Current Student @ AU... ready to answer Qs

Colleges & Universities A-Z American University
281

<p>Sigh, I don't understand why people take negative comments to such extremes here. It's not as if AU is a bad school, its just I don't view it as a superior university overall. The students are satisfied with their internships, but I still don't see that is a reflection on the school, more on the overwhelming number of opportunities that DC has to offer. If you think DC will provide you best opportunities that you can get, then by all means its worth it even with a less than spectacular university. The study abroad opportunities are essentially the same as almost any other top university in the United States. I hope everyone here realizes the sense of scale in which im operating here. I assume that all of you are first tier students and so my perspective may be a bit biased for the most outstanding students. Kids that truly enjoy intellectual discussions and need other people like that around them in order to truly prosper. In the end, I would be OK with AU just because of all the opportunities that DC has to offer; but is it a fit? Far from it. </p>

<p>I would like a link to the ratings of A- and A- connie. Since some people on here(college mom) are so obsessive over the validity of ranking systems I would like to see where you get your information. Even if those rankings are completely valid, remember I never said this was a bad school, I just think that the average CC kid may not necessarily enjoy it here. However, I am going to reserve further judgment here because I think that I am starting to have words shoved into my mouth.</p>

282

<p>oh, my, ryan...you doth protest too much!</p>

283

<p>Just stumbled onto this thread, and frankly, sorry I did. Ryan, I am a mom who thinks you have better things to do than be listening to this "happy" woman's comments. Get off CC and go find that better college fit for yourself. And "Happy", get yourself a grownup life.</p>

284

<p>I am not a first tier student and I am thoroughly satisfied with AU. As you have stated, colleges are an individual preference. What may work well for some, may not fit the mold for others. The statistics I quoted were from College Confidential -- if the students were doing the ratings, then one would assume that the satisfactory rate is very high compared to other colleges. In addition, as happycollegemom has pointed out, the Princeton Review and the Fiske Reviews have scored AU as very high. One can negate the statistics, however, if you take the time to review them, you will notice that they are pretty much on target. I noticed that you have been on this AU site since 2004. It is clear that you are unhappy. The thing that puzzles me is why you still have the need to pursue the bashing. Why are you still at AU? Why didn't you transfer in January? What schools are you interested in. Haste makes waste so I suggest that instead of wasting your negative energy on this site, you start to look for a more positive future for yourself.</p>

285

<p>I can see you are clearing missing the boat on happycollegemom's responses to Ryan. Ryan has wasting two years thrashing AU and to my understanding has not transferred to another college. He negates the statistics, he trashes the demographics of the school by stating that there are "ugly" girls and "gay" boys. He is the one who needs to get a life and be more opened minded. He attacks every aspect of the school. He has had his say and needs to go start bashing another college. Enough is enough. I think Ray is the one who needs to grow up and start preparing himself for the real world.</p>

286

<p>First of all, my name is not Ray. Second of all, I am only a freshman at AU(I have not been at this school since 2004). Third of all, you are absolutely ridiculous. I have not bashed "every aspect about this school", if you actually go back and read my other posts I have said some very positive things about AU. Am I relatively unhappy about some things? Sure. The reason why I have done this, and I will continue to stress this reason, is because I was not told all the necessary information upon arrival to AU and I feel it is important that people know a different, and personally what I believe to be an accurate assessment of AU's shortcomings. I don't want other students to have to necessarily experience what I have gone through. </p>

<p>I don't appreciate the personal attacks as I see them as essentially ungrounded and without relevant facts behind them. Especially those coming from insane parents. Posting on here is not that big of a time deficit to me and its not as if my grades or extracurricular involvement is suffering... </p>

<p>Connie, if you feel my assessment is inaccurate, I can't change your mind. But when you try to attack my personal life choices without knowing me I cannot accept that kind of behavior. </p>

