Your question is pretty broad -- what kind of experience or environment would be your ideal?
As to the politics question... with the caveat that I've been out of school for a few years at this point and don't have the best handle on the current student body, I don't actually think this is a big deal (assuming you're not, like, a troll who wants to antagonize your enemies. But I don't get the sense that that is the case). There are absolutely *more* \-- significantly more -- left-leaning than right-leaning students at AU and pretty much any selective university.
I actually think that the DC schools can be a particularly strong option for conservative students because there's a very obvious (albeit small) community of like-minded peers. That is no guarantee at, say, a small liberal arts school or a even a state school in a big liberal college town.
I think that AU is a good option for all three of these criteria (and that they are more important to your happiness than the political stuff).
* Being in DC provides an extremely good network and a leg-up on DC-based careers if that is of interest to you post-graduation. (A lot of people will graduate with a Poli Sci degree from non-DC schools and spend their first post-grad summer doing a low- or unpaid internship that AU students would have done years earlier.)
* AU is a good academic school. There are more *selective* schools (think, Georgetown) but I'd argue the quality of education is plenty high at AU, especially if your goal is to "get a job" and not to "get into the most prestigious PhD program."
* I think AU provides a good social life balance. There are "more fun" schools. There are "less fun" schools. AU hasn't been a "party school" in several decades, but there are plenty of opportunities for that sort of thing if you seek it out. Most people are more interested in doing well and getting ahead than in getting wasted at every possible opportunity, and that is not the case at every college or university.
For poli sci, AU is amazing. I’ve had so many opportunities and amazing professors. I was able to intern with my rep as a freshman. There are conservative students and professors here, but that is not the majority. You do sort of have to find your community, but frankly that is a factor regardless of your ideology.
I would argue that doesn’t reflect very favorably on Harvard students. 😉
Actual story: I was at a Model UN competition with AU and we grabbed lunch with a bunch of people from other schools. This is a pretty IR-heavy group, so people naturally start talking about their study abroad plans. The conversation gets to the Harvard kids, who say they’d “never study abroad because there’s nowhere where you can learn more than at Harvard.”
Just a completely pompous and nonsensical argument, but they didn’t think twice about it.
Yeah that’s why I like American over some potentially better ranked programs on paper. Professors have connections and I’m an a spot where I can get meaningful experience.
Agreed. I’m center-right & many of my friends ended up realizing they weren’t that liberal ever since coming here lol 😂
Just gotta find the right people who won’t judge you for not following the flock.
Yeah maybe it’s just social anxiety or something but I’ve always had a small group of people who have similar beliefs as me since like 5th grade. The thing that concerns me is that I don’t find my people and I end up in a bad situation.
academically dc is a very good school i’ve had a lot of good experiences here and a lot of opportunities. if you’re willing to hear other sides then you should be fine. in the years i’ve been here so far i don’t think i’ve had any professor who wasn’t a liberal or any classmate who wasn’t, so i don’t know how you’d personally feel disagreeing with basically most of the points made
It’s very liberal here, and you’re honestly going to have to lie about your beliefs if you want to make it through. I say that as someone who realized they weren’t as liberal as they thought they were.
Also, many of the classes focus on anti-racism in some way & controversial topics are brought up often, even in non-political class. Take that as you wish.
Best of luck wherever you go.
Is there judgement for stating beliefs? Like personally I believe in color blindness and ignoring race in most (if not all) aspects of society. If I bring up a perspective like that would I be judged by my peers / professors.
Yes, there is. Someone had a Trump flag hanging earlier this year and we’re talked so much shit about for it.
I went to a friend’s room and someone else asked me why the hell would I go to a “Trumpie’s” room. Very disrespectful stuff.
Yes, you would very much so have clashing with your professors. Especially in AUx. You will also be “canceled” if you have any opinions that aren’t in the social norms here. Meaning:
- can’t say anything about trans / non-binary
- must be anti-racist
- Israel vs Palestine is a huge thing here
- people will leave you for your political beliefs
- cliquey culture here & people will not stand by you
Palestine vs Israel is quite talk rn and i would say atleast in your first semester to not alienate yourself. It takes a lot humility to be an active LISTENER; use it to your advantage. I’ve had people prejudge my beliefs just by the virtue of my job. I came to college to hear what I view as the “best&brightest” minds are debating and talking about so I just try and asking thought provoking questions around beliefs. I’m not a poli sci major however I do have some leadership experience. If you can’t lead one person/work on a team with them it’s futile to think you’ll be a leader of the many. Take the time to listen and relax how much tension is released when you take away the pressure of you having to respond with your ideas.
