We toured campus and loved the academic flexibility, location, diversity, and DC opportunities for interns, etc. We are curious about the social life. It didn’t seem to have a very strong sense of community. Can anyone provide feedback? Daughter is pretty social and would live on campus and would be fine going Greek if it helped to create a more typical college experience (some parties, trips, etc). Thanks!
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Hi! Were you able to get any sense of what the community at AU is like? We also visited and liked what we saw, but it is hard to get a sense of campus life.
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Oh, well! Maybe they have a “shadow a student” program, or something like that.
I have a freshman there in SIS. They love it so far, are social but not a partier. But have found friends and things to do. Sounds like quite a few girls go to frat parties at Georgetown on the weekends. Mine goes to music venues, bookstores, cooks with friends, and out to eat off campus. But not into the frat party scene. Rush for frats at AU doesn’t start until next semester so I wonder if the social stuff on campus will change.
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Thanks! Feel free to update about rush. My son really liked AU when we visited. He’s not a partier, and is hoping to find friends willing to form intramural teams, go to museums/concerts, volunteer, outdoor club, etc. He’s still a junior so will look into visiting again if AU remains on the top of his list. Looks like they accept a significant number of students ED.
Hi there, my son is a sophomore at AU and has been having a great experience. He plays club volleyball, as well as joined a soccer and futsal intramural team. There are parties on and off campus (he is off campus this year because the fire alarms his freshmen year were just too much) and some people do attend frat parties and go to clubs on the weekend. And of course, all of the great museums and fabulous restaurants are easy to access, as AU provides free metro passes for all their students.
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Greek life is extremely small at AU, only about 10% of undergrads.
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My daughter is a sophomore and loves it, very social!
My daughter was accepted ED1 and can’t wait to get there! She intends to go greek, so I’d love to see what people have to say about the Greek System there.
Congrats to your daughter!
For greek life, AU definitely follows the “presence not pressure” model. About 10% (800 students) of the undergrad student body is involved in greek life, and there are more frats (11) than sororities (8), but sororities have about 500 members compared to 300ish frat members. Some sororities have better histories than others, so I’d advise your daughter to do checks on which groups have been suspended for hazing/racism/etc. AU also follows the “delayed rush” model which means that first years cannot rush until after they’ve completed their first semester, which gives your daughter a whole semester to learn about the different orgs.
AU is pretty transparent about most of their greek organizations, but here’s some quick links:
FSL homepage: Fraternity and Sorority Life | American University, Washington, DC
Panhellenic Council: Panhellenic Council | American University, Washington, DC
Organization Conduct Status: Student Org Conduct Status 3 | American University, Washington, DC
Spring 2022 FSL Grade Report: https://www.american.edu/ocl/student-involvement/upload/fsl-academic-report-spring-2022.pdf
FSL Annual Report 2022: https://www.american.edu/ocl/student-involvement/upload/2021-22-annual-report-2.pdf
I’d also keep in mind that AU has a large activist student body, and anti-greek life movements pop up about once a year, so it’s important for anyone considering greek life to know the history of the program at the school. Here’s a story from the student newspaper from last year: The rise, fall and rise of the abolish Greek life movement - The Eagle
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Sounds similar to my kid, thanks
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