<p>i'm going to AU in the fall..ie calss of 2010.
i got the dean's scholarship, which is 15k a year.
i got a 1360 on the SAT I, was in the top 7% of my class, and had a 4.67 GPA (on a 5.0 scale). i also took 2 SAT IIs, i got a 780 on spanish and a 740 on US history.</p>
<p>i hope that helped. </p>
<p>i think people who got the bigger scholarship and got accepted to honors had higher SATs, like above 1450 i think. and i think it's mostly based on SATs, maybe a little on GPA</p>
<p>thanks....
wow i think you (hotpinkprep88) are only other person here who has GPA on scale of 5.0, i thought my school was the only one.... i also have a 4.667 GPA.
one more thing, does AU look at weighted GPAs too?</p>
<p>My high school did not weight GPAs, and often schools with weighted GPAs each have thei own ways of doing it. From what I know, American (like any other school) uses its own "formula" to determine your grade point average unweighted, sort of making a level playing ground if you will. It would be difficult for them to simply put numbers into the computer since everyone's school did it differently or not at all...</p>
<p>However they will most definitely take into account honors and AP classes...</p>
<p>um yeah AU like tears apart your GPA and puts it back together their own way. it kind of sucked for me because the ONLY class i ever took that wasn't an AP was a science and they only count science, math, english and like one other thing. but you pretty much get screwed if you're on a 5.0 scale but don't worry you'll probably still get some $. i didn't get into honors though which was a huge shock but i'll live haha</p>
<p>oh yeah and they do take into account that you took AP v. regular classes but not in every class. like taking AP human geography didn't really help me at all for example. but they like weight everything the same and then in the end they like add extra points if you took the AP class....well thats what the admissions guy told me at least.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I'm a current student at AU as well so if I can help at all I'm more than willing.</p>
<p>Hi guys, just asking for my son, a junior, who is at a summer program right now:</p>
<p>He is interested currently in majoring in mathematics or computer science, with a double major in French, and maybe picking up a minor in a more esoteric language, such as Arabic. He has the current career goal of becoming a cryptographer with the ability to work in foreign languages, possibly for the CIA or NSA.</p>
<p>Here are his stats: 2130 on the new SAT, and has scored 5's on the AP French, AP Calculus B/C, and AP US History Exams. He also scored 800 on his French SAT II, 740 on the Math SAT II, and a 770 on the US History SAT II. He has virtually no extracurricular activities, except he was selected to attend the Virginia Governor's French Academy for 3 weeks this summer. His GPA is 4.6, weighted, not sure of the unweighted. For some reason, our school district does not put class rank on the final report card, but I believe he is probably 6th or so out of 500.</p>
<p>Here are the questions: are his stats strong enough to get good merit aid? Second, how is AU in the Computer Science area? I would imaging the French and Arabic departments are excellent. And third, does the CIA or NSA look more favorably on AU since they are so close by?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Namtrag--</p>
<p>Clearly your son is a very intelligent kid. His SAT scores and GPA seem to be well above the average of this year's incoming class. His lack of ECs, I can't really say how that would effect his application. Every college says they want a well-rounded student and I know they often look to ECs for that however he also clearly a passionate student because he's exceling in his french studies, a particular area of interest and study for him. I'm sure he can get some great reccomendations and will have a really well written and interesting essay so all of that combined with his stats should get him so really good merit aid.
As for the majors and minors which he is looking at. I'm actually a french major as well and I can tell you that so far I love the department, no complaints. When you get to the high 300 level courses and beyond there are some really interesting topics courses which I'm sure your son would like to look at on the AU website. The arabic department is small but growing at AU. As you can imagine there is more and more interest in Arabic every year considering how many students at AU hope to go into politics or foreign service. I have friends who are taking arabic and are thoroughly enjoying it, although I can't tell you what its like for the minor which involves poli sci and international service courses on arab studies as well as study of the language.