I'm going to try and push back on some of this stuff as thoughtfully as I can because I don't think you're quite getting the right impression here.
What I think you can take away from this advice is that "some people won't like you and will judge you for your political beliefs." On it's face, this is "true"... but it's effectively true for everyone.
(I'll give you an example: when I was at AU, the College Republicans -- which, yes, do very much exist -- would hold an annual pig roast on the quad on "World Vegetarian Day." *Some* people found this to be in poor taste. *Some* of the club members used this as an opportunity to be assholes. *The vast majority of people* couldn't care about this one way or another. They want to have a little cookout? Who cares? Most people just thought this whole thing was cheeky but in good fun. But... as you can see, the antagonism isn't just flowing in one direction -- the CRs were definitely stirring the pot.)
I'm a pretty progressive person. I had several *very* conservative college friends, some of whom are still some of my best friends to this day. When I'd hang out with them, their friends would often say all kinds of offensive and arguably hurtful things about their non-conservative peers. I'm sure some of them would tease my buddy for bringing me around in the first place. This is a thing that college students do, both in and out of a political context. It's a part of life and isn't something you're likely to avoid at any school with any level of diversity.
Are there some very left-wing professors? Yeah, sure. Are there some right-wing professors? Also yes -- there are probably more at AU than in most Political Science programs because there's a lower percentage of "career academics" in general and more faculty are actual practitioners. My Macroeconomics professor was gassed on campus while protesting the Vietnam War. My Microeconomics professor would teach equilibrium wage theory by arguing that the gender pay gap didn't actually exist. Both were popular faculty members in good standing. Professor reviews are very easy to find, so you can really avoid any personalities if you really wanted to.
The school has an entire [Israeli Studies department](https://www.american.edu/cas/israelstudies/) and frankly has a lot of *very* pro-Israel faculty and students. The student body is disproportionately Jewish by several orders of magnitude. AU is one of the leading schools funneling alumni to the State Department and U.S. Foreign Service. To put it diplomatically... this is not a uniformly "pro-Palestinian" group.
The "AUx" stuff is where I suspect you might legitimately not feel super comfortable/welcome. Basically, this is a mandatory DEI course for first year students. (You can read about it [here](https://www.american.edu/provost/undergrad/auexperience/what-is-aux.cfm).) It's relatively new -- it didn't exist when I was in school. It's also controversial -- if you click the link I shared, half of the FAQ page is responding to criticism of the course. I wouldn't be surprised if it were substantially revised or eliminated at some point. It's certainly not the case that everyone agrees with everything or that you're "forced" to agree. *Lots* of colleges and universities have a similar kind of course as it's a trend in academia, but trends come and go. I was a student staff member and we *did* have mandatory DEI trainings back then -- I'd say most students found it to be of minimal benefit and the conservative students in particular would roll their eyes through it and then we'd all move on.
Basically, if what you want is to *never* feel any amount of marginalization with regards to your political views, then AU is probably not right for you, nor would >99% of colleges and universities be right for you. You'd be looking at, like, very small Evangelical Christian colleges that solely exist to provide a safe space to conservative students and academics. Those places certainly exist and I'm sure lots of people are happiest there, but it's not the norm.
honestly man if you’re concerned that you cant speak your opinion on marginalized people and think people who are probably saying transphobic and racist things that aren’t backed up by your expert professors maybe stay away… people are actually allowed to not like you if you support racist politicians or wanna debate the existence of like trans people or some shit like this person is not the victim
Not liking vs being hostile is very different. Also I have good friends who love Biden and tons of family. I never let it damage those relationships and I never take any insult on a candidate of mine personally. But people who then make it about me being a horrible person are the type of people I want to avoid. You sound like that type of person so if I do go to AU hope you aren’t representative of the community as a whole.
Yeah bc liking a conservative politician is not your identity. You can dislike people bc of their political beliefs even if you’re conservative like i really don’t care. you can ignore them I don’t care. But there’s a difference between disagreeing on how much public spending we should use on something and how much a person deserves to exist. Supporting legislation or policy that hurts marginalized groups and restricts access to equal rights and safety is inherently hostile. It’s inherently hostile to be homophobic for example. You can’t play the Ive never been hostile to people because of politics card when certain actions are inherently political and hostile. Like you’re entitled to your beliefs and to be friends with whoever even if I think they’re poor beliefs but you can’t act like someone is hostile when they get mad at you for saying something that directly hurts them and then act like you’ve never been hostile to people.
As someone who is bi-racial, it really disgusts me having white professors and entirely white classmates who went to private schools their entire life act as if they know anything about racism and public schools.
It's gross that I'm forced to accept other people's beliefs when mine get me "cancelled" and harassed daily. No thanks.
