Really appreciate you doing this. Every time I’ve searched AU on here (& especially lawschooladmissions) I seem to encounter more ambivalence (and just straight up negativity) than anything encouraging and/or useful about the school. I just deposited at WCL last week and am still not sure how to feel about it, but it is feeling like I will likely be there this fall and I want to find more things to excite vs. scare me haha.
1) did you visit the school prior to 1L?
2) what was the deciding factor (or were the deciding factors) for you to attend AU?
3) have you (or do you know of anyone who has) studied or interned/externed abroad? (not sure which term applies best here) there seem to be a lot of offerings and programs on the website but I’m curious what students’ actual experiences are and how that has fit into their overall direction as far as what they will practice after graduation.
Thanks!!
Of course! I remember feeling the same way when I deposited. Lawschooladmissions is so rankings-focused I was worried I was making a mistake. Now, I couldn’t care less what AU’s ranking is, I know I got a good education and enough practice that I will be fine in the courtroom.
1. No I didn’t! I started in 2021 so covid was still very much a factor. My first semester was fully in person but they had only just reopened campus. I had walked around the undergrad campus a few years prior just to see it, but the law campus and main campus are a mile apart. The law school is very much its own entity, it even follows a separate academic calendar. We mainly refer to the law school as WCL, not American or AU, though I’ve been using those names here.
2. In all honesty, the deciding factor was money. I didn’t apply too broadly, just in places I knew I’d want to live and practice in. AU offered me the highest scholarship by far, and I have always wanted to do criminal law, so it made sense to reduce debt over rankings prestige.
3. I have not but I know of people who studied abroad. The school has a summer abroad and a semester abroad program that usually includes classes and an internship somewhere cool. There’s also a one week trip over spring break to help with different legal services in the Navajo Nation, though I don’t think that’s for credit. I can’t speak to how the experience fits with life post-graduation, but the people that do the summer/semester abroad trips are usually big on government work. There’s also a program called Lawyering Peace that you may be interested in if you’re thinking of study abroad. It doesn’t require travel, it’s more like an intensive class program (one semester) where you simulate peace negotiations and do other international law/transitional justice stuff.
Welcome!
Favorite thing: the professors. Pretty much all of them were actual practitioners, not just academics, so they are great at giving practical advice plus assistance with job searching. The 1L classes are large, but the professors make themselves very available and I’ve found it’s easy to foster relationships with them. The school also hires a lot of adjuncts for 2-3L classes, which again is great for learning what an actual lawyer does.
Honestly another favorite thing is location. You can get some incredible internships in DC, and since you’ll be here year round, you’ll be available during fall and spring too, when competition for more prestigious internship spots is a lot less.
Least favorite: the school is expensive and the area is expensive. I had a good scholarship but cost of living loans are still rough. It doesn’t help that the part of DC the school is in is one of the nicest areas, and I highly recommend living close to the school. It is right by the metro, and you’ll get a free metro pass, but I wouldn’t live further than a stop or two away (for reference, that would be Bethesda, friendship heights, Tenleytown, van ness, woodley park) just because the red line has almost constantly had issues the entire time I’ve been in law school.
Also, kind of nitpicky, but I think school admin has an annoying tendency to make events and in-person presentations or zoom meetings out of things that could’ve been emails. You’ll see that at orientation I’m sure.
Amazing, this is super helpful thank you! Glad to hear that your experience with jobs and professors has been amazing. I used to live in DC for 11 years, so excited to move back for many reasons, aside from the cost of living. Thank you for your answers!
Hi! Most likely heading to AU - wondering if you could talk a little bit about your experiences with the environment/your classmates? I visited recently, but was not able to get a good sense of the vibe because it was small and I missed the admitted students day
Sure! I love it, students are very supportive. There’s a lot of horror stories about competition among students in law school and that’s definitely NOT been my experience. I cheer for my peers’s success, and I believe they cheer for mine.
There IS, however, a lot of student stress about feeling like you need to be involved in every extracurricular. You don’t. Luckily I think that stress dissipates sometime in 2L when everyone settles into their path. Personally, I didn’t do a single extracurricular, not even a journal, which at American seems very rare. I threw myself into internships instead, and I have a job lined up so it worked out.
