm room we saw at GW was awful and the dorm at AU was terrific (not to mention air conditioned! A rarity north of the Mason-Dixon line!). He liked AU's real campus feel, and thought the size of the student body and campus was just right. GWU's location was a negative to him, just way too busy with traffic and noise. He said he'd rather be within striking distance of DC for when he was in the mood for it than right smack dab in the middle of it day and night. American also is a lot more generous with merit scholarships than GWU, which <em>I</em> like! :)</p>
<p>jjsmom,
We visited AU this summer. Attractive campus (at least in summer)! That was a surprise to me at least. I was very impressed with their "practical" approach to education, stressing a well-rounded LAC type of curriculum, mixed with hands-on experience through internships. However, I was definitely disappointed by the limited merit aid as outlined at their info. session. I was curious what you have heard differently?</p>
<p>Unfortunately we didn't have the best tour guide, and he did not show us any dorms. Some schools have a policy of no dorm tours during the year, and I assumed this might be the case w/ AU, so I was glad you were able to see a dorm. Can you share a bit more of your impressions? Did they say it was "typical" to have AC?</p>
<p>The other side of the coin - DS and I visited both AU and GW on consecutive days. We both were completley turned off by AU, hated the campus, thought the dorms were depressing and awful. And they are all exactly the same - no hope for a better dorm in ensuing years. Even the frats are in those awful dorms. (We were shown the dorms during school year)Tour was terrible, disorganized, they gave us a freshman tourguide who was living off campus with relatives and knew little. The campus seemed remote from DC, connected to the metro by shuttle buses-inconvenient. They don't have classes on Wednesdays, weird.
We visited GW and really thought the facilities were terrific. Student center and library were very nice.Freshman dorms were just OK but after that there were lots of good options. Good, informative tour. Great location in town. DS loved it.</p>
<p>There's lots of options available for GW freshmen as far as living is concerned. The dorms aren't luxurious by any stretch of the imagination, but there is a maid and laundry service and individual bathrooms for all dorm rooms. Hova is carpeted and is an old Howard Johnson so it's has all the cool hotel amenities...a chandelier, pool on the roof, across from the watergate(it was the hotel they spied from in that scandel). I love the GW dorms despite their flaws. But AU really is ugly in my opinion. Or at least the buildings I've seen are ugly. AU seems to fratty for me. There's also A TON of gays at AU, which is fine, because GW has a large population, but it would blow to be a straight girl at AU.</p>
<p>kjofkw: We visited last week, and I was also surprised how pretty the campus was. The merit aid wasn't described in depth at the info session. However we know several kids from our NJ high school who attend, all of whom got SOME merit money, one girl on full merit scholarship. She turned down Cornell for American's full ride. </p>
<p>I'm surprised you didn't see the dorms on your tour! As far as I'm concerned, that's a "must see" for prospective students! We saw a "typical double," though suites are available for the upperclassmen (so Spikemom, there <em>is</em> "hope for a better dorm in ensuing years.") I thought the AU dorm room we saw was very very nice, with lots of built in bookcases, extra storage above the closets, good sized double windows, and so on. The closets were massive compared to what my older son (who is at Tufts) has to contend with. According to the tour guide ALL dorm rooms are air conditioned, are wired for ethernet for each roommate as well as for cable TV (which turns out to be huge for my son who is addicted to the History Channel and was very very disappointed in Vassar because they do NOT have cable in dorm rooms). Also, all dorms have elevators, alleviating the worst of schlepping during move in and move out days.</p>
<p>Spikemom, you're right that AU is not as convenient to DC as GWU which is right smack dab in the thick of the city. But it isn't THAT hard to get into downtown. You just take a free shuttle to the Metro stop which is less than a mile away. And there are no classes on WEdnesdays because that's the day they devote to internships. That way, no one misses any classwork.</p>
<p>Perhaps it was your subpar tourguide that didn't give AU justice, but more likely it's just not the right school for your son. Just as GWU isn't right for mine. We went to DC thinking he'd LOVE GWU and not like AU. Funny how these visits change things, huh?</p>
<p>Hoo: You're right there are lots of dorm options at GWU. Our tourguide had lived in Hova and loved it. The freshman dorm room we saw was a 4 person single room. There was so little floor space they had to put the dressers in the closets. So, where do the kids hang their clothes?? Yes, I thought it was cool that each room had their own bathroom.</p>
<p>AU isn't terribly fratty at all. If it were heavily Greek my son wouldn't consider it. And it just floors me that anyone would describe the AU campus as ugly! We were stunned how beautiful the grounds were. The place is a botanical garden! Very peaceful. To us, dodging cars to get from point A to point B at GWU and having to deal with so much visual and auditory noise at GWU was a big negative. To each his own!</p>
<p>We thought the AU campus was just the right size, easy to get from the dorms to the dining hall to the pool to the academic buildings. GWU is, simply put, huge. My son felt overwhelmed. For him, it was just too big, too busy, too impersonal. No warm fuzzies.</p>
<p>Anyway, that was just our experience with both schools and of course your mileage may vary. Viva la difference!</p>
<p>kjofkw, what did they say about merit money in the info session? </p>
<p>jjsmom, Do you know the approximate stats of some of the students that received some merit money?</p>
<p>I ask bcs I was disappointed too. They told me that in 2004 nobody with uw gpa below 3.5 and 1300 received merit money. I have read about a few exceptions to that on cc (kids offering geographic diversity -ie: home is California). I know someone currently attending with slightly lower stats than these, but not much lower, and I will tell you this person did not get any merit aid.</p>