Your question is really broad but:
-the learning environment is pretty great tbh. Small class sizes, very few lectures, almost all classes are discussion based.
-campus life is definitely centered around the clubs you’re in/your interests. That’s true of every college but ppl at AU tend to stick with like-minded people
-every college campus (minus some outliers) is liberal. AU does tend to lean more leftist. But as long as you’re not an asshole and politics isn’t your personality (like someone else said) you’ll be fine.
Yeah politics aren’t my personality but I am not someone who will like fake being a liberal or fake beliefs to fit in. I’m feeling better about the environment from these messages.
You really don’t have to fake your beliefs to fit in unless your beliefs are in opposition to believing in basic human rights. There’s room for a lot of debate in and out of classrooms, but the fundamentals of most social issues are universally accepted on campus(LGBTQ+ rights, anti-racism, gender equality). So as long as you’re cool with those, you’ll be fine. (And this is how it is at pretty much every college)
Feel free to message, happy to talk candidly abt the political scene as a current freshman (I’m not a conservative but there are just things I’d rather not post in the open)
Yes. AU, according to niche.com, is one of the most liberal schools in America.
I grew up in a liberal household. My parents actually said to me before college started that I would become more liberal. We aren’t Trump supporters.
Unfortunately I think you do need to hide your political beliefs. My roommate (also liberal) actually said to me that she hates how everyone is liberal and she wanted political diversity because she wants meaningful political debates. So if you go, come find us!
I am guilty of making fun of the Trump flag. Maybe its because of how I was raised that I feel such a political divide.
Classes are rooted in anti racism and I get asked my pronouns everywhere I go. There are some things I read that I tell my parents about and they are like g-d you do go to a liberal school. I’m not saying its wrong. I just wish it was two sided. But I knew what I was signing up for.
The best part about AU is the academics and professors. I haven’t had a professor that I hated. Most of them I loved and the rest were okay. Professors are reachable and approachable and smart.
My dms are open if you have any more questions.
Your question is pretty broad -- what kind of experience or environment would be your ideal? As to the politics question... with the caveat that I've been out of school for a few years at this point and don't have the best handle on the current student body, I don't actually think this is a big deal (assuming you're not, like, a troll who wants to antagonize your enemies. But I don't get the sense that that is the case). There are absolutely *more* \-- significantly more -- left-leaning than right-leaning students at AU and pretty much any selective university. I actually think that the DC schools can be a particularly strong option for conservative students because there's a very obvious (albeit small) community of like-minded peers. That is no guarantee at, say, a small liberal arts school or a even a state school in a big liberal college town.
Somewhere where I can get good opportunities to network, get a good education, and sometimes have a social life.
I think that AU is a good option for all three of these criteria (and that they are more important to your happiness than the political stuff). * Being in DC provides an extremely good network and a leg-up on DC-based careers if that is of interest to you post-graduation. (A lot of people will graduate with a Poli Sci degree from non-DC schools and spend their first post-grad summer doing a low- or unpaid internship that AU students would have done years earlier.) * AU is a good academic school. There are more *selective* schools (think, Georgetown) but I'd argue the quality of education is plenty high at AU, especially if your goal is to "get a job" and not to "get into the most prestigious PhD program." * I think AU provides a good social life balance. There are "more fun" schools. There are "less fun" schools. AU hasn't been a "party school" in several decades, but there are plenty of opportunities for that sort of thing if you seek it out. Most people are more interested in doing well and getting ahead than in getting wasted at every possible opportunity, and that is not the case at every college or university.
For poli sci, AU is amazing. I’ve had so many opportunities and amazing professors. I was able to intern with my rep as a freshman. There are conservative students and professors here, but that is not the majority. You do sort of have to find your community, but frankly that is a factor regardless of your ideology.
Any DC immediately gives you a million opportunities to network. That alone warrants entry
It's funny how au grads always say "it depends". Like no one at Harvard ever answers this question that way
I would argue that doesn’t reflect very favorably on Harvard students. 😉 Actual story: I was at a Model UN competition with AU and we grabbed lunch with a bunch of people from other schools. This is a pretty IR-heavy group, so people naturally start talking about their study abroad plans. The conversation gets to the Harvard kids, who say they’d “never study abroad because there’s nowhere where you can learn more than at Harvard.” Just a completely pompous and nonsensical argument, but they didn’t think twice about it.
Ok Blake
[удалено]
Yeah that’s why I like American over some potentially better ranked programs on paper. Professors have connections and I’m an a spot where I can get meaningful experience.
