<p>Why did you choose AU? What about it made it your choice over other schools (such as GW and Georgetown)? What are you studying and what do you hope to do in the near future with it? Also, can you talk about the student body? If you could put together the perfect representation of AU into one person, who would that person be and why?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Why AU: For me I came there for a specific program. I knew upon applying that I would be between an International Studies major (SIS) and Government (SPA) major. For those two schools – there are none better. It has the largest SIS program in the country, with more course offerings than Georgetown. The faculty is knowledgeable and well-reknown without being gone every single class period for faculty panels and interviews. Furthermore, when the faculty ARE gone – 0% of classes at AU are taught by TAs (Georgetown has 8%, GWU has 3%) and it’s something that I appreciate. GWU students are heavy into the hard sciences (biology, chemistry and in particular engineering) and the liberal arts – I also was not fond of how much the school is integrated into the city. Georgetown was aesthetically beautiful, but everyone there seemed OVER-driven, constantly stressed, and cut-throat. It was also a decent hike from the nearest metro which makes seeing the city (ie. the BEST part) very difficult. The AU campus is an oasis, with a nice green quad, an outdoor amphitheater, and is a nationally recognized arboretum which makes it a nice retreat from the city. </p>
<p>My Studies: I’m a Government major in the School of Public Administration. I’m caught between my love of running campaigns (thank you, the West Wing) and doing political and advertising consulting. I’ve been loading up on my marketing classes and such to get internships that are in/will lead to work in a political consulting firm that also handles corporate clients. The AU alumni base is extensive in the city, and tend to take care of their own. The last internship I received were because the head of the company was an AU grad – the one before that, now ONLY hires AU students because of “how good the students AU keeps sending are.”</p>
<p>Student Body: All of the DC schools have pretty bad racial diversity – which is shocking considering how racially diverse DC is. They each have about 5% of the student body from each minority (Georgetown doing the best because of its high amount of international applicants). Geographically – AU makes a point to represent every one of the 50 states (with a large percentage hailing from New Jersey) and over 100 countries. Because of it’s proximity to Embassy row, AU ends up getting a lot of the sons and daughters of diplomats. AU, like all the DC schools, has a reputation for having a lot of middle and upper class students. I have not found this to be the case. I’d say it’s predominantly kids from middle class families (which, in itself has a varied definition), with groups of outliers on either end. Politically, the campus certainly leans left, but those on the right are not outcasts or nonexistent. (My roommate right now, fits in that category). The real outcasts are people who are not knowledgeable of world events. You don’t have to be politically active, but glancing at a newspaper is helpful. Also I would say the average student is tolerant of the GLBT population, which has a decent presence at AU.</p>
<p>Since AU has a lot of middle-class students, does that mean that Fin-Aid is okay? I heard that AU has very good merit-based, but not so stellar need-based aid. I know Fin-Aid depends on the FAFSA form and your EFC, but that’s what so many colleges say when they’re stingy with their aid.</p>
<p>The lack of racial diversity saddens me. As a URM, I want a school where I don’t stick out like a black thumb lol!</p>
<p>Also, I know that AU’s campus is slightly away from DC, so when someone can’t get to the city on weekends, what is there to do on campus?</p>
<p>Their financial aid is very good considering their endowment. AU costs 48K to go to – their average financial aid package is 29K. So, the average student, assuming they get absolutely no merit aid (which is unlikely) has to pay 19K/year. The average amount of need met is 93% – which I believe is the highest out of the three DC schools (Georgetown doesn’t report theirs). Also know that American also requires the CSS Profile, which is also required before they’ll consider your financial aid situation.</p>
<p>Slightly away from DC is a bit of a misnomer. It’s not IN DC like GWU, but it’s not far away either. AU sits on the red line, and is +/- 5 minutes from the National Zoo or Adams Morgan – THE place for AU students to go to bars on weekends, +/- 10 minutes from Dupont Circle, great food, good bars, and Kramerbooks and 15 minutes from “the center of DC” at the Metro Center stop. It may seem like a bit of a hike now (the same thing happened to me, since literally everything in my city is 5 minutes away) but that changes. On campus, yes, the Student Activities committee makes a point to keep students engaged on weekends with movies shown on the quad, concerts held in the tavern, or the 250 other clubs on campus are holding something. So I can’t really describe an ‘average’ weekend. I’m never bored, that’s for sure.</p>
<p>Just popping in to add that taking the Metro just one stop outbound from AU (as well as taking a convenient bus that stops right on campus) brings you to the Chevy Chase (MD) downtown area, where there’s a multiplex movie theater and lots of shopping. American is within DC’s city limits, and getting from there to the various other points of interest in DC is no more difficult or time consuming than traveling between neighborhoods in any major city–think Upper West Side to Park Slope in NYC, for example.</p>
<p>Hey
I don’t mean to be contentious but just for the sake of accuracy. 
</p>
<p>Georgetown meets 100% of financial need.</p>
<p>This is taken from their website </p>
<p>Need-Blind Admissions: Georgetown University practices “need-blind” admissions; an applicant’s ability to meet college costs is not a criteria for admission. </p>
<p>Need-Based Financial Aid: Georgetown awards financial aid funds on the basis of demonstrated financial need. The University is committed to meeting 100% of the full demonstrated financial need of its’ eligible undergraduates. </p>
<p><a href=“http://finaid.georgetown.edu/ugmenu.html[/url]”>http://finaid.georgetown.edu/ugmenu.html</a></p>
<p>And none of the classes are taught by TA’s. Certain classes, introductory classes over 50 include discussion sections or recitations. Class is taught by a professor and then a extra meeting either to look deeper into material or to go over homework for extra help is lead traditionally by a final year doctoral candidate. On two occasions my professor has filled this role and on a third another professor in the department. I would be surprised if this system wasn’t in place at American and GW as well. I’m not sure of the percentage but if it is 8% that is excellent as is GW’s 3%. Especially since large science classes need TA’s for labs and clinical rotations. </p>
<p>I think American is a fantastic school. I was in Egypt this summer and met some great girls studying there. I just wanted to clarify.</p>
<p>Hec2008: The financial aid stats were taken from College Board and the TA stat was taken from Princeton Review. Thanks for the clarification.</p>
<p>AU is not similar to either GW or Georgetown, and if they weren’t in the same town, they wouldn’t be compared. GW has a student body about twice that of AU, but more than half the students are in the liberal arts (many in the sciences), and, together with the engineering school, the two make up about two-thirds of the student body. They have only about half the number of international relations students as AU (with many fewer course offerings and options), and much lower-ranked undergraduate business program. AU also has far more IR students than Georgetown. Put SIS, the Business School, School of Communication, and School of Public Afffairs together, and you’ve got about 2/3rds of AU undergrads.</p>
<p>The respective wealth of the student bodies varies widely as well - 69% of AU’s student body receives financial aid, 42% of GW’s (according to the last Common Data Set I can find), and 38% of Georgetown’s.</p>
<p>They are just very different places. What they share in common is DC (and hence students’ love of politics.)</p>