college questions... American University

AU has one of the best coaches in the nation. They have made nationals something like 6 years in a row. There is nothing like running college xc and track.

A degree from American University in the discipline you are interested in is an excellent asset when applying to law schools. Obviously, it doesn't get much better than Washington, D.C. for law and public affairs. Not only will the degree itself be impressive but you'll have a plentitude of opportunities for internships that I imagine wouldn't exist in Arizona. American, itself, has an excellent law school in fact. Additionally, I have to agree with the previous poster. The chance to run competitively in college is something very unique and it's an opportunity not everyone has.

try contacting the coach at AU (MattC@american.edu). He could get you in contact with some of the atheletes who would most likely be glad to give you information about the school.

If you like the DC/Arlington area, go to American. Get away from your parents; it's worth every penny.

As far as the program goes, they produced Samia Akbar.

I also was an IR major and walked onto my school's xc/track team. The lessons I learned running competitively equal, if not outweigh, what I learned in the classroom. Choose Tenleytown.

Go to AU - if you do well acedemically, they will give you more $. You can spend 8 months lobbying for a summer internship downtown, and can make use of the resources available at the school.

Depends where you want to be after you graduate - on the East Coast, or in Arizona?

AU wrote:

For someone who is going to study international relations/pre law/public affairs, is it worth the money to head to american uni? And how does a degree from AU look when applying to prestigious law schools such as Georgetown as apposed to a degree from u of a?

oh yeah, and one last thing- i'm fairly sure i could also run at AU. Not so much at U of A.

Thoughts?

The degrees you're looking to pursue are the largest at AU, and their most prestigious programs, with the addition of their business school.

If you're applying to law school, standout grades at any university will help you. But at AU you will have better opportunities to get internships or experience in your fields of interest.

AU is in one of the best parts of the city, and DC in general has a lot to offer. Being able to run for Coach Centrowitz would be a definite plus.

It really depends on how important you rank running in college. Based on what you say about not being able to run for zona, I am assuming that you are borderline talent (or should I say times). No point in choosing AU if you are only half interested in a college running career- Centro certainly won't want to deal with someone who is half assing it. If you are committed to running at the collegiate level, then I'd say the choice is fairly easy- AU. Centro is one of the top distance coaches in the country, and he regularly takes pretty good hs runners and develops them into solid college runners.

As for the academics- I wouldn't really sweat that part. While AU might have better programs in your desired majors, the key thing for your post grad aspirations is your undergrad GPA. If you do really well at Arizona, then it shouldn't be a problem getting into good law schools, etc.

Previous posters have made good points about internship opportunities- DC is a great place to look into something like that. If that type of thing is important to you, then certainly take that into account.

I might have misread it, but, from what I could tell by your post, it seems like you are more interested in your college academics than your college running. If this is the case (and you don't plan on seriously training/racing for the next 4 years), then I would recommend Arizona. Do well there and you will have plenty of opportunities afterwards, not to mention having saved a ton of cash. I went to a very good/expensive private college and enjoyed the experience (and ran all 4 years), but if I had to do it over again, I am not so sure I would choose my alma mater over a far less expensive, but still good, state school. The experience will be what you make it- I'd probably go with the less expensive of the two.

Good luck.

Are a male or female? If you are a female, you can definitely run at American. American does not take women's cross country or track very seriously. They are not very good. If you are a male, it sounds like you will struggle as American and Arizona are both national caliber cross country programs.

Wrong, we haven't yet learned what the young padawan's event is. For all we know, we could be dealing with a sprinter here. So, do tell, AU. What distance(s) do you race?

I guess I just assumed he/she is a distance runner since it seems most of the threads are about distance running.

I live about a mile from AU, and I love the neighborhood. I went to a large state school undergrad and loved it, but I also studied History, so I wasn't as focused as you...

American is a leader in the IR realm, and you would be smart to choose AU over U of A. The money will be small potatoes in the long run, and maybe if you explain the advantages of AU to your parents, they will understand.

Also, you don't need to go to Georgetown after graduating, stay at AU, they have a fantastic law program, especially if you wanted to stay in IR or Public Policy.