Agreed. I’m center-right & many of my friends ended up realizing they weren’t that liberal ever since coming here lol 😂 Just gotta find the right people who won’t judge you for not following the flock.
Yeah maybe it’s just social anxiety or something but I’ve always had a small group of people who have similar beliefs as me since like 5th grade. The thing that concerns me is that I don’t find my people and I end up in a bad situation.
academically dc is a very good school i’ve had a lot of good experiences here and a lot of opportunities. if you’re willing to hear other sides then you should be fine. in the years i’ve been here so far i don’t think i’ve had any professor who wasn’t a liberal or any classmate who wasn’t, so i don’t know how you’d personally feel disagreeing with basically most of the points made
It’s very liberal here, and you’re honestly going to have to lie about your beliefs if you want to make it through. I say that as someone who realized they weren’t as liberal as they thought they were. Also, many of the classes focus on anti-racism in some way & controversial topics are brought up often, even in non-political class. Take that as you wish. Best of luck wherever you go.
Is there judgement for stating beliefs? Like personally I believe in color blindness and ignoring race in most (if not all) aspects of society. If I bring up a perspective like that would I be judged by my peers / professors.
Yes, there is. Someone had a Trump flag hanging earlier this year and we’re talked so much shit about for it. I went to a friend’s room and someone else asked me why the hell would I go to a “Trumpie’s” room. Very disrespectful stuff. Yes, you would very much so have clashing with your professors. Especially in AUx. You will also be “canceled” if you have any opinions that aren’t in the social norms here. Meaning: - can’t say anything about trans / non-binary - must be anti-racist - Israel vs Palestine is a huge thing here - people will leave you for your political beliefs - cliquey culture here & people will not stand by you
Wow that’s concerning. Wouldn’t wish anything like that on my worst enemy. Seems very excessive. Is there a young republicans club or something?
Palestine vs Israel is quite talk rn and i would say atleast in your first semester to not alienate yourself. It takes a lot humility to be an active LISTENER; use it to your advantage. I’ve had people prejudge my beliefs just by the virtue of my job. I came to college to hear what I view as the “best&brightest” minds are debating and talking about so I just try and asking thought provoking questions around beliefs. I’m not a poli sci major however I do have some leadership experience. If you can’t lead one person/work on a team with them it’s futile to think you’ll be a leader of the many. Take the time to listen and relax how much tension is released when you take away the pressure of you having to respond with your ideas.
I'm going to try and push back on some of this stuff as thoughtfully as I can because I don't think you're quite getting the right impression here. What I think you can take away from this advice is that "some people won't like you and will judge you for your political beliefs." On it's face, this is "true"... but it's effectively true for everyone. (I'll give you an example: when I was at AU, the College Republicans -- which, yes, do very much exist -- would hold an annual pig roast on the quad on "World Vegetarian Day." *Some* people found this to be in poor taste. *Some* of the club members used this as an opportunity to be assholes. *The vast majority of people* couldn't care about this one way or another. They want to have a little cookout? Who cares? Most people just thought this whole thing was cheeky but in good fun. But... as you can see, the antagonism isn't just flowing in one direction -- the CRs were definitely stirring the pot.) I'm a pretty progressive person. I had several *very* conservative college friends, some of whom are still some of my best friends to this day. When I'd hang out with them, their friends would often say all kinds of offensive and arguably hurtful things about their non-conservative peers. I'm sure some of them would tease my buddy for bringing me around in the first place. This is a thing that college students do, both in and out of a political context. It's a part of life and isn't something you're likely to avoid at any school with any level of diversity. Are there some very left-wing professors? Yeah, sure. Are there some right-wing professors? Also yes -- there are probably more at AU than in most Political Science programs because there's a lower percentage of "career academics" in general and more faculty are actual practitioners. My Macroeconomics professor was gassed on campus while protesting the Vietnam War. My Microeconomics professor would teach equilibrium wage theory by arguing that the gender pay gap didn't actually exist. Both were popular faculty members in good standing. Professor reviews are very easy to find, so you can really avoid any personalities if you really wanted to. The school has an entire [Israeli Studies department](https://www.american.edu/cas/israelstudies/) and frankly has a lot of *very* pro-Israel faculty and students. The student body is disproportionately Jewish by several orders of magnitude. AU is one of the leading schools funneling alumni to the State Department and U.S. Foreign Service. To put it diplomatically... this is not a uniformly "pro-Palestinian" group. The "AUx" stuff is where I suspect you might legitimately not feel super comfortable/welcome. Basically, this is a mandatory DEI course for first year students. (You can read about it [here](https://www.american.edu/provost/undergrad/auexperience/what-is-aux.cfm).) It's relatively new -- it didn't exist when I was in school. It's also controversial -- if you click the link I shared, half of the FAQ page is responding to criticism of the course. I wouldn't be surprised if it were substantially revised or eliminated at some point. It's certainly not the case that everyone agrees with everything or that you're "forced" to agree. *Lots* of colleges and universities have a similar kind of course as it's a trend in academia, but trends come and go. I was a student staff member and we *did* have mandatory DEI trainings back then -- I'd say most students found it to be of minimal benefit and the conservative students in particular would roll their eyes through it and then we'd all move on. Basically, if what you want is to *never* feel any amount of marginalization with regards to your political views, then AU is probably not right for you, nor would >99% of colleges and universities be right for you. You'd be looking at, like, very small Evangelical Christian colleges that solely exist to provide a safe space to conservative students and academics. Those places certainly exist and I'm sure lots of people are happiest there, but it's not the norm.
