<p>by the way, I don’t blame AU playing this strategy. I believe AU is underrated considering the caliber of the students it is already attracting and the opportunities it provides. They have an under capitalized commodity. Any good business person will do his/her best to address this problem by tackling the easiest problem set that has the largest immediate impact first. </p>
<p>What I hope, though, is that they don’t lose sight of what is a truly important long term value of their institution - the education and preparation of its student. In order to achieve this, they need to upgrade the quality of their faculty, provide more enriching academic experience, etc. However, these take time and long term investment, and results of these efforts won’t show in a year or two. </p>
<p>I hope they are working on both a short term marketing strategy and long term quality improvement.</p>
<p>My son may or may not apply to AU. If ED/EA to another institution (s) works out, we won’t bother with AU RD. See, this is the whole impact of perceived excellence and prestige. If my son’s perception was reversed, it would be AU ED with a potential for RD for the other school(s).</p>