by our College Data Analytics Team
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 439 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is criminal justice & corrections.
Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.
The American University landed the #129 spot in College Factual's 2024 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,217 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.
The American University also holds the #3 spot on the Best Colleges in District of Columbia ranking.
The acceptance rate at American University is a competitive 64%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.
About 28% 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 620 and 710.
The student to faculty ratio at The American University is an impressive 12 to 1. That's quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.
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 57%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
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.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At The American University the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 75%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at American University.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 7,953 undergraduates at The American University with 7,453 being full-time and 500 being part-time.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $21,108 | $20,965 | $27,374 | $33,218 | $52,924 |
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.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At The American University, approximately 39% of students took out student loans averaging $7,689 a year. That adds up to $30,756 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at The American University is 1.7%. 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.
See which majors at American University make the most money.
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 |
| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| International Relations & National Security | 415 | $41,948 |
| Political Science & Government | 226 | $45,217 |
| Business Administration & Management | 218 | $50,809 |
| Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies | 119 | $44,939 |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 108 | $39,002 |
| Public Relations & Advertising | 100 | $45,098 |
| Economics | 90 | $48,661 |
| Finance & Financial Management | 86 | $64,161 |
| Public Health | 82 | $36,775 |
| General Psychology | 81 | $35,226 |
Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.
In 2020-2021, 7,217 students took at least one online class at American University. This is an increase from the 4,609 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-2021 | 7,217 | 1,934 |
| 2019-2020 | 4,609 | 1,597 |
| 2018-2019 | 2,815 | 1,307 |
| 2017-2018 | 1,027 | 478 |
| 2016-2017 | 1,926 | 1,244 |
If you’re considering American University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
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!
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
More about our data sources and methodologies.