<p>My “S” is a prospective freshman. Could someone explain to me “the parent” the difference between University College and Learning Communities. The AU website is confusing.</p>
<p>What are Pro’s/Con’s of each? Do you sign up for these during housing registration or what? Do they try and house these students together? Does joining one of these help keep you from being “tripled”?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>My son did a UC and really liked it. He signed up when the housing materials came out. There was a brief application and one or two very short essays. S is in a double; the boys in the room next door, also part of the UC, are in a triple. I think S avoided tripling because he was accepted ED, so AU received his housing deposit in January. To avoid tripling, send that housing deposit in ASAP !!! Students in a UC are all housed together, along with the TA assigned to their course (the TA does not teach; the position is more one of mentor/facilitator).</p>
<p>For my son, the UC has been all “pro.” He liked the close encounter with a top professor–the class is taught part lecture, part seminar. The TA lives on their floor and helps the students in the UC in a lot of ways, including studying–and that has carried over into other classes, so there was definitely some assistance with the learning curve in adjusting to college academics. Students naturally formed study groups for this class, a behavior which made my son more proactive in doing the same for some of his other classes.</p>
<p>My son did not find being in a UC socially restrictive at all, and that had been his major worry going in to it. The UC is only one class of four or five so students meet a lot of other students. The students in the UC represented a broad spectrum of majors and included students from all of AU’s schools. He has made very good friends in his UC, and next year plans to live with 2 other boys from his UC (including this year’s roomie) and 3 boys not from the UC in a 3 bedroom apartment.</p>
<p>The difference between University College and the Learning Communities is just as boysx3 described above - it is a single class with a residential component. The Learning Communities bring together two classes that a group of students take together (and the professors collaborate), but there is no residential component so the students do not live together. I’m currently a junior at AU and participated in a UC my freshman year and thought it was an incredible experience. I would echo many of the sentiments boysx3’s son expressed. It’s a great program.</p>
<p>Let’s see if I got this right - UC is only 1 class and has a “residential” component. Whereas LC’s are 2 classes and no residential component?</p>
<p>Also, are these only 1 semester, or both freshman semesters?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>CJ,</p>
<p>As far as my son’s UC goes, the students live together on a hall floor both semesters. The UC class was the first semester only, but this second semester they have some sort of once-a-week “lab” on Wednesdays–I’m not sure what is involved, but I will ask my son. I don’t think the second semester labl carries any credit but I will ask him that as well.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about the LCs but I think they might be for students who are not freshmen who have a common interest?</p>
<p>I think you can learn more by going to AU’s housing site on the webpage and look under the various options that are offered.</p>
<p>AU website is hopeless - when you click on “University College” it takes you to “Learning Communities”. Not well organized.</p>
<p>If you put “university college” into the AU website search box at the top of the page, it’ll take you to the right spot.</p>
<p>According to the website below:
[Housing</a> & Dining Programs | Living - Learning Communities](<a href=“http://www.american.edu/ocl/housing/llc.cfm]Housing”>Living Learning Communities | Housing & Residence Life | American University, Washington, D.C. | American University, Washington, DC)</p>
<p>Living learning communities include UC for freshmen, residential community clusters for upper classmen, and those in honors programs.</p>
<p>Learning Communities (the ones that combine 2 classes) are for freshmen. Like University College courses, they are all first-level general education classes so its a great way to complete those. </p>
<p>“Living Learning Communities”, although it sounds very similar, is the umbrella term used by Housing and Dining to classify special sorts of housing arrangements. This includes University College, Honors housing, and Residential Community Clusters. The RCC’s are for upperclassmen, and are conceptualized and initiated by students who share a common interest. For example, I believe there’s a “green floor” and a “gender neutral floor.” </p>
<p>Here’s the link to University College: <a href=“http://www1.american.edu/learningcommunities/go/uc/[/url]”>http://www1.american.edu/learningcommunities/go/uc/</a>
Learning Communities: <a href=“http://www.american.edu/provost/learningcommunities/[/url]”>http://www.american.edu/provost/learningcommunities/</a></p>
<p>I believe they’re also currently cleaning up all of this information on the Web site and it should all be much more streamlined and organized by March or April, which is when they usually update it with the following year’s information. Last year the debut of the new AU Web site sort of threw things off a bit with this, which is likely the cause of the current confusion.</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Sirjosh - you’re a star!</p>
<p>Thanks = AU should have you redo their website!</p>