<p>AU’s rankings on Co<strong>ege Prowl</strong> are surprisingly low. It doesn’t jive with what I read here or it’s reputation. Does anyone know why this is?</p>
<p>I think it depends on what the individual wants as an overall college experience. It could also be that the surrounding town where AU is gets pretty repetitive and that you have to go kind of out your way to get to downtown DC.</p>
<p>Personally, I sometimes think that people go to CP to just complain about things. Just my thought.</p>
<p>I remember as an AU student I read things like “TDR sucks… food is horrible don’t come here” and “metro is far as hell and AU is in middle of nowhere” and found very little truth in either of those statements. In that sense, I agree with caseyc that CP is a lot of complaining.</p>
<p>However, I think the gap in perception is largely because AU is a school in transition. Much of the stuff I read was from 2005-2007 when I came to AU and AU as a school is continuously getting better. I think academics, campus life, and student life are continuing to get better response and it is showing. Just in two years of being at AU, I see major changes in how parents and new students respond to AU campus life and they’re more positive.</p>
<p>It’s the WONK campaign that made all the difference, right? ;)</p>
<p>Haha I don’t think so Sikorsky. However, I do see in the Class of 2016 and Class of 2017 Facebook pages that the incoming freshman seem more receptive to it than we are. Branding always takes time and if AU is sticking with WONK, we might as well get on board.</p>
<p>My experience is limited to the admission process and was negative. I brought my son to D.C. this past weekend to visit GW and American. We wrote to ask both admission departments to allow my son to attend a class and speak to a professor. GW called, set up two different classes and set up meetings with professors. American refused saying it was not “common.” Thereafter, I wrote to the Chair of the department my son was considering and told him of the experience we had with Admissions. No luck. Therefore, we sent an email to Admissions expressing his concern, informing them that Binghamton, Cornell and GW all readily accommodated the same request after the offer of admission, and declining their offer of admission. In true bureaucratic form, Admissions sent back an email requesting that the notice declining admission be formatted in a specific manner, and include specific, detailed information. They failed to understand that the notice was to allow them to offer a wait listed student admission and did not benefit us. So we are finished attempting to communicate with American. I hope you all have better experiences with them.</p>
<p>That’s unfortunate, Dadtoson, and really indefensible.</p>
<p>As it happens, lately we have been talking a lot in this forum about the fact that dealing with AU gets dramatically better after you’re done with Admissions.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>
<p>If any of your kids are legitimately going to stop looking at a school because of their parents experiences with the admission department, well #1 that’s stupid and #2 if you’re around DC I would be happy to personally ensure that both parents and students could sit in on a class. Feel free to PM me if you would like to take me up on that offer.</p>
<p>I’m not so sure it’s stupid, Casey. Admissions is the sales staff of the university. They’re supposed to be putting the best face possible on the university. </p>
<p>When a college does this badly, I think it’s reasonable to assume the college handles other student- and parent-related business badly, too. In this particular case, the assumption would be wrong, but what’s stupid, IMO, is that American’s admissions bungles the job of selling AU to students and parents year after year.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>
<p>Just my two cents: I am underwhelmed by the communication from Admissions and from FA. The university website is a mess. This should not be happening at a school that promotes its School of Communication as among the best. I am hoping that it does improve after this initial “honeymoon” period. My original post referred to the ranking and reviews given by current students in regards to overall experience which I assume goes beyond the admissions period and speaks to the college experience as a whole. = whorisome.</p>
<p>I think the worst thing for me is how frustrated I am to see the admissions center do so badly at their job. I love AU and think it’s a great place so it’s just annoying to see people who get paid to promote it do it so badly.</p>
<p>It’s strange to hear these negatives because when my D went through this process in 2011, we had a good experience and both the admissions and financial aid departments were responsive. She just loves AU and I’m glad we didn’t encounter a negative experience that would have caused us to discount AU.</p>
<p>I guess the analogy is that if you call a hotel and their reception desk gives you a poor service chances are you are going to look somewhere for a room. Private schools charge a lot of money (specially in these economic times) so there is no reason for the poor treatment. He asked fir something that the majority of schools offer, nothing unusual about it. Second, they knew he did not need to officially decline his acceptance (it would not make any difference in their wait list because they know their yield and accept accordingly), but they wanted to upset him more by having him reformat the letter. Come on, I can take this attitude from Harvard but not from AU.</p>
<p>Dadtoson - from your other posts, I see that your son is deciding between GW and Cornell - both great choices. Congratulations! I don’t think American was really in the picture for him, so your unfavorable experience at AU did not change the landscape. My daughter really wanted to attend BC two years ago and was admitted EA. I did not have a great experience with their Admissions Department or Financial Aid department and she is now happily at AU. </p>
<p>We had attended the GW and American Accepted Students Day two years ago on the same day. American’s blew GW’s away in my opinion. While their Admissions Department may leave some dissatisfied, their Accepted Students Day covers all the bases.</p>
<p>Admitted Students Day sealed the deal for my AU daughter. She and I had been to Waltham for Brandeis’ admitted students day at the beginning of the same week: it was all right. American’s was awesome.</p>
<p>I am very surprised to read pushydad’s comment, “My original post referred to the ranking and reviews given by current students in regards to overall experience which I assume goes beyond the admissions period and speaks to the college experience as a whole.” Life at AU has been a very good experience for my daughter. And I think specifically that Chris Moody, who runs Housing and Dining, has done a fantastic job thinking through both how 18-20 year-olds live together on a college campus and how to minimize the frustrations that often arise when they do.</p>
<p>My son was admitted this year as well as to 4 other colleges. AU’s communication from the admissions office, honors program, President’s office, and SIS have convinced him to attend before we even make it to Freshman Day on the 19th. I thought he would want to wait until we looked at the school again, but he’s sold. Of the 5 schools he was considering, AU has been far and away the most impressive.</p>
<p>I’m glad that our experience is not the norm for AU. In so many other ways, it seems to be exactly what my D is looking for in a college and despite some frustrations she is VERY excited to be attending. I don’t mean for my frustration to in any way diminish hers or anyone else’s enthusiasm. I am sure that once we are past some of the initial bureaucratic bumps it will be terrific. I truly am very happy that she chose AU. The opportunities and environment are outstanding.</p>
<p>The “bad experience” was not limited to Admissions. We also wrote to the Department Chair and got a non-response, response. Perhaps the school is better than the Admissions process would indicate, but we have so little information on which to make a decision that we move forward based on what we have. NewJerseyMom - As for the speculation that my son was not considering AU because he was admitted to Cornell is without merit. He is interested in government and that makes D.C. very attractive. A final interaction with AU closes the book. We wrote to decline the offer of admission and received a return email telling us the information was in the wrong format. Geez!</p>
<p>“Experience” is such a personal thing. IMO, all potential students should visit the campus, either on Admitted student days or on their own. My D was able to connect with a “friend of a friend” who took her to classes, to a sorority function, out to eat at DuPont Circle, etc. She felt that she got the full AU experience. And 3 years later, she is still happy (currently happy in Prague during her study abroad semester!)</p>
<p>I have not really had to deal with the administration or bureaucracy any, but D hasn’t reported any problems. She’s not crazy about her general advisor, but she was able to pick her major advisor and has a great relationship with him. She also has good relationships with other professors, incl. being invited to their homes for study sessions, or coffee, etc. All of her classes have been small (less than 20). Oh, and the health services are good - she’s had quite a few trips, emergencies and referrals.</p>