Finally as for the comp sci department all I can say is that we have it. I honestly do not know any comp sci majors however we certainly have a program which I can only suggest he look into by visiting the website and asking questions of the admissions office, and the CAS office.
Last but not least I don't think anyone can say if the CIA or NSA looks more favorably on AU students however when it comes time for him to get an internship he has the incredible advantage of being in DC with only a handful of other colleges in the area to compete with. Yes, that handful probably yields over 100,000 students but still his location and training in foreign languages and comp sci should probably make him a great candidate for one of those positions.</p>
<p>I hope this helps. I don't have all the answers but I highly suggest you look at the AU website and even the CIA and NSA websites which will have more information on internships and jobs. You're son seems very ambitious so good luck to you both.</p>
<p>Thanks for getting back so quickly! S is not too ambitious yet, but he has really coming out of shell in the last couple of years, as well as trying much harder in school. He was diagnosed with Asperger's disorder as a child ( a disorder mainly affecting the ability to socialize effectively), hence the lack of EC's.</p>
<p>He loves French, but I am not sure he wants to major in it. He is fascinated with the tv show "Numbers," so right now, he is leaning towards math. I am encouraging him to try to figure out a way to use both.</p>
<p>As far as EC's, I am going to recommend to him when he gets home, that he try to get his French teacher to help him enter some competitions, get into some type of tutoring programs, etc. We are also members of the local Alliance Francaise chapter, and he may be able to assume some sort of responsibilites in that organization.</p>
<p>It is hard to consider a school such as AU when we have instate tuition at UVa and W&M, but we want to look at all the options.</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>Would having a sibling that attended AU (but graduated '06) help in admissions process at all?</p>
<p>Nearly all colleges say that legacies play a very small role in admissions and I don't think AU is much different. I honestly can't say one way or the other if it will have an effect on your admissions but I think its fairly unlikely.</p>
<p>I read that approx. 40% of Harvard Legacies are accepted, and I imagine they play a similar part at most colleges. From what i've read, (namely from The Gatekeepers - a great book for those wanting to learn more about the craziness of the admissions process) most legacy's applications are given to the Dean of Admissions to read and decide on rather than an admission councelor. The difference is any students the dean accepts are automatically in, compared to the councelor's picks who have to be voted in by the committee. So yeah, even though they say they don't, colleges give legacies a big up when they apply.</p>
<p>If you are a legacy from a parent it generally plays a bigger role than anything else. Like an aunt or an uncle would be relatively meaningless.</p>
<p>I think when they see that your sibling went to AU they don't think "legacy" they think "money". Seeing as none of us are admissions counselors we obviously can't give you a definitive answer. The best we can say is that you should make your application show what a good student YOU are because ultimately a legacy won't help you out if you don't appear to be a good applicant. Good luck!</p>
<p>Hopefully SopranoSweety16 means you have an interest in singing, if not musical theater? My daughter and I visited AU a couple of weeks ago. The tour didn't even include the new Fine Arts center except a quick mention and point in that direction. So we toured it ourselves. Great building! Then we drove to the theater, found someone coming out, prevailed upon them to let us take a peak, and they instead found someone to take us around and answer our questions (a tech faculty member). We were very impressed with the people we met and the facility but know nothing about the program since no one seemed interested in either art or theater during our tour. We hope to come back and see an actual performance in the theater but what can you tell us about art, singing, and music theater in particular at AU? Thanks so much.</p>
<p>Proud Dad--
I think students' feelings on the fine arts programs at AU widely vary by student and by field. In terms of studio art I can tell you that my friend who is a studio art major is fairly disappointed and considering transfering. She took alot of art courses in high school and quickly placed into the higher level art classes, as I'm sure many students serious about studio art are able to do. Now as a first semester sophomore she has already found that she has taken almost all of the classes that she can in the studio art department. However, she keeps on making note that she can take place in the consortium where by she can take classes at Georgetown, GWU, Catholic, and other area colleges if she wants to expand her art studio course load. However despite this option she's disappointed that AU itself seems to have limited art courses for someone already excelling in art studio. Also, classes in photography an area of interest to her are closed to only communications students so as a student in CAS she doesn't have access to some of the courses she'd like to take.