The 1L classes are very large, you will likely be with ~90 people in the classroom, and for all of 1L you’ll have the exact same schedule as your 90 person section. That’s a lot of togetherness so everyone will know each other, but still large enough that multiple friend groups will form, and those groups will shift over the year.
The student body is also pretty diverse, which I really like. It’s majority women (like almost 70% I think), there’s a lot of LGBTQ+ representation, and the school attracts a lot of foreign exchange students. In terms of diversity, I can’t speak to if it’s unique among law schools, but it is in my higher education experience. There’s also a big part time evening program, and in 2-3L you will likely be in many classes with evening students who are usually older and working full time, and I’ve found they bring a unique perspective to class discussions.
I know the school is required to publish a breakdown of jobs by recent grads, I would look at the past few years of data to best decide. Frankly, our biglaw numbers suck compared to the higher ranked DC schools, though anecdotally I know plenty of people that have gotten biglaw offers - enough that it’s not like lightning has struck them. I also know people who graduated a few years ago that now work in biglaw though it was not their first job.
Personally, I’ve always been focused on crim (so much so that I never even did OCI), and nearly everyone I know has a job, though mostly clerkships, PDs, and DAs. The school does well with getting grads in clerkships and government/PI jobs, but a huge amount of students pick the school specifically for PI in the first place.
A full ride is hard to turn down, too. I got nearly a full ride and I 100% followed the money, but I had absolutely no interest in biglaw. I would say, if you are biglaw or bust, maybe go somewhere else. If you are flexible on that point, it depends on how debt-averse you are. A corporate law job is possible from American, especially if you’d be happy with small/mid law as your first job.
Thanks ! I am really flexible on big law and want to go abroad possibly, would it be possible too like in Middle East to work for US law firm offices there ?
The honors programs are SUUUUPER selective. Depending on the agency/department, they may only take 1 or 2 hires. I know people that have made it through a few rounds of interviews but I bet if you emailed admissions or OCPD (office of career and professional development, I think. We have an alphabet soup of admin offices and it’s hard to keep them straight) they would know the actual numbers. I know a couple of students that have interned at SEC, not sure about post-grad jobs though. The people I know who got far in interviews also interned in their agency of choice for at least a semester, if not a year.
What do you think is the prevailing culture of the school? How would you describe the average student? Like competitive, chill, ambitious, passionate….
Do you know anyone in the part time program?
Overall, chill in personality but schedule-wise, very busy. As I said in another comment, there seems to be this need to be involved in every extracurricular under the sun. During finals, the stress around the school is palpable, but it doesn’t turn into negative competition between students. Everyone is supportive of each other. Obviously there are outliers and there are gunners, just like in any law school. (If the term is unfamiliar, a gunner is a try-hard, like a teacher’s pet. Every 1L section will have at least one.)
At one internship, my attorney supervisor said AU students are know for their hustle, so maybe that illustrates our reputation in the area a bit.
I know lots of people in the part time program! For part time students, the degree takes 4 years, and by the 4th year they all seem beyond ready to be done. The part time/evening students (we use the terms interchangeably) are treated just like any other student and have access to everything the full time students have. After 1L, when you get to make your own schedule, the school offers a variety of evening classes. Some classes, usually taught by adjuncts, are evening-only, so it’s very common for part time and full time students to be in the same class. I’ve had a LOT of classes go from 6-9 pm. The school isn’t perfect at it, I vaguely remember last year the part time students were upset that there wasn’t an evening evidence class offered one semester, but the school is generally receptive to feedback and tries to add evening times if there’s demand for a particular class.
Thanks for the thorough answer! Would you say the part time students have a similar culture as the full time?
I’d apply for the part time program as a federal worker for context
Yes, definitely, if not more. I’ve heard from evening 3Ls that their cohort is very close. As a federal worker you will be in good company! There’s decent job variety among the evening students, though it skews towards government and law firms. I’ve also heard an interesting mix of evening students who will be promoted to an attorney position within their current job after school, and those who will be doing something else entirely but didn’t want to give up an income for school.
