<p>So as a extremely hopeful prospective AU student…i was wondering what everyone’s favorite thing about american is? Anything at all…</p>
<p>Washington, DC</p>
<p>Being in DC,
Campus has relaxing atmosphere (but campus itself is not great),
The school has good IR and Poli Sci programs,
GPA management is not too hard (at least so far),
Many internship opportunities,
Getting a big scholarship,
Established study abroad programs,
Honors program,
Politically active campus (although I'm not really big into politics, sometimes it gives me something to do. Better than politically ignorant campus)</p>
<p>my kid would probably say the strong international student population.</p>
<p>The only problem with the majority of the international student population is that they don't speak english well, and mainly keep to themselves. There are a few cool ones, but only as many that would be in your high school.</p>
<p>totally not true, md6488a, not in my kids' experience at all!</p>
<p>Well then if its a difference of experience happycollegemom. I'm getting tired of you saying that my experiences are not true. You don't go to school here, so you wouldn't know. There are some very interesting, engaging foreign students. But the majority I've encountered have been rude, unengaging, and unreceptive. How many kids do you have at AU?</p>
<p>not to be the negative poster that you are, md, but i'm getting tired of your negative, obviously unhappy comments to EVERYTHING anyone says, me or anyone else. if you have a problem with the school, any school, social interactions, fine..that's your life. but please stop denegrating an entire academic community to support your own biased experiences. you and another are CONSISTENTLY unhappy, perjorative and misleading, and it's totally unfair to the open kids trying to learn here. i say "not true" because you never say by your own experience, but rather as a FACT, which it isn't, but just your opinion. judging form your post, how "rude, unengaging, and unreceptive ' are you?</p>
<p>Happycollegemom, it's obvious that anybody's post on this website is from their point of view, not a fact. There are some good and bad parts to this school, and i've made good and bad comments about the school. The problem is you try to shut up any opinion that deviates from your own, which is often overly-optimistic. The fact that there are others that agree with me proves that I'm not acting as a negative poster, but expressing the negatives of this school that are experienced by many students here. Freedom of speech happycollegemom, i don't tell you to shut up so don't tell me. I think i can tell what kind of kid your child is by what they must tell you.</p>
<p>Okay...</p>
<p>Let's not fight...
And let's not bring in collegemom's daughter into this. She has absolutely nothing to do with this.</p>
<p>Let's just get along. None of us knows "the Truth" about AU. The best we can do is share our opinions about it regardless of whether or not we agree with each other. Feel free to disagree and don't take offense when someone disagrees. We are all civil people who can be courteous to each other.</p>
<p>We are all here to help prospective students make the right decision in choosing AU. Fighting here does exactly the opposite.</p>
<p>Unless you are an international student, you should be keeping your opinion to yourself, md6488a. The beauty of AU is the diversity because that is what you are going to experience in the real world. You need to become open-minded about the various cultures at this school. I would have thought you would have known that prior to enrolling. I am an international study major and have many friends inside and outside my major. It is all that you make of it. Being closed mind will not help you in your future career. Agreed, this site is based on point of view, however, one should not put down AU's programs unfairly when comparing to other universities that one has not attended and the information is based on hearsay.</p>
<p>I haven't heard any one say the Arts or Theatre is their favorite thing at AU. So how do the artists, musicians, and theatre students fit in with the rest? Are they all dabbling in the arts with dual majors in international studies? Is the art/music/theatre faculty respected on campus? How integrated are the Fine Arts students into the rest of the AU community? Thanks.</p>
<p>I'll admit there is more diversity than where i'm from (south), but from what others say there is very little diversity on this campus. There are very, very few black people, very few native americans, very few middle easterners. The only minority which is widely represented are asians. I can compare this school to others because my parent is a professor at Wake Forest University. Compared to Wake Forest, this school is pathetic. I know you'll ask why I didn't apply to wake. Despite being accepted, I wanted to leave the that city and live in DC. AU is a good school. There are just too many negatives that can easily be corrected. There are too many lazy, inefficient adminstrators who don't seem to care about students. SIS is grossly overrated and Kogod is quite underrated. There was no attack on collegemom's child. There are certain 'types' at AU, and i was just guessing that I could identify which group her child belonged. I didn't say it was good or bad, just a hypothesis. I never started this fight by the way, collegemom attacked my point of view from the start, which is clearly seen in the posts.</p>
<p>Dear Proud Dad,</p>
<p>I attempted to take individual music lessons with the music department, but when I called the department, they said that private instructural lessons were for music majors only. When I asked my adviser (who is wonderful) about taking lessons, she said it was possible. Another example of adminstrative inefficiency. My parents majored in the music department when they attended AU decades ago, but the department was shrunken from what it once was. Fine Arts students live and interact with AU students, but many nights they are stuck in practice instead of at parties or with friends. This is a given, however, when one wants to major in the Fine Arts.</p>
<p>Laugh if you will, but there was a little deli on campus, they advertised salads, but did not have them. So I got my very first panini... and that turned out to be my favorite thing about AU. Of course I'm a parent, so I wasn't looking to attend the school. The gardens are also amazing in April! My daughter got accepted, but will not attend. No more paninis for me!</p>
<p>Proud Dad~ our high school had a few kids accepted, a few years ago into the arts at AU. one i spoke to "loves" it, and commented on the newness of the Katzen Art Center for classes...she was very excited. i'd suggest you put in a call to the individual dept. you're wondering about. i had done that and was very pleased by the professor's willingness to give me time on the spot during a phone call. sometimes the best way for answers is by going directly to the right source.</p>
<p>swmass~ many thanks for your wonderful comment.</p>
<p>regarding all the discord as reported above~ for the sake of the people who really need this forum,and out of respect to all those here who truly help, i will try to become the passive person i am not , and silently sit by as some feel it's appropriate to use this site as their dumping ground. my hope is that the kids coming into this forum see them as such with speed. thanks.</p>
<p>
Thanks, hcmom. I'm sure we'll be visiting once we have all our possibilities in a row. We've already visited twice, sat through the information session, and took a tour, but no one mentioned the arts, or even the new art building. So we visited on our own, and went back another time to see a production. Next time we'll ask the serious questions!</p>
<p>Proud Dad~
i have some more thoughts...REGARDLESS of one's area of interest, one cannot go wrong in DC...it's DC, afterall! that's the one thing GT,GW,AU,Howard,Catholic,Galliudet ALL have in common, regardless of major. i was thinking in terms of the Arts...and what comes to mind? things like The Smisthonian, and all the museums, theaters in DC. DC is a cultural center and anyone at any of the aforementioned schools will be right at home in the ARTS, and not at all limited to (ho-hum) politics, IR, Communication, etc.</p>
<p>You're right in the fact that DC has many opportunities within the city. The best part of all is that most of museums are free. Theaters and Cinemas, however, are expensive. But if thats what you want to spend it on, then it'll be worth it to you.</p>