American University Data & Information Overview

Find out more about how American University ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below. Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you'll be taked to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.

• Rankings
• Admission and Acceptance
• Faculty
• Retention and Graduation Rates
• Diversity
• Cost
• Student Debt
• Average Earnings
• Location
• Majors
• Online Learning
• Related Schools

How Well Is American University Ranked?

2021 Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

American University was awarded 94 badges in the 2021 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is communication and journalism.

Overall Quality

College Factual ranked The American University as #164 out of 1,715 colleges and universities in the country on its 2021 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.

The American University is also ranked #3 out of 9 schools in District of Columbia.

See all of the rankings for American University.

Is It Hard to Get Into The American University?

Acceptance Rate

Even if you have the best grades and high test scores, that may not be enough to get into The American University since the school has one of the most selective in the country. Its acceptance rate is a mere 29%, so there's no shame if you don't get in. Be sure to apply to other schools just in case.

Average Test Scores

About 49% 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 610 and 690. Math scores were between 570 and 660.

The American University received ACT scores from 39% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 26 and 30.

Learn more about American University admissions.

American University Faculty

Student to Faculty Ratio

At The American University, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 11 to 1. That's much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunites to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at American University is 56%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Retention and Graduation Rates at American University

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 90% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like American University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at The American University for first-time, full-time students is 76%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at American University.

Excellent Overall Diversity at The American University

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 8,287 undergraduates at The American University with 7,952 being full-time and 335 being part-time.

The American University Diversity Score

When calculating the overall diversity score for a school, College Factual does not just look at the percentage of women and racial-ethnic minorities*. Instead, it looks to see how good of a mixture a school has with regard to gender, ethnicity, age, and location of origin.

With an overall score of 96.53 out of 100, The American University is one of the most diverse schools in the nation.

Get more detailed information on diversity and student demographics at American University.

How Much Does American University Cost?

The overall average net price of The American University is $34,617. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for The American University

$0-30 K	$30K-48K	$48-75	$75-110K	$110K +
$21,371	$20,960	$26,574	$32,751	$45,685

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of The American University, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At The American University, approximately 56% of students took out student loans averaging $7,801 a year. That adds up to $31,204 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at The American University is 1.8%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for American University.

How Much Money Do The American University Graduates Make?

Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from The American University with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $61,000 in their early years. That's great news for The American University students since it is 53% more than the average college graduate's salary of $39,802 per year.

See which majors at American University make the most money.

Location of American University

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

Get more details about the location of American University.

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
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/AmericanUniversity
Twitter:	http://www.twitter.com/AmericanU

American University Majors

During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 70 majors graduated from American University. Of these students, 1,952 received undergraduate degrees and 2,370 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors	Bachelor’s Degrees	Average Salary of Graduates
International Relations & National Security	448	$39,800
Business Administration & Management	213	$47,000
Political Science & Government	151	$42,900
Public Relations & Advertising	109	$42,800
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	100	$38,300
Economics	95	$45,300
Public Health	85	$34,300
Journalism	72	$33,300
Criminal Justice & Corrections	67	$40,700
General Psychology	59	$30,700

Learn more about the majors offered at American University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at The American University

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2017-2018, 1,027 students took at least one online class at American University. This is a decrease from the 1,926 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year	Took at Least One Online Class	Took All Classes Online
2017-2018	1,027	478
2016-2017	1,926	1,244
2015-2016	1,602	879
2014-2015	1,342	563
2013-2014	648	204

Learn more about online learning at American University.

Related Schools

If you’re considering American University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

• Beloit College
• Fordham University
• Harvard University
• Southern Methodist University
• Trinity College

Curious on how these schools stack up against The American University? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*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.

References

• National Center for Education Statistics
• College Scorecard
• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
• Image Credit: By Samschoe under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.