I will not speak to the sporting question, we all know that Centz is a fantastic coach, and DC is a great place to train. I ran in college and those were such fantastic days... If you can handle it and still make the grades, do it.

Only downside (for me) to AU is that it is an urban school. This might be a positive to you, I don't know. Many folks like urban schools.

I went to a quintessential "college town" school, and often think about whether I would have liked to have gone to Georgetown or AU as much as my alma mater... Still don't know... Given your interests, I would actually think you might prefer an urban school...

You have a good problem, congrats on your admission, AU is a great school. Make sure you grab a sandwich from Wagshal's Deli...

I think the big variable here is what you will do with the resources.

I'm about to graduate from a school in the northeast like American. The classroom experience is not substantially different from that at any good school of our size. It could even be worse, because our professors are hired solely for their research and not for their teaching. When they turn out to be excellent instructors, it is a pleasant bonus for the university.

Given that the classroom experience is nothing special (very good, just not something impossible to replicate elsewhere), what is special? Smaller classes, access to professors, library resources, student support, opportunities for individual and group research, resources to pursue strange and outlandish projects, exceptional arts and culture programs accessible by the entire student body (music, art, dance, theatre), enormous student-run initiatives, and more that I cannot name. All of this comes at a tuition price, whether your family pays it or scholarships pay it.

Some of my friends soak this up. Their education is rounded and their social and non-academic time is engaging and sometimes connects back to their academic work, and there is, here, a culture of learning that can be pervasive outside of the classroom, if you buy into it and dive into it. Some of my friends live in the libraries--not a bad choice, our libraries are very good. I also have some friends who could not be more disinterested by all of this, and yet they get the same tuition bills we do.

Point: private schools are expensive but offer a lot that large state schools cannot; the price tag might be worth it, but IS NOT worth it if you won't take advantage of the resources available--otherwise you're just paying more money to do the same stuff you could at a state school.

Two of my good friends just graduated from large state schools (one of them ASU, actually, so in your neck of the woods). They had very large classes, professors were difficult to engage with, and there was not nearly as nice a ratio of opportunities on campus per students (with the exception of drinking). But they also paid next to nothing.

Point: public schools are often cheaper (much cheaper if it is your state's public school) and offer a great deal, but you are competing with an enormous student body for resources, access, and opportunities. If you can do that, then that is great and you'll succeed marvelously. If you can't or aren't as comfortable doing that, it's a lot easier to slip through the cracks and just float through school. Then again, you're floating through school for free, so maybe it isn't as bad as it would be for 5K a year.

You can get a great education at either American or at Arizona. At Arizona you will need to work harder to make it your education and not just coast along; there will be fewer resources to help you along your way. Given American's size and proximity to the playing field of your interests, it might be much easier. But it will be cost more and take you farther from home. Grades, test scores (GRE, LSAT), recommendations from professors, research, internships, work experiences, etc. will all matter when pursuing work beyond college in your area of interest, and you can do well in all of these at either school. And you might also change your interests.

The big question I would think about is, if you can get a great education at either school, which school do you think would be best suited to the way you want to pursue that education and to which school you think you are best suited?

Good luck.

thanks for the responses everyone. to answer a few of your questions, yes, i am a distance runner. I'm a 16:30 5k/9:30 3200 type of guy, so i don't think that walking on the team would be a problem. are my times fast enough to walk on at arizona? maybe- I take pride in the fact that I beat one of their az recruits the other weekend in the 32. But their coaches won't even answer emails... in general U of A isn't very receptive to walk ons (they don't have to be with 47 afrians on their roster).

The more i think, the more i'm convinced that AU is the way to go. 20K in the long run isn't much to pay for an undergraduate education, and will be worth the education i recieve, the resources i will have, the connections i will make, and the opportunity to run D1 xc. I also really like centrowitz as a coach. Granted, i've never met him, but i've read the 12 page articles posted on the board and I think we would get along nicely. my education is my first priority in college, but that doesn't mean that I won't train hard day in and day out. I think that both are doable.