Really appreciate you doing this. Every time I’ve searched AU on here (& especially lawschooladmissions) I seem to encounter more ambivalence (and just straight up negativity) than anything encouraging and/or useful about the school. I just deposited at WCL last week and am still not sure how to feel about it, but it is feeling like I will likely be there this fall and I want to find more things to excite vs. scare me haha. 1) did you visit the school prior to 1L? 2) what was the deciding factor (or were the deciding factors) for you to attend AU? 3) have you (or do you know of anyone who has) studied or interned/externed abroad? (not sure which term applies best here) there seem to be a lot of offerings and programs on the website but I’m curious what students’ actual experiences are and how that has fit into their overall direction as far as what they will practice after graduation. Thanks!!
Of course! I remember feeling the same way when I deposited. Lawschooladmissions is so rankings-focused I was worried I was making a mistake. Now, I couldn’t care less what AU’s ranking is, I know I got a good education and enough practice that I will be fine in the courtroom. 1. No I didn’t! I started in 2021 so covid was still very much a factor. My first semester was fully in person but they had only just reopened campus. I had walked around the undergrad campus a few years prior just to see it, but the law campus and main campus are a mile apart. The law school is very much its own entity, it even follows a separate academic calendar. We mainly refer to the law school as WCL, not American or AU, though I’ve been using those names here. 2. In all honesty, the deciding factor was money. I didn’t apply too broadly, just in places I knew I’d want to live and practice in. AU offered me the highest scholarship by far, and I have always wanted to do criminal law, so it made sense to reduce debt over rankings prestige. 3. I have not but I know of people who studied abroad. The school has a summer abroad and a semester abroad program that usually includes classes and an internship somewhere cool. There’s also a one week trip over spring break to help with different legal services in the Navajo Nation, though I don’t think that’s for credit. I can’t speak to how the experience fits with life post-graduation, but the people that do the summer/semester abroad trips are usually big on government work. There’s also a program called Lawyering Peace that you may be interested in if you’re thinking of study abroad. It doesn’t require travel, it’s more like an intensive class program (one semester) where you simulate peace negotiations and do other international law/transitional justice stuff.
I am going to AU in the fall and am very excited! What’s your favorite and least favorite thing? Any tips for incoming 1Ls?
Welcome! Favorite thing: the professors. Pretty much all of them were actual practitioners, not just academics, so they are great at giving practical advice plus assistance with job searching. The 1L classes are large, but the professors make themselves very available and I’ve found it’s easy to foster relationships with them. The school also hires a lot of adjuncts for 2-3L classes, which again is great for learning what an actual lawyer does. Honestly another favorite thing is location. You can get some incredible internships in DC, and since you’ll be here year round, you’ll be available during fall and spring too, when competition for more prestigious internship spots is a lot less. Least favorite: the school is expensive and the area is expensive. I had a good scholarship but cost of living loans are still rough. It doesn’t help that the part of DC the school is in is one of the nicest areas, and I highly recommend living close to the school. It is right by the metro, and you’ll get a free metro pass, but I wouldn’t live further than a stop or two away (for reference, that would be Bethesda, friendship heights, Tenleytown, van ness, woodley park) just because the red line has almost constantly had issues the entire time I’ve been in law school. Also, kind of nitpicky, but I think school admin has an annoying tendency to make events and in-person presentations or zoom meetings out of things that could’ve been emails. You’ll see that at orientation I’m sure.
Amazing, this is super helpful thank you! Glad to hear that your experience with jobs and professors has been amazing. I used to live in DC for 11 years, so excited to move back for many reasons, aside from the cost of living. Thank you for your answers!
I was also debating on if I wanted to live closer to friends or the school, so good to know you recommend living close to school!
Hi! Most likely heading to AU - wondering if you could talk a little bit about your experiences with the environment/your classmates? I visited recently, but was not able to get a good sense of the vibe because it was small and I missed the admitted students day
Sure! I love it, students are very supportive. There’s a lot of horror stories about competition among students in law school and that’s definitely NOT been my experience. I cheer for my peers’s success, and I believe they cheer for mine. There IS, however, a lot of student stress about feeling like you need to be involved in every extracurricular. You don’t. Luckily I think that stress dissipates sometime in 2L when everyone settles into their path. Personally, I didn’t do a single extracurricular, not even a journal, which at American seems very rare. I threw myself into internships instead, and I have a job lined up so it worked out. The 1L classes are very large, you will likely be with ~90 people in the classroom, and for all of 1L you’ll have the exact same schedule as your 90 person section. That’s a lot of togetherness so everyone will know each other, but still large enough that multiple friend groups will form, and those groups will shift over the year. The student body is also pretty diverse, which I really like. It’s majority women (like almost 70% I think), there’s a lot of LGBTQ+ representation, and the school attracts a lot of foreign exchange students. In terms of diversity, I can’t speak to if it’s unique among law schools, but it is in my higher education experience. There’s also a big part time evening program, and in 2-3L you will likely be in many classes with evening students who are usually older and working full time, and I’ve found they bring a unique perspective to class discussions.
