<p>My son and I visited AU, GW and Georgetown last week. After doing lots of homework, I expected AU would be the best fit for my son. That is what happened. My son thought that AU is the best of the three for him. He isn’t ready to apply early decision, however. My son wants to look at more colleges, particularly the more selective ones. </p>
<p>After visiting 15 colleges with my daughter and son, I think the AU presentation is the best I have seen. It wasn’t just the amazing speaking skill of Kelly, the woman who gave the presentation. Kelly provided the audience with almost too much information about AU.</p>
<p>Since the AU visit, my son and I have done our best to filter out Kelly’s delivery and focus on the substance. There seems to be a disconnect between the reputation of AU and all of the opportunities available there: the academic flexibility between schools, dedicated advising system, internships, proximity to DC, etc. </p>
<p>I don’t understand why AU isn’t more highly ranked. I guess the primary reason is selectivity. An Ivy League school is more highly valued precisely because it is so hard to get in. </p>
<p>Kelly did point out that the average GPA of this year’s entering class rose from 3.5 to 3.8 in one year, so the academic ability of AU’s student body is growing.</p>
<p>One thing is clear to me: going to school in DC sure beats a place like New Haven, where I spent four years.</p>
<p>singleparent~ i assume you meant the USNWR when you cite rankings....it's really the ONLY place that puts down AU, and after experiencing AU on different levels, whether in other ranking guides, visits, kids you know who go there, rep in the DC internship/working world, rep in foreign service and on and on, it becomes clear the USN ranking is inaccurate. so be careful of this....a quick comparison for you to consider: AU and GW are like identical twins with different personalities. but their USNW rankings are quite disparate. these 2 schools are only a very small example of the skewed, bogus nature of USNW rankings, which thankfully are now under fire. those in the know, especially for IR and some of their other great programs just ignore the USN's bias and imbalanced accountability of its variables,ie, college president's votes and endowment greatly overshadow what most people are looking for...academics. hope this little soap-box of mine helps. if it doesn't , check out the CC threads saying same about USNWR. when supermoderator, tokenadult did wonderful research on the "most noteworthy colleges" ( see his thread) he never used USNWR. best of luck!</p>
<p>"Since the AU visit, my son and I have done our best to filter out Kelly's delivery and focus on the substance. There seems to be a disconnect between the reputation of AU and all of the opportunities available there: the academic flexibility between schools, dedicated advising system, internships, proximity to DC, etc.</p>
<p>I don't understand why AU isn't more highly ranked."</p>
<p>We found exactly the same. As for the rankings, all I can say is "lucky us"!</p>
<p>"^^That amused me, because my son starts at American in the fall, and my daughter enters grad school . . . in New Haven!!^^"</p>
<p>My younger daughter enters American this fall (we are pretty sure); the older one enters graduate school in Princeton. ;) (The younger one wouldn't be caught dead at Princeton, among other reasons because it lacks so many of the opportunities the OP references.)</p>
<p>im also really impressed with AU's study abroad programs. I have a friend that goes to Bates and is doing a semester through AU in France. Even comparing Gtown's study abroad with AU i found AU's to be more comprehensive...which surprised me given Gtown's reputation. I feel like Gtown's reputation comes from the many world leaders that have studied there, frequency of professors that are featured in media, and their long history...but not much else.</p>
<p>My daughter and I were at American and GW last week, and thought the (very crowded!) info session was one of the best we've heard. Kelly was terrific!!</p>
<p>We also had a wonderful student tour guide. I do marketing for a living, and was thinking about the role the student tour guides play in marketing the school -- it's huge! ... and we've had some mediocre student guides ;)</p>
<p>Of the 5 schools we've toured thus far, I feel we got the most complete picture of what life might be like for the prospective student at AU.</p>
<p>I think we cann all agree that the Alumni giving rate at AU can be ranked near an F, as over 95% of the AU budget comes from students tuition. I can't say on the graduation rate performance because i don't know the statistic. Financial resources i would give a C at best because DC is such an expensive city that bills are probably much higher, giving the per-student spending statistic a low mark. Faculty resources probably received a good score, while retention is probably low due to the high number of students who transfer out of AU. Nobody could say on peer assessment, though if it is low it reflects the low prestige of AU outside of the DC-NE area of the united states.</p>
<p>I think you also have to look at starting salaries and grad school placement. American doesn't do a very good job of publishing statistics. They have a very weak pie chart that shows most of the graduates earning $40K or less and only 13% earning over $50K. I couldn't find any information regarding placement in various graduate schools. Schools ranked highly in USNews usually have good grad school placement and relatively high starting salaries.</p>
