<p>I have been accepted into American University with a presidential scholarship and a honors invitation. On paper, American seems to offer what I am looking for ( international relations) but there are a lot of signs that worry me about American.
American has a fairly low freshman retention rate(87%) compared to other colleges . On this forum there seem to be few positive comments from current students. I am hoping all of them are so busy with their AU life that they do not come on here. Stats of admitted students do not seem that high, does it seem like everyone gets accepted ?
Being in DC and what appears to be a good program in international relations, it seems like it is where I want to be but so many students seem to be transferring out of American, which concerns me. I already can see the admissions department being somewhat disorganized. I emailed them with a few questions and received some questionable responses.
While I was invited to honors, I did not receive and overnight invitation. I received an invitation to freshman day on 4/17 or 4/24. ( no mention of overnight)
I have been admitted to my flagship state university of Florida, which is ranked higher than American but I don’t think it has as good an international relations program as American, I would be majoring in Political science over there. I am still waiting on Georgetown SFS ( was deferred EA) and Tufts and Yale. Even if I get admitted to those schools, I am not eligible for a lot of financial aid and the cost may prohibit me of going there (EFC=$35000) I am looking for some current students in SIS that can put away the not so good image American has. This forum seems so dead compared to GU or GWU.
I am debating visiting for freshman day even though I probably will be attending University of Florida. UF will be almost free, someone convince me that American SIS is worth $20,000+ a year.
While the presidential scholarship is nice, I was hoping to receive a scholarship for National Merit finalist as well, as their website indicates. But no one seems to have even heard of that when I emailed admissions.</p>
<p>^ My D is from Florida too and got into American(international relations+$18000, very generous package with big grants!) and also into UF and FSU honors (bright future+scholarship too!), and we are in the same boat as you… we don’t know if American will be a good fit for her.It looks like everybody got in and i read that the housing is a nightmare( they pile 3 students in a double) in the other hand the location is amazing especially for IR! also it looks like a neat small campus…for UF, we went and we visited, it’s too huge!!! 30.000 students!! woaw!! and Gainsville is not a fit for my D and her major(IR) also everybody is partying… i don’t mind but if it’s like in Miami beach high school i’m scared!! FSU fit more my D for IR(they have a good study program,firstyear student studying in Italy!) and like UF it’s a huge campus but with low achievers!! so we are very confused about all those choices!!! she is waiting for Emory, Georgetown,Tutfs,Duke, Brown,JHU,Princeton and Yale( but those are reaches!!! it’s gonna be rejections.) She has hope in getting into Emory but the best will be Georgetown! Keep me posted in your searches about the best colleges for IR… and since you are in Florida maybe we’ll meet one of those days! best luck in the results coming soon!!!</p>
<p>I wish you all could understand that 10 years from now it will not matter which college you went to. You get out of anyone of them what you put into it. Absolutely consider money. Leave school with as much debt as possible. Having said that, try to find out which school has a higher employment out of college rate -that is where your answer lies. American is great that it is in DC for what you want - but many students go there and transfer to Georgetown (I went to GW and transferring to Georgetown is huge there also). Talk to other students - even email faculty and ask questions - they will be happy to answer. My son is going looking for film/screenwriting and just by emailing the director of the program at Drexel was invited to come for a day - sit in on his class and go to film site with other students. He got a much better picture of the school from any tour or overnight.</p>
<p>flgirl91& others - I cannot speak as a student, but as a parent. I too was concerned about the issues you raised when my son was considering AU. Thankfully he ignored my concerns because he could not be happier at AU. It is a great fit for him - of course, not for all. He is an excellent student, in SIS, and is just so impressed with the programs offered by the school, and the perks of being in DC. As far as getting answers, I personally suggest calling rather than e-mailing. Best of luck to you.</p>