<p>The ■■■■■ has moved to another thread. I would encourage not responding to any of the Cad’s posts.</p>
<p>TO Hec2008:</p>
<p>I believe no Greek housing exists on campus.</p>
<p>Uh Mini:
At a parent/counselor session at my Daughter’s highly ranked high school, they said that the single sex schools especially like Smith, are so unpopular these days they have to do what they can to attract students, hence optional SATs. Goucher had the same problem even when they went a tiny bit coed. Somehow, SATs still are used at the TOP schools, like all of the Ivies. Wonder why Mini. Cause they want da smart kids, maybe?? (: The Washington Post article said AU is using SAT admission ONLY for ED kids to sweeten the deal to attract full paying committed students. I guess you are in denial that they are trying increase revenue, not obtain a high quality student base. Your assessment of their bond portfolio is negligent. What are the endowment investments, real estate investments,etc…? Does someone owe them money??? etc?</p>
<p>What does it matter? Your supposed d. who doesn’t exist only got admitted because she applied to a decidedly inferior program, the worst program in a terrible school, and even within it, in an awful department with a tiny number of majors, and where they’ve turned art space into an admissions office because of the lack of interest on the part of students, she isn’t even known by a single member of the fourth-rate faculty.</p>
<p>Mini:
In this economic climate, where University of Maryland is so much cheaper, and students are turning more now to higher ranked state schools, AU had to make ED applications SAT optional to guarantee increased revenue because they have a low endowment and depend mostly on tuition paid by us full tuition parents. Besides parents having to pay now for the kids to live in the upscale neighborhood in fancy condos and apartments, we all are gonna get hit with the 5% tuition hike this fall as well. Yeah, we have bottomless pocketbooks. (:</p>
<p>Hec2008: Yes and no. The Frat system on AU is very nice – the Frats are in houses off campus. However in DC (and in many East Coast states) a certain number of girls (I believe it’s 5 in DC – cannot live in a house together without being considered a brothel in a legal sense. So the Sororities are in dorms, on campus.</p>
<hr>
<p>AU seems to be doing just fine with enrollment, hence the new housing policy. Furthermore, people who apply ED already have a SERIOUS vested interest in AU and aren’t debating between AU and UMD. The SAT OPTIONAL policy was tested out to see if the same high academic standards, and tradition of excellence can be achieved by looking at a more comprehensive view of the student. ie. High school GPA, extracurriculars, volunteer experience and essays – rather than a numbers only policy. So they had to be more involved people, and more active in their community. It’s easy to get a high GPA when all you’re focusing on is school, but they make poor additions to the college community. As a student, I appreciate them considering taking on a policy that would make them get to know me before making a decision, even though I had scores well into the ‘middle 50’ when I applied.</p>
<p>a) Not all students who live off campus live in NW DC, they commute in from as far away as Springfield and Tysons Corner in Virginia and well into Maryland where housing is cheaper.
b) There are many housing options both on Craigslist and on the AU hosted Off Campus Living site in the Friendship Heights/Tenleytown areas , that are for 600-700$ a month for a room TO YOUR SELF. That means that the number would be cut down to 300$-400$ a month if students chose to get a roommate like they would in a college dorm situation. The AU Room and Board bill for Fall 2009 was 12,930$ for an 11 and a half month lease. A 700$ room to yourself puts you in $8,050$ for an 11 and half month lease.
