<p>On a recent visit to a college I had the pleasure of sitting down with one of the heads of the Honor College for that school. He really stressed how the school was a member of the AAU (Association of American Universities) and that AAU universities would be the best schools for my major (engineering). Is that true, or was that just another talking point to help sell the school? What are your opinions on this?</p>
<p>Full disclosure, in high school I worked at an AAU school and now attend a different one.</p>
<p>I consider AAU membership a huge plus as it indicates that the school receives plenty of research dollars which means undergraduate research in STEM fields will be easier to obtain. However, AAU schools more often have grad students doing the essential research which means that though the total amount of research is high, the quality of undergrad-professor interaction is low.</p>
<p>It’s also important to see why the school was included in the AAU. For instance, Emory and Georgia Tech are both proud members of the organization, but most of Emory’s funding comes from health related fields, while neighboring Georgia Tech’s funding is sourced primarily from physics and engineering grants. Also, some fields are excluded from the AAU’s methodology calculation, so even though a school might be, in one field, a research powerhouse, the AAU doesn’t factor that part into the equation (see what happened to UNL). Other schools may absolutely dominate in the field you’re interested in, but because their total research grants are quite low, they don’t get included. For example, I’m transferring to University of Oklahoma, which is incredibly strong in the petrosciences and severe weather meteorology. Getting research in those fields isn’t a problem, but most other areas of study are rather weak in terms of research expenditures. Most research universities are like this. There are a few areas where most of the funding comes from, but the other fields are inadequately funded in terms of research expenditures. For high school students, I’d consider a broad range of strengths better than narrow ones as it gives students interested in research much broader options.</p>
<p>Despite all this, AAU membership is more important at the graduate level than the undergrad one.</p>
<p>When I wrote that the quality of the professor student interaction is low, I meant may be. There are some instances where undergrads act as nothing more than beaker monkeys, but plenty of others where they’re a vital part of a research project.</p>
<p>AAU is a group of large universities that work cooperatively in terms of research. It includes a number of good institutions, although the most prestigious universities typically aren’t active members (Harvard and Princeton are current passive members though). The typical member is the flagship state university of states in the midwest, which is why AAU doesn’t have any significant value to the coasts. The purpose is largely to help professors and graduates students, not undergraduates. </p>
<p>Here are the current members:</p>
<p>[Association</a> of American Universities](<a href=“http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476]Association”>http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476)</p>
<p>What are you talking about? All of the major West Coast research universities except for Oregon State and possibly UCSC are represented, as are a good many East Coast research universities. </p>
<p>I think inclusion in the AAU is more important than how active a university is within the association, as it indicates that the university is excellent in terms of securing research expenditures for a variety of fields.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as passive membership. The membership quals are listed here. Click on membership policies link.</p>
<p>[Association</a> of American Universities](<a href=“http://www.aau.edu/about/membership_information.aspx?id=1110]Association”>http://www.aau.edu/about/membership_information.aspx?id=1110)</p>
<p>If you’re a flagship state school and not listed, that doesn’t bode well. The membership is pretty much you standard state school flag ships.</p>
<p>For almost all fields of engineering, ABET accreditation is the most important thing to look for:
[Accredited</a> Program Search](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx)</p>
<p>There are some sub-fields where this doesn’t matter (computer engineering?), but that would be a question to take to ClassicRockerDad. He’s one of the resident experts on this topic.</p>