American University Business Programs

Located in Washington, District of Columbia, American University is a private not-for-profit institution. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

American University Rankings

The American University landed the #206 spot in our 2023 ranking of best colleges. We analyzed 1,477 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

The American University has been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#151	Best Business Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#160	Best Business Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at The American University.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#14	Best Human Resource Management Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#26	Most Popular Economics Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#35	Most Popular Finance & Financial Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#43	Most Popular Accounting Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#44	Most Popular Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#65	Best Finance & Financial Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#126	Best Business Administration & Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#175	Most Popular Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards The American University has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#5	Best Taxation Graduate Degree Schools	College Factual
#17	Best Public Relations & Advertising Schools	College Factual
#52	Best Accounting Schools	College Factual
#62	Best Business Administration & Management Schools	College Factual
#103	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual
#253	Best Schools	Course Advisor

Where Is 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

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	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into The American University?

The acceptance rate of American University is 39%. While it may not be as selective as some schools, it does screen its applicants very carefully. Do what you can to stand out among others in the pool of applicants!

Approximately 34% of accepted students are men and 66% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 37%, and the acceptance rate for women is 40%.

Average Test Scores

About 50% 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 630 and 710. Math scores were between 590 and 680.

The American University received ACT scores from 31% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 28 and 34. Math scores were between 24 and 29. Composite scores were between 27 and 32.

Can I Afford American University?

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

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 42% of students took out student loans averaging $9,489 a year. That adds up to $37,956 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.

American University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 7,953 undergraduate students at The American University, with 7,453 being full-time and 500 being part-time.

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.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

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.

Online Learning at American University

In 2019-2020, 4,609 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at The American University has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 6th most popular in District of Columbia for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of The American University

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at American University was $51,361 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how The American University is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
General Economics	#9	#9
Economics	#18	#18
Project Management	#59	#59
Management Science	#69	#69

Online Growth Rankings of The American University

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at American University was 43.9%. This is the #615 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at The American University regardless of major.

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at The American University ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at The American University.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Project Management	#14
General Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration	#51
Human Resource Management	#97
Business Administration & Management	#473

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

American University Business Concentrations

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

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
General Business Administration and Management	191	0	117	0	308
Accounting	28	23	88	0	139
General Economics	86	0	34	7	127
Finance	86	0	38	0	124
Public Relations	100	0	0	0	100
Management Science	0	24	61	0	85
General Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration	0	1	27	0	28
Interior Design Management	27	0	0	0	27
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	0	0	20	0	20
Political Communication	0	0	20	0	20
Project Management	0	7	9	0	16
Taxation	0	3	12	0	15
Real Estate	0	2	8	0	10
International Business/Trade/Commerce	0	3	2	0	5
International & Intercultural Communication	0	0	5	0	5
Development Economics & International Development	0	0	5	0	5
International Economics	0	1	4	0	5
Econometrics & Quantitative Economics	4	0	0	0	4
Other Economics	0	1	0	0	1
Entrepreneurship	0	0	0	0	0
Business Statistics	0	0	0	0	0
Applied & Professional Ethics	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	522	65	450	7	1,044

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.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Samschoe under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.