c) Sophomores will not be affected by this new housing policy. The only way that they will be affected is by having a higher percentage chance of getting into Centennial than they previously did. Furthermore, I’m going to be a Senior next semester – I’m not concerned. It will be a change, and yes it will be new, but thats it.</p>
<p>AuTransfer: Just wanted to let you know that it’s an urban myth that local anti-brothel laws prohibit some number of women from sharing a dwelling. Not true in DC or anywhere else. (You can check it out at Snopes dot com.) I fell for this one myself on CC a few months ago and was quickly corrected!</p>
<p>Cadred: A shame that your daughter is stuck attending such a horrible school. (If I’m keeping track correctly, the Art Department, Registrar’s Office, various deans, Housing office and campus safety office have all fallen dreadfully short for your daughter-but I may have missed a few.) I can only assume that her first semester grades were not good enough to qualify her for transfer to U Maryland or anywhere else. What a pickle. Hope you are both bearing up well under the strain.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m a current junior at AU and I currently live in an apartment leased by AU in an apartment building (The Berkshires) which is nearly adjacent to campus. So while technically I am an “on-campus” resident, I don’t actually live on campus. Despite this I am still able to walk to all of my classes and actively participate in campus life. </p>
<p>To the original poster: I wouldn’t worry, as in my experience the vast majority of upperclassmen move off campus regardless, so honestly once the dust settles from this announcement the status quo will likely change very little. One reason so many move off is that the majority of dorms on AU’s campus are for underclassmen, which will be remedied in the next few years with construction, but obviously that’s a bit off. Another reason is that there is an abundance of housing in the immediate area. Northwest DC isn’t cheap, but with roommates most apartments turn out to be cheaper than AU housing and many are within walking distances of campus. </p>
<p>As far as a prospective freshmen is concerned, this is more immediately beneficial as this move is meant to decrease the number of triple rooms for freshmen, and by the time your S is an upperclassmen there will likely be more options for on-campus upperclassmen housing. I also speak from the experience of someone who lived in a triple room freshmen year, so I can also say it’s really not that bad (I was offered the option of de-tripling twice but turned it down). </p>
<p>The two buildings currently being converted to dorms (opening this fall) were originally dorms, but were changed to offices when the current high-rise dorms were built. Now they are being converted back to their original purpose as a temporary measure to alleviate dorm overcrowding. Within the next year a third building in the same complex is set to be converted back to a dorm as well. I attended a campus planning meeting a few months back, and plans for new housing definitely topped the list of priorities and were a frequent topic of discussion. </p>
<p>It’s also worth noting that to go along with these efforts, the Housing and Dining department is really ramping up efforts to make partnerships with off-campus housing complexes and to help students find off-campus housing. If your S is interested in AU, this would not be a reason to remove it from his list. It’s a great school in many respects. In fact, what caused this housing problem in the first place is the increasing national profile of the school - most of the current dorms have been in place since the 60’s and this has only become a serious problem in the last 5-6 years or so.</p>
<p>Mini and MommaJ:</p>
<pre><code>Please stop continually insulting me and my daughter.
</code></pre>
<p>Dear AUtransfer:</p>
<p>I suggest you read the Washington Post article which refutes what you say about the SAT optional policy AU has put into place strictly for ED candidates. You might want to take a course in econ or basic business. The ED numbers rose dramatically because, bottomline, these kids have low SAT scores and probably can’t into more competitive schools including a state school like University of Maryland. However, they can guarantee a school revenue.These candidates jumped on this opportunity to get into AU cause they couldn’t otherwise. AU has been more about numbers than most. That’s how they judge who is in the Honors program. That’s how they judge housing. (Honors floors) etc… that’s how they judge who registers first-the most AP’s, credits etc… All numbers.</p>
<p>The reason schools that go SAT optional appear to be more selective is that the students who do choose to submit scores have higher scores, so the reported SAT averages rise. There is a movement afoot to require that SAT optional schools report overall SAT averages. SATs are contentious in that certain demographics just do better on the tests, and those who can afford prep may have an advantage, but a holistic admissions policy takes that into account.</p>
