We went with our senior yesterday to a preview day at AU so I'm also interested in this. AU's undergrad public policy program and the international affairs school seemed topnotch.
I'm surprised AU is ranked as low as it is (although I guess most Americans might not consider top 80 low) because a high percentage of AU's classes are small and, at least for the public affairs school, they have three separate programs within the school that students can apply to be part of that give the kids a strong cohort and mentorship opportunities. From what I can tell, there seemed to be a more personal approach to education than what it seems like kids would get at GW or College Park. But I am interested to hear more about whether my perception sounds accurate to parents of AU students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s the Syracuse/Tulane of DC.

This is an accurate comment, at least in terms of one ranking. USNews has it tied for #42 for quality of undergraduate teaching, along with Tulane, Binghamton U-SUNY, Fordham, Johns Hopkins, Ohio State U-Columbus, and Syracuse.

My bet is Hopkins is on this list, because unlike the other schools, their professors hold their students accountable for actual academic rigor.

How does her current university rank? If it's similar to or lower than AU, then you can't go wrong transferring to AU. It's a great school and having access to DC is fantastic during college.

She should go visit and hang out with some students to get a feel for it.

For the cost, you can do a lot better. It’s 79th on the USNWR ranking of universities

Anonymous wrote:It’s the Syracuse/Tulane of DC.

This is an accurate comment, at least in terms of one ranking. USNews has it tied for #42 for quality of undergraduate teaching, along with Tulane, Binghamton U-SUNY, Fordham, Johns Hopkins, Ohio State U-Columbus, and Syracuse.

Have had better luck with AU grads than GW. Can’t compare to Georgetown or Catholic.

Its not comparable to Georgetown which is fiercely competitive and recruits from all over. AU is moderately competitive and recruits mainly from the DMV and NE

bump

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were to rank colleges solely based on percentage of classes under 30 and total number of classes offered (both of which I value highly), they would beat out every Ivy on the former and all but Cornell and Penn on the latter. It's pretty easy to beat them on one, but doing it on both is very rare--tough to be strong on both measures. The only other school I know of that beats so many of them is Northwestern.

Note: Columbia doesn't publish their Common Data Set, so not included. Their numbers seem more likely to be in line with the 5 American beats rather than Penn and Cornell.

You didn’t really mention American in the same sentence as Penn, Cornell and Columbia? Lolololol

It’s the Syracuse/Tulane of DC. Not comepetitive for good students to obtain admissions. High priced and partiers.

Too companies don’t hire there. These graduates are at the back of the line to Georgetown grads.

I recruit from both schools and while it may be true that Georgetown students are stronger as a whole, I have hired more star employees from AU. I suppose Georgetown ends up with more offers but not by many. Not at the back of the line by any means and well ahead of many local schools, including GW, UVA and W&M.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were to rank colleges solely based on percentage of classes under 30 and total number of classes offered (both of which I value highly), they would beat out every Ivy on the former and all but Cornell and Penn on the latter. It's pretty easy to beat them on one, but doing it on both is very rare--tough to be strong on both measures. The only other school I know of that beats so many of them is Northwestern.

Note: Columbia doesn't publish their Common Data Set, so not included. Their numbers seem more likely to be in line with the 5 American beats rather than Penn and Cornell.

You didn’t really mention American in the same sentence as Penn, Cornell and Columbia? Lolololol

It’s the Syracuse/Tulane of DC. Not comepetitive for good students to obtain admissions. High priced and partiers.

Too companies don’t hire there. These graduates are at the back of the line to Georgetown grads.

The comment is based in hard data. American offers a combination of small classes/large variety of classes that surpasses that of just about every other college in the country. Maybe that's useful to you, maybe it's not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were to rank colleges solely based on percentage of classes under 30 and total number of classes offered (both of which I value highly), they would beat out every Ivy on the former and all but Cornell and Penn on the latter. It's pretty easy to beat them on one, but doing it on both is very rare--tough to be strong on both measures. The only other school I know of that beats so many of them is Northwestern.

Note: Columbia doesn't publish their Common Data Set, so not included. Their numbers seem more likely to be in line with the 5 American beats rather than Penn and Cornell.

You didn’t really mention American in the same sentence as Penn, Cornell and Columbia? Lolololol

It’s the Syracuse/Tulane of DC. Not comepetitive for good students to obtain admissions. High priced and partiers.

Too companies don’t hire there. These graduates are at the back of the line to Georgetown grads.

I attended AU. Partiers? I do not think you are very familiar with the school. I do not know a whole lot about the business school ratings but I enjoyed my time there. I loved having a real campus but having DC easily accessible. I had several internships in college and easily found a job.

Anonymous wrote:If you were to rank colleges solely based on percentage of classes under 30 and total number of classes offered (both of which I value highly), they would beat out every Ivy on the former and all but Cornell and Penn on the latter. It's pretty easy to beat them on one, but doing it on both is very rare--tough to be strong on both measures. The only other school I know of that beats so many of them is Northwestern.

Note: Columbia doesn't publish their Common Data Set, so not included. Their numbers seem more likely to be in line with the 5 American beats rather than Penn and Cornell.

You didn’t really mention American in the same sentence as Penn, Cornell and Columbia? Lolololol

It’s the Syracuse/Tulane of DC. Not comepetitive for good students to obtain admissions. High priced and partiers.

Too companies don’t hire there. These graduates are at the back of the line to Georgetown grads.

If you were to rank colleges solely based on percentage of classes under 30 and total number of classes offered (both of which I value highly), they would beat out every Ivy on the former and all but Cornell and Penn on the latter. It's pretty easy to beat them on one, but doing it on both is very rare--tough to be strong on both measures. The only other school I know of that beats so many of them is Northwestern.

Note: Columbia doesn't publish their Common Data Set, so not included. Their numbers seem more likely to be in line with the 5 American beats rather than Penn and Cornell.

The accounting program is excellent. It’s up there with William and Mary for accounting. I hire for accountants at a CPA firm and the candidates are strong.

DD is an accounting major and is considering transferring here from her college in an exurban area