<p>Best wishes,
Ryan</p>

<p>P.S - Two years "thrashing" AU? My first negative comment about AU came this semester. Before this, I was a strong supporter of this university, and in some ways I am still extremely hopeful. I suggest that you take some time and look at the first few pages of this thread and notice how my attitude has changed since then.</p>

287

<p>Thanks for posting, Ryan. It's really nice to hear another side. Seriously.</p>

288

<p>Ryan, I hate to see how everyone is totally screwing up your posts. Many students can benefit from seeing both the good and bad sides of schools. I have yet to meet a college student who didn't find at least one thing they felt was wrong at their school, so everyone should stop trying to make up this myth that AU is some sort of utopia. Also, I've read this whole thread and Ryan does give both good and bad sides of AU. Sure, he gives more bad but that should be expected from someone who didn't have a good experience at AU. Would you guys rather he lie to other kids and have them be surprised of AU's shortcoming (or any colleges shortcomings for that matter) once they get there? I feel he's doing a good service to the CC community. I almost get the feeling alot of you guys want AU to be perfect b/c you or your kids go there. And that's not fair to everyone else who wants an honest OPINION</p>

289

<p>Hi I am a GW student and am snowed in today and happened to read through this thread. I must say that people are way too touchy about criticism of AU on this thread. Ryan was simply being honest, and if anyone has a right to talk about the negative aspects of AU, it should be a current student there. There are disgruntled students at virtually every college in the country, but that doesn't mean that their complaints are unvalidated.</p>

<p>I have noticed that there has been some discussion over the differences between GW and AU. As a student at GW, I will be the first to tell say that GW is way overpriced. Being overpriced, however, doesn't make GW a bad school. It simply means that GW's exorbitant tuition compromises whether it is worth it to actually come here.</p>

<p>Out of the schools in D.C., Georgetown definitely has a better reputation. It has a better ranking, more of an endowment to spend on its students, and a more successful range of graduates. While it isn't technically in the ivy-league, most people associate it with schools of that caliber like Cornell, Brown, etc. </p>

<p>GW is definitely the second best school in DC as far as reputation is concerned. It isn't nearly as hard to get into as Georgetown, but the students here are generally very ambitious and worked hard in high-school. The average SAT is in the low 1300s and most entering freshmen ranked in the top 10% of their high-school class. I find that my classes are very engaging and challenging, and I have to work very hard to even pull a 3.0. Most intro classes are very large, but the majority of classes are less than 30 people. GW offers top-notched programs in International Affairs, law, and journalism, but is very weak in the hard sciences. GW is definitely a city school, but within the 4x4 of GW owned buildings, there is a nice quad and university yard for GW students. Everyone who comes to GW is a traditional college student, and I would say that the majority of students here live on campus their entire four years. GW also has it's own convenient metro station, and is basically in walking distance to the best areas of D.C. (Dupont Circle, Georgetown, downtown, Chinatown, all the monuments/federal buildings). University Police are everywhere and it definitely is apparent that you are in a college environment when walking around the central areas of GW. I think GW offers a really great option, and while most would say Georgetown is a better academic university, they are very different socially and academically which makes it tough to draw comparisons. I would say that rather than trying to be a Georgetown wannabe, the University is striving to be more integrated into D.C. like NYU in New York. While D.C. is technically a second-tier school in U.S. News Rankings, it is considered the best college out of the others on that list.</p>

<p>American University is probably the third (maybe fourth) best school in D.C. in terms of prestige. Howard University is only ranked 2 spots below AU, and is located in a the historic (yet at times unsafe) U Street area of D.C. </p>

<p>I have to say out of all the D.C. schools, AU definitely has the biggest inferiority complex. Everytime I meet an AU student, it seems that they have to make a comment about how overpriced GW is or how we don't have a "real campus" or something of that nature. I am sure that there are plenty of pleasant AU students but that's simply my experience with the several AU students who I have met. Georgetown students are always very pleasant, and rarely say anything negative about GW. Despite being less than a mile away from each other, there's hardly a rivalry between GW and Georgetown...most GW students could care less about comparing themselves to Georgetown. </p>