<p>AU is a fun place to go to school with a lot of opportunities in the city. Unfortunately there are a few things that keep us down. The first is the financial aid department and the service here on campus. Both things reputedly make students unhappy and make many either transfer out or just not give any money to the school because they feel like they were ripped off(believe me, I work with a lot of AU alums). Next, our lack of emphasis on the sciences, mathematics, and business(although this is improving) is the reason why our salaries are so low. I expect this to improve in the future. I also am hopeful that the university will be able to purchase some more land around the university and make some money off of real estate(this is what GW did to earn money). If we can ever get past the money issue, I am confident AU will dramatically improve in the rankings. </p>
<p>There are some great examples of schools which are vastly overrated on USNWR rankings based off of endowment. Certainly the one that comes to mind is Emory. Likewise, Georgetown is also a much better school than what the rankings will tell you. I am confident Georgetown would be a top 10 if it wasn't for most of their alumni taking jobs in the public sector.</p>
<p>According to the facts that I discovered on the AU website....American University’s long-term financial health depends on a strong endowment. Today, the university's endowment stands at approximately $340 million. In 1994, that figure was $30 million. In addition, it states that AU aims to raise $45 million for the university’s endowment. While this goal may seem ambitious, achieving it will improve AU’s ability to recruit world-class faculty, attract promising students, and develop academic programs that respond to the most pressing challenges of our time.
Also, no one has mentioned the fact that AU recently broke ground on a new 80,000 square foot building for the School of International Service. Millions of dollars are being slotted for improvements to the Katzen Art Center, Campus life, athletics, etc.
As far as rankings - all references use different criteria to rank the school - USNWR...looks heavily at endowments....when doing a compare in the Princeton Review - GW and AU are at the same academic level compared to USNWR which ranks GW higher because of the endowments. All other stats are comparative.</p>
<p>Well, let's not pretend that endowment's don't matter. They do.</p>
<p>American is stuck, despite their best effort, in a position of having a small endowment and being surrounded by schools (GW, Georgetown) with larger ones. These endowments are often spent on scholarships and attracting professors. So AU, because of their lack of money, becomes at least 3rd in the competition for professors in the DC area, as GW and GTown can attract better professors with better pay. And from my experience, there is a difference.</p>
<p>They aren't in competition with either of these two places for professors - that's not the way things work. Positions open up, they are announced in national meetings and publications of the discipline, applicants apply, and who is appointed has more to do with what applicant was available the year the position was available.</p>
<p>I had a professor tell the class that she was lined up to teach at Catholic, but AU offered her more money. I'm saying that if a professor is offered positions by AU or another school, the other school (GWU or GTown) will have the advantage of higher endowments and money to offer. Further, I'm sure AU would not turn down the opportunity of Madeline Albright or George Tenet teach a course as they do at Georgetown. AU, however, doesn't have the prestige or financial capabilities to attract those type of professors.</p>
<p>American is not competing for professors with Georgetown. There may be adjuncts such as those you name where that occasionally might be the case. But (having taught at the University of Chicago), I can tell you with absolute certainty that's not how it is done. The case you cited might just have well been Northern Arizona and American. </p>
<p>Why aren't you at Georgetown? (My d. had no interest in Georgetown, and having visited GW on three separate occasions, determined that - for her - American was by far the better choice.) But different strokes for different folks. I hope you are happy and receiving a good education wherever you are.</p>
<p>thank you for your accuracy, mini. stocksdale, why do you continue to harbor disdain at a school you CHOSE to transfer to? i may be wrong, but you had once said you were returning to home and UNH. i don't think you should post erroneous comments here, based on your own sense of injustice.</p>
<p>once again, can we act civil? Stocksdale didn't say anything necessarily negative about AU. Let's face it, compared to GW and Georgetown, AU DOES have less money in endowments. That's a fact not a insult. And while this might or might not effect the hiring of professors, its hard to debate that Georgetown does not carry with it more prestige than AU. The GW > AU argument isn't as strong but nonetheless, people on this forum need to stop getting nasty the minute they don't agree with another person's opinion.</p>