<p>northeastmom:
Unfortunately I did not take notes. We are only at the beginning of our college search, and already I'm forgetting things! (AU was only the second college visit for my D., although we've been through this process before with her college sibling). Lesson to be learned: Take great notes, or important facts will be forgotten!</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, I believe they said that roughly the top 15% of students receive some sort of merit aid. Perhaps that is not uncommon, but the numbers you quote, also seem familiar. I only know that my daughter did not fall into the statistics they outlined for merit aid, which were much higher than I expected. She should fall above their averages, but doubtfully in the top 15%, based on the numbers they quoted. I had the impression that AU was not as selective as GW and of course Georgetown. Their acceptance rates are also quite high by comparison. We were hopeful that AU would meet my daughter's needs and be a great fit. They have a program of particular interest, and she would love to be in a true campus, but near a major city. However, there is no way we can afford AU without some type of merit aid, and I came away from the meeting quite disappointed because of that. Everything else about our visit was impressive (except the tour guide -- a friendly student, but not very informative).</p>
<p>kjofkw I feel as you do about the aid, so my son is probably not applying. My older college guide says that American offers about 13% merit aid ( around $12,400). I have relatives in the DC area who say exactly what you do when comparing American to GW or Georgetown. They say it is really more of a mediocre school with a high ticket price. I like the smallness and the DC proximity and internships etc., but this is undergraduate school, and I have more than one child, and we need to worry about our retirement, so we are forgetting this school unfortuntately. My S makes the sat cut off, but he is from competitive hs and will not make their gpa #s for aid.</p>
<p>kjofkw, based on what you heard on the tour, do i have a chance at a full ride to american or GWU</p>
<p>4.00 UW
4.22 W
3/231 rank
Aps Euro-5
Chem-5
Bio-5
taking 5 this year
all honors and aps throughout high school
2170 SAT
690 Cr
740 M
740 Wr
Probably will retake SAT
SAT II 740 US
730 M-I
Are these SAT IIs fine
I didn't bother to list ecs because im just looking to see if i can get a large scholarship but i have the usual leadership stuff and clubs
thanks for responses</p>
<p>Hi, the numbers northeastmom quotes (merit aid for over 3.5 GPA and 1300 on old SAT) also sound familiar to me. My son is in that ballpark so he will be applying. The girl who got the full ride had SAT > 1500 and a 4.0 GPA. Like I said, she turned down Cornell for American. She loves AU, no regrets. I believe she said she was in their honors program and is certainly academically challenged. She reports the internship opportunities begin freshman year and she is enjoying her Wednesdays "out in the field." And yet she complains that even after a successful freshman year she still has to justify her decision of turning down an Ivy for American to relatives and her peers.
Absolutely, AU doesn't have the prestige of the more high profile schools in DC, but that doesn't mean it's mediocre. It's consistently named by Princeton Review as one of the top 300 top schools in the country. My son will definitely do their 3 day/2 night overnight for prospective students and I'll update when I get his feedback from that.</p>
<p>bumpppppppppppppppppppppppppp</p>
<p>Hey, just wanted to clarify a few things about AU.</p>
<p>I will say that I'm pretty darned biased, being both an AU student and tour guide. For the poster who had a bad tour, that is definately inexcusable, but the tour guide process is currently under revision, and should be first rate starting this week.</p>
<p>About academics, personally I am in the Honors Program and find classes both challenging and interesting. Of course some classes are better than others, but generally academics are not a cake walk. Classes are generally small with the average being 23. Personally, I have not been in a class over 40, with those being general education and core requirement classes for my major. </p>
<p>To speak on financial aid, I can say that 68% have received some sort of aid, the exact stats for merit money, I am not certain.</p>
<p>AU's prestige is something of note, since there are many who have never heard of the school, not a particularly good feeling to have for a school. But we are a school on the rise. We are in the middle of a $200 million fundraising campaign for all aspects of the school and have surpassed the halfway point last year. More applicants apply every year, with the averages going up, and our acceptance rate going down.</p>
<p>In relation to GWU, we are different schools with different aspects. AU is by no means cut off from the city, the shuttles run every 10 minutes, and the subway can take you into the heart of the city. We are located on Embassy Row, so international students can take advantage of the relative closeness of embassies and related organizations. AU's campus has been designated as an arboretum due to the many trees and green space. </p>
<p>Lastly, the dorms, all dorm rooms have a 70 channel cable connection with 3 channels of HBO. They all have an individually controlled AC/Heater that serves it purpose nicely. They are relatively big in terms of dorm rooms, as most parents comment on that when taking a look around. </p>
<p>If you need more info, feel free to PM me or email</p>
<p>JJS mom…</p>
<p>I am only replying to this post because I am currently a student at GW as of last fall… and I am attending GWU on an almost full MERIT ride, while American gave me less than half tuition. Almost everyone I know at GWU is on some sort of ridiculous merit scholarship, and their aid is phenomenal. I do not want others to be discouraged if they see such a post… GW is amazing in every way, and everyone I know here, including myself, loves it and considers themselves lucky. Not to say that American isn’t also an excellent school, but I would have had twice as many student loans if I had attended there.</p>
<p>Whoever JJS mom is, that was posted in 2005, so this post is soooo old, lol!</p>
<p>True, and that posts: 1 thing always gives me pause…</p>
<p>How do you compare AU with UVA campus life and reputation wise?</p>