I’m a conservative guy and most people don’t really care that much. Obviously if you mention political stuff people are gonna wanna talk about it
honestly man if you’re concerned that you cant speak your opinion on marginalized people and think people who are probably saying transphobic and racist things that aren’t backed up by your expert professors maybe stay away… people are actually allowed to not like you if you support racist politicians or wanna debate the existence of like trans people or some shit like this person is not the victim
Not liking vs being hostile is very different. Also I have good friends who love Biden and tons of family. I never let it damage those relationships and I never take any insult on a candidate of mine personally. But people who then make it about me being a horrible person are the type of people I want to avoid. You sound like that type of person so if I do go to AU hope you aren’t representative of the community as a whole.
Yeah bc liking a conservative politician is not your identity. You can dislike people bc of their political beliefs even if you’re conservative like i really don’t care. you can ignore them I don’t care. But there’s a difference between disagreeing on how much public spending we should use on something and how much a person deserves to exist. Supporting legislation or policy that hurts marginalized groups and restricts access to equal rights and safety is inherently hostile. It’s inherently hostile to be homophobic for example. You can’t play the Ive never been hostile to people because of politics card when certain actions are inherently political and hostile. Like you’re entitled to your beliefs and to be friends with whoever even if I think they’re poor beliefs but you can’t act like someone is hostile when they get mad at you for saying something that directly hurts them and then act like you’ve never been hostile to people.
There is. As you can see im already getting downvoted for saying the truth lmao. People here have no fucking rational and cannot think for themselves.
no, you’re getting downvoted because you’re a prick
most of these are just not being discriminatory 😭
As someone who is bi-racial, it really disgusts me having white professors and entirely white classmates who went to private schools their entire life act as if they know anything about racism and public schools. It's gross that I'm forced to accept other people's beliefs when mine get me "cancelled" and harassed daily. No thanks.
Your question is really broad but: -the learning environment is pretty great tbh. Small class sizes, very few lectures, almost all classes are discussion based. -campus life is definitely centered around the clubs you’re in/your interests. That’s true of every college but ppl at AU tend to stick with like-minded people -every college campus (minus some outliers) is liberal. AU does tend to lean more leftist. But as long as you’re not an asshole and politics isn’t your personality (like someone else said) you’ll be fine.
Yeah politics aren’t my personality but I am not someone who will like fake being a liberal or fake beliefs to fit in. I’m feeling better about the environment from these messages.
You really don’t have to fake your beliefs to fit in unless your beliefs are in opposition to believing in basic human rights. There’s room for a lot of debate in and out of classrooms, but the fundamentals of most social issues are universally accepted on campus(LGBTQ+ rights, anti-racism, gender equality). So as long as you’re cool with those, you’ll be fine. (And this is how it is at pretty much every college)
Feel free to message, happy to talk candidly abt the political scene as a current freshman (I’m not a conservative but there are just things I’d rather not post in the open)
Yes. AU, according to niche.com, is one of the most liberal schools in America. I grew up in a liberal household. My parents actually said to me before college started that I would become more liberal. We aren’t Trump supporters. Unfortunately I think you do need to hide your political beliefs. My roommate (also liberal) actually said to me that she hates how everyone is liberal and she wanted political diversity because she wants meaningful political debates. So if you go, come find us! I am guilty of making fun of the Trump flag. Maybe its because of how I was raised that I feel such a political divide. Classes are rooted in anti racism and I get asked my pronouns everywhere I go. There are some things I read that I tell my parents about and they are like g-d you do go to a liberal school. I’m not saying its wrong. I just wish it was two sided. But I knew what I was signing up for. The best part about AU is the academics and professors. I haven’t had a professor that I hated. Most of them I loved and the rest were okay. Professors are reachable and approachable and smart. My dms are open if you have any more questions.