<p>AU is a good school, but probably has the worst academic quality and location of the three major schools in D.C. I don't have a car at GW and have no need for one...but if I went to American and had to take a 10 minute shuttle simply to get on the metro every day I would almost definitely want my own vehicle for transportation. It's not like AU's metro stop is in a good location either...getting from your dorm to metro center could easily take over an hour...which pales in comparison to GW's location. American is right near the D.C./Maryland line, which means it's much harder to get places from AU than GW or Georgetown. Yes, GW is more expensive, but the cost of living in Foggy Bottom is going to be much more expensive than AU's campus on the outskirts of D.C. </p>

<p>Hope this helps...I honestly have nothing against AU but I just kind wanted to put my opinion in as a GW student and resident of D.C.</p>

290

<p>"GW offers top-notched programs in International Affairs, law, and journalism"</p>

<p>GW is a great school academic wise, although it is expensive and that scares off a lot of qualified students. I'd like to point out, however that GW's journalism program is not accredited. The only DC schools with an accredited j program is Howard and AU.</p>

291

<p>It does not take an hour to get from AU's metro stop to metro center. It is only about 3-4 stops away. I go to Silver Spring on the red line quite often and that takes an hour(around 12-13 stops away). The shuttle can be inefficient but its not that big of a deal. </p>

<p>I know several GW students who are not happy with their experience(wondering if its worth the money, unhappy with the spoiled student body, etc.). However, I do agree with you about the AU inferiority complex. Everyone here always feels they have to justify to people why they go here. It's kind of what im talking about when I mention questionable school spirit.</p>

292

<p>i hate to feed into some people's expectations that AU students need to be defensive, but we all seem to say we benefit tremendously from facts, so.....i've seen nothing, anywhere in any format, that lists GW as "better" academically than AU. all "grade" in print say so, including things like professor quality, class size, # TAs taching, etc. (and i won't say a thing about the cost :) )</p>

293

<p>How about the fact that GW is ranked 34 spots higher on US News rankings?</p>

294

<p>this DOES seem to be a touchy thread at times, so, if you really want to know what i think......US News is one of the more "politically" based ranking systems,and uses certain variables out of proportion to others, even if the others, in fact, are about the actual academics. AU has a history of low endowments, which crucifies it by US News. having been historically a rich, diplomat kid school, set the stage for this. on another note, i recently found out AU is a national arboretum, open to the public, and originally designed by the guy who did Central Park, NYC, and the White House grounds! i think that's cool. i guess i prefer some green with my city campus. and i agree with ryan it's no big deal to get to metro, or interesting people-watching bus ride to georgetown.</p>

295

<p>"all "grade" in print say so, including things like professor quality, class size, # TAs taching, etc. "</p>

<p>What? Give me an example. US news takes all of those factors into consideration...and the fact that GW has a billion dollar endowment is noteworthy. It's really hard to grow academically if you don't have the funds to do so (or supportive alumni).</p>

296

<p>this is a thread for questions about AU from AU students. greenface, ou go to GW and unless you spent a semester or so at AU then I really wish you wouldn't condemn the school unless you know it from first hand experience. Otherwise, your services may be needed in the GW forum, rather than the AU.</p>

297

<p>Hey I have several questions:
1) any greeklife with their own residences?
2) just two residence halls to pick from right?
3) i love golf. is there any way to play golf at AU at least recreationally?
4) finally Kogod B school.... any good? i applied to U of Miami and also got into Ohio State University. worth picking any of these B schools of American?</p>

298

<p>there are actually like 5 dorms to pick from.</p>

299

<p>more than 5 if you include tenley campus...</p>

300

<p>Any golf? are the greek organization like real noticeable on campus? do they have their own residences?</p>