In terms of musical theatre I've found that most people in the program are very happy there. Its a pre-set curriculum which gives students a bit of the conservatory feel while at the same time they're still at a normal college where they are taking gen eds and interacting with non-musical theatre students. I have numerous friends in the musical theatre and theatre programs and they've found its easy to participate in AU theatre and theatre outside of the AU realm within the DC area. My friend actually has her first real paid musical theatre role in the DC area because of an audition she heard about through the school.
What I have to say though is that AU wouldn't have built Katzen, the gorgeous, imposing arts center on massachusetts if it didn't have real intentions of using it for its current program and expanding that program in the future. I've used some of the art studios in katzen and seen preformances in the theatres and the facilities really are top notch (except for a few of the 2nd floor music classrooms, which for some reason were not built with the best acoustics in mind).
I have to say yet again that a student's fondness of the AU fine arts programs really depend on the student and the program. At AU in the musical theatre program everyone is on a really equal playing ground and you can get cast in a play as a freshman whereas you often hear that if say you were at NYU you'd be waiting til the end of your sophomore or even into your junior year to get cast in a production. I think that the smaller size of the AU program really allows students to practice their craft right from the get go and that can be a great opportunity for a student who just wants to hit the ground running.
I hope this was of some help and if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great answers. I was thinking that a commitment such as the AU art center is either indicative of a positive trend in teaching fine art, as is the case with many schools these day, or simply spending an alumnae bequest. Hopefully in AU's case it will prove to be both! Your thoughts on the theater program are encouraging and we'll plan on visiting again when school is in session and maybe during a production. Thanks again for your help.</p>
<p>I am a transfer student going to AU, and I must say, that I love it!</p>
<p>My daughter and I attended the Open House August 4th, heard the various presentations and toured the campus. I would guess there were perhaps a thousand attendees, so it wasn't exactly a personalized experience, but they presented a lot more information by means of multiple presentations and breakout groups throughout the day. My daughter, major very much undecided, is interested in the arts and the new Arts building looked very impressive. But we were very disappointed that no effort was made to show it off or to sell students with an interest in the arts on AU, assuming the arts building represents a commitment to the arts.</p>
<p>Part of the orientation was held in the arts building lobby and in one of the auditoriums but the rest of the building remained locked up. There were supposed to be tours of the building at 2, 3, and 4 PM. My daughter and I separated and attended talks at around 1:30 that meant we were going to miss the 2PM tour. We met over there before 3 and there was no evidence that there had been an earlier tour. A half dozen families were hanging around the lobby also hoping for a tour but no one ever showed up. The one or two people connected with AU that we saw in the building, including one person in the art department office, knew nothing about a tour and the building remained locked. Many of us stayed until it became obvious that there wasn't going to be a 4 o'clock tour either.</p>
<p>From the outside it has to be the most impressive arts building we saw on this my second Ds first campus tour trip, but all the talk in all the sessions was about the government, business and international relations programs, the work and internship opportunities and the visiting lecturers in those fields which are the school's areas of strength. We left with the impression that a rich donor gave the the money to build an arts building but they don't yet know what to do with it. It seems out of place at AU.</p>
<p>While I liked a lot of what I saw that day, my daughter has pretty much dropped AU from consideration. She may see it as a mismatch in a number of ways.</p>
<p>Hello, you guys, i am scarlett and a newcomer</p>
<p>I am interested the program of the journalism in Au </p>
<p>could anybody please tell me something about the program in AU a little?</p>
<p>thanks a million</p>
<p>ok I know I have a pretty good shot at going into American university but uhm. yea it costs.........ALOT. also my gf isn't applying here. <em>sniff sniff</em> why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>o yea. hows their film program?</p>