<p>Cadred:</p>
<p>You’re aware that when you look at say 6 major admission factors for any given student, and then you can only see 5 of them, that student’s other 5 factors are judged with even more scrutiny? There are a lot of very smart and qualified students that aren’t good test takers- my cousin comes to mind. And just in case you also missed the memo, NYU, the largest private university in America, which is also much more selective than AU, went test optional this year for SAT scores.</p>
<p>Besides, you know the SAT is seriously a test based off memorization, not actual skill, right?</p>
<p>Cadred, sorry, I will not stop “insulting” you, who pose as an AU parent solely for the purpose of attacking the school, nor your fictional daughter. Since ignoring your posts has not had the desired effect of making you go away, I will not allow your posts to go unanswered, for fear some parents innocently coming onto this Board may be deceived by your rants. Keep posting your blather, and I and others will keep doing the public service of pointing out that you are a sad little ■■■■■ who gets pleasure from deceiving well-meaning parents and students looking for guidance.</p>
<p>It is tempting to be cynical about going SAT optional. Why not collect all the data and just be more holistic? (because then you’d have to report all the scores and risk lowering your USNWR ranking). And re AU going SAT optional just for ED, well it does seem there’s even more room for cynicism.</p>
<p>S made an interesting comment about the housing situation.</p>
<p>He noted that the housing changes coming in to effect at the end of this academic year will not have an effect on him now–sophomores are still guaranteed on campus housing–</p>
<p>and that at this point he does not have any clue of where he will want to live, or with whom, or what kind of place he will want to live in, more than a year from now.</p>
<p>He figures he could change his mind a dozen or so times by then.</p>
<p>He also figures that by the time he needs to make plans for his third year–more than a year out from now–AU will have firmed up the housing situation and will give him what information he needs to decide his living arrangements for the following year. It’s not like students are being cast out in to the cold and snow all on their own to be homeless on the DC streets. He isn’t even sure he will need housing junior year, as he is planning extensive study abroad. He has no crystal ball to predict what he will want as far as his living situation when he is a senior.</p>
<p>So he is refusing to worry about possible problems that will be easily solved when he gets to them. The thing that matters most to him is to live affordably with friends in a location convenient to campus–he never planned on necessarily living in a dorm situation all 4 years. A good number of students either tire of dormitory style living, with all the university rules ( including not being able to be in the dorms over various holidays when you might want to stay in DC to work or pursue other opportunities),RAs. etc, or because they might want to cook for themselves on a consistent basis, etc. And a good number of students simply want to try apartment style living because they are more mature or because they want something new or different or less expensive.</p>
<p>So I am not going to worry about this. Living arrangements will solve themselves in due time.</p>
<p>Mini:</p>
<p>All of following is my opnion. The Standard and Poor sheet for AU says that their operating results were good. The endowment of $312,000,000 is potentially at risk if they have to repurchase some of their bonds. There is a $250+ million debt. As long as AU has strong operating results, then the university is in good financial shape. It seems to me that admitting ED candidates who likely have the ability to pay for their education in full, will help AU achieve their goal of maintaining strong operating results. This is just my opinion, and the facts are found at the Standard and Poor site. See following link: <a href=“http://www.american.edu/finance/upload/Standard-and-Poors-September-2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.american.edu/finance/upload/Standard-and-Poors-September-2009.pdf</a></p>
<p>MommaJ:</p>
<p>Please stop insulting me, accusing me of not being a parent and stop accusing me of having a “fictional daughter”, because you don’t like the truth. I knew about the housing changes from my parent email, whereas you hadn’t even received one. Maybe you don’t have a daughter. Also, I am sorry that you, mini, littlebird and Hello5 may not understand the S&P report described in aforementioned e-mail.</p>
<p>As the original poster - I’m sorry I asked for comments. You guys are crazy!</p>
<p>No further posts on this thread are necessary!</p>
<p>Carry your war elsewhere!</p>
<p>Im trying to choose between Anderson and Letts! I heard letts will be all freshman, but is old and dirty. Is the reputation true? I like Anderson but not sue if thats the bet choice. </p>
<p>Please help, I’m really nervous as to what I should choose!</p>
<p>CR,
Isn’t this a housing policy change thread?</p>