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American University

American University Overview

American University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Washington, District of Columbia. The location of The American University is great for students who prefer living in an urban area.

What Is American University Known For?

2,180 Undergraduate Awards
$54,851 Avg Cost After Aid
41% Acceptance Rate
  • Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at The American University.
  • During a recent academic cycle, 56% of the faculty were full-time.
  • Students who graduate from The American University with a bachelor's degree make about $77,370 a year. That's 90% more than those who graduate from other schools.
  • On average, it takes about 4.1 years for students from The American University to earn a bachelor's degree. This is excellent when compared to the average of 4.4 years.

Where Is American University?

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Contact details for The American University are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 4400 Massachusetts Ave Nw, Washington, DC 20016-8001
Phone: 202-885-1000
Website: www.american.edu

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How Do I Get Into The American University?

You can apply to The American University online at: www.american.edu/admissions/apply/index.cfm

Admission Requirements for The American University

Submission Required?
High School GPA 1
High School Rank 3
High School Transcript 1
College Prep Program 1
Recommendations 1
SAT or ACT Scores 5
TOEFL 1

How Hard Is It To Get Into The American University?

41% Acceptance Rate
69% Of Accepted Are Women
25% Submit SAT Scores
You'll need to do what you can to make your application stand out if you plan to apply to The American University. The school screens its applicants carefully and has a fairly low acceptance rate of 41%. So, don't just throw your admission packet together at the last minute!

Approximately 30% of accepted students are men and 69% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 38%, and the acceptance rate for women is 42%.

Average Test Scores

About 25% of students accepted to The American University submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 660 and 730. Math scores were between 630 and 700.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for American University  ( 660 to 730 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for American University  ( 630 to 700 )
200
800
The American University received ACT scores from 17% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 29 and 35. Math scores were between 25 and 0. Composite scores were between 29 and 32.

ACT English Scores for American University  ( 29 to 35 )
1
36
ACT Composite Scores for American University  ( 29 to 32 )
1
36

Can I Afford American University?

$54,851 Net Price
45% Take Out Loans
The overall average net price of The American University is $54,851. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At The American University, approximately 45% of students took out student loans averaging $9,129 a year. That adds up to $36,516 over four years for those students.

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American University Undergraduate Student Diversity

7,453 Full-Time Undergraduates
62% Women
31% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 7,953 undergraduate students at The American University, with 7,453 being full-time and 500 being part-time.

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There are also 6,048 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 7,453 full-time undergraduates at The American University, 38% are male and 62% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of American University students is as follows.

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 497
Black or African American 578
Hispanic or Latino 888
White 3,788
International Students 1,134
Other Races/Ethnicities 568

Geographic Diversity

District of Columbia students aren't the only ones who study at American University. At this time, 47 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 134 countries are represented at The American University. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Saudi Arabia, and India.

American University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major Basic Certificate Bachelor’s Graduate Certificate Master’s Doctor’s TOTAL
International Relations & National Security 0 387 16 486 7 896
Business Administration & Management 0 264 2 81 0 347
Law 0 0 0 0 317 317
Political Science & Government 56 216 3 27 2 304
Public Administration 0 0 0 220 3 223
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 63 125 0 0 0 188
Public Relations & Advertising 0 107 0 33 0 140
Educational Administration 0 0 0 111 28 139
Criminal Justice & Corrections 0 104 0 25 4 133
Economics 0 71 2 50 10 133
Legal Research 0 0 0 124 2 126
Communication & Media Studies 0 27 0 78 5 110
Public Policy 0 0 0 105 0 105
Homeland Security 0 0 0 104 0 104
General Psychology 0 79 0 17 0 96
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 0 0 21 66 0 87
Journalism 0 49 0 28 0 77
Public Health 0 65 0 12 0 77
Natural Resources Conservation 0 26 0 50 0 76
Finance & Financial Management 0 65 0 9 0 74
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 0 45 0 26 0 71
Teacher Education Grade Specific 0 18 0 42 0 60
History 0 29 0 27 4 60
Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution 0 0 0 45 0 45
Philosophy 0 8 0 36 0 44
Food, Nutrition & Related Services 0 0 0 42 0 42
Accounting 0 13 6 21 0 40
Computer Science 0 29 0 10 0 39
Fine & Studio Arts 0 14 0 25 0 39
Information Science 0 0 0 38 0 38
Human Resource Management 0 0 5 32 0 37
General Biology 0 25 0 9 0 34
Linguistics & Comparative Literature 31 0 1 0 0 32
Non-Professional General Legal Studies 0 31 0 0 0 31
Statistics 5 17 3 6 0 31
Health & Physical Education 0 0 2 29 0 31
Sociology 0 21 0 8 0 29
Audiovisual Communications 0 11 0 16 0 27
Area Studies 0 26 0 0 0 26
Marketing 0 0 0 25 0 25
Anthropology 0 11 1 13 0 25
Writing Studies 0 0 0 23 0 23
Literature 0 16 0 4 0 20
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 0 12 0 3 4 19
Design & Applied Arts 0 13 0 6 0 19
Special Education 0 0 0 18 0 18
Information Technology 16 0 0 0 0 16
Drama & Theater Arts 0 16 0 0 0 16
Health & Medical Administrative Services 0 0 0 14 0 14
Security Science and Technology 0 0 13 0 0 13
Ethnic Studies 4 7 0 0 0 11
Mathematics 0 11 0 0 0 11
International Education 0 0 2 8 0 10
Other Statistics 0 0 10 0 0 10
Physics 0 10 0 0 0 10
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 0 0 0 0 8 8
International Business 0 0 0 7 0 7
Taxation 0 0 0 7 0 7
Arts & Media Management 0 0 1 6 0 7
Dance 0 7 0 0 0 7
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology 0 6 0 0 0 6
Real Estate 0 0 0 6 0 6
Romance Languages 0 6 0 0 0 6
Data Science 0 0 0 6 0 6
Biotechnology 0 0 0 5 0 5
International Studies 4 0 0 0 0 4
Chemistry 0 2 0 2 0 4
Music 0 4 0 0 0 4
Communication & Journalism (Other) 0 0 0 3 0 3
Teaching English or French 1 0 0 2 0 3
Health/Medical Prep Programs 2 0 0 0 0 2
Legal Professions (Other) 0 0 0 2 0 2
Applied Mathematics 0 1 0 1 0 2
Religious Studies 0 2 0 0 0 2
Other Public Administration 0 0 2 0 0 2
Middle Eastern Semitic Languages 0 1 0 0 0 1
Data Analytics 1 0 0 0 0 1
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics 0 0 0 0 0 0
Entrepreneurial Studies 0 0 0 0 0 0
Educational Assessment 0 0 0 0 0 0
Liberal Arts General Studies 0 0 0 0 0 0
Computational Science 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other Social Sciences 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 183 1,997 90 2,199 394 4,863

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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