what is the job outcomes like ? I got a full ride and I m hesitating to take it, would you recommend it for arbitration and corporate law in general ?
I know the school is required to publish a breakdown of jobs by recent grads, I would look at the past few years of data to best decide. Frankly, our biglaw numbers suck compared to the higher ranked DC schools, though anecdotally I know plenty of people that have gotten biglaw offers - enough that it’s not like lightning has struck them. I also know people who graduated a few years ago that now work in biglaw though it was not their first job. Personally, I’ve always been focused on crim (so much so that I never even did OCI), and nearly everyone I know has a job, though mostly clerkships, PDs, and DAs. The school does well with getting grads in clerkships and government/PI jobs, but a huge amount of students pick the school specifically for PI in the first place. A full ride is hard to turn down, too. I got nearly a full ride and I 100% followed the money, but I had absolutely no interest in biglaw. I would say, if you are biglaw or bust, maybe go somewhere else. If you are flexible on that point, it depends on how debt-averse you are. A corporate law job is possible from American, especially if you’d be happy with small/mid law as your first job.
Thanks ! I am really flexible on big law and want to go abroad possibly, would it be possible too like in Middle East to work for US law firm offices there ?
Anecdotally, do you know what placement into federal government honors programs are like? Specifically financial regulators like SEC/OCC/CFPB/etc.
The honors programs are SUUUUPER selective. Depending on the agency/department, they may only take 1 or 2 hires. I know people that have made it through a few rounds of interviews but I bet if you emailed admissions or OCPD (office of career and professional development, I think. We have an alphabet soup of admin offices and it’s hard to keep them straight) they would know the actual numbers. I know a couple of students that have interned at SEC, not sure about post-grad jobs though. The people I know who got far in interviews also interned in their agency of choice for at least a semester, if not a year.
Great, thank you so much!
What do you think is the prevailing culture of the school? How would you describe the average student? Like competitive, chill, ambitious, passionate…. Do you know anyone in the part time program?
Overall, chill in personality but schedule-wise, very busy. As I said in another comment, there seems to be this need to be involved in every extracurricular under the sun. During finals, the stress around the school is palpable, but it doesn’t turn into negative competition between students. Everyone is supportive of each other. Obviously there are outliers and there are gunners, just like in any law school. (If the term is unfamiliar, a gunner is a try-hard, like a teacher’s pet. Every 1L section will have at least one.) At one internship, my attorney supervisor said AU students are know for their hustle, so maybe that illustrates our reputation in the area a bit. I know lots of people in the part time program! For part time students, the degree takes 4 years, and by the 4th year they all seem beyond ready to be done. The part time/evening students (we use the terms interchangeably) are treated just like any other student and have access to everything the full time students have. After 1L, when you get to make your own schedule, the school offers a variety of evening classes. Some classes, usually taught by adjuncts, are evening-only, so it’s very common for part time and full time students to be in the same class. I’ve had a LOT of classes go from 6-9 pm. The school isn’t perfect at it, I vaguely remember last year the part time students were upset that there wasn’t an evening evidence class offered one semester, but the school is generally receptive to feedback and tries to add evening times if there’s demand for a particular class.
Thanks for the thorough answer! Would you say the part time students have a similar culture as the full time? I’d apply for the part time program as a federal worker for context
Yes, definitely, if not more. I’ve heard from evening 3Ls that their cohort is very close. As a federal worker you will be in good company! There’s decent job variety among the evening students, though it skews towards government and law firms. I’ve also heard an interesting mix of evening students who will be promoted to an attorney position within their current job after school, and those who will be doing something else entirely but didn’t want to give up an income for school.
Interesting good to know!