Can you explain why the acceptance rate is around 50% when the ED acceptance rate is around 80-90%, as we were told at campus visit by Jeremy Lowe himself?
Because far fewer students apply early decision than regular decision. For the most recent CDS (fall 2022), AU received 19,416 applications in total, only 868 of those were ED. Of those 746 were admitted. This means that ED only makes up about 35-40% of the incoming class (typically 2k students), so they have to accept about 8-9k of RD to make up the rest, leading to an overall 40-50% AR.
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Son committed to AU yesterday and weâre so excited! Cornerstone/SIS.
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I would love to know more about the Cornerstone Program. And were the $12k / year in grants related to that? Or is that need-based financial aid on top of $22k in merit aid?
My daughter toured AU when her siblings were school shopping, so she was quite young (13) and wasnât a registered tour participant (I think), but it was one of her two favorite schools from that trip. We canât afford another trip to DC (we live out west) at this time. What other ways are effective in demonstrating interest for students who canât visit campus?
I would try to find a way to mention that visit in one of her essays. I think i they will like to hear that even at 13 it sparked an interest and then theyâll know sheâs been there too.
I would also do as many virtual options as they have and see if you can reach out to a current student too.
There are a number of webinars offered throughout the year. Also have her sign up for (and open) emails from the Admissions Office (theyâll announced online events in those). She can also email her admissions counselor to chat or ask to talk to a current student (email auambassadors@american.edu). State reps also go to high schools and host events throughout the country depending on where you are (again, announced via email).
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Cornerstone essentially allows students to either study abroad or do an internship during their freshman year, both of which are most common to do after sophomore years. Financial aid, such as grants, is assessed independently of cornerstone admission so being admitted to or being in the program doesnât have weight on financial aid that a student gets. So in this case the grants are need-based aid. However, thereâs no extra tuition/costs for cornerstone (unless you count the costs of going abroad like air fare) and any financial aid awarded applies like normal
Thank you! Is Cornerstone just offered automatically and then the student can choose whether to accept it? Or is the student asked to indicate that they are interested in the program when they apply?
I believe that students are offered the chance to apply when admitted to the university. Iâm not sure what the criteria is, its been vaguely explained as âsomething that pops out in an application.â This may have changed of course so an admissions counselor would have the correct details or email aucornerstone@american.edu.
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My S24 was offered cornerstone - it was a kind of a surprise. There is a form he must have filled out at some point.
He boiled his choice down to UMD, UDel, and American - he went pretty far down the path with AU but ultimately chose UMd. He was most interested in the AU Cornerstone DC internship. From the time they get on campus 1st semester there are events around interviewing skills and resume writing to prepare for 2nd semester. He didnât enroll so we donât know how it plays out in practice - we heard good reviews about the prep and mixed reviews about actual finding of the jobs. There is info elsewhere in CC.
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