I am here to share my personal experiences at The American University of Athens and to warn prospective students who are thinking of studying there. My first warning to you is that the school is by NO MEANS ACCREDITED NOR RECOGNIZED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The school may claim to be an “American University” but DO NOT BE FOOLED. I do not make presumptions based on opinion, you may check this website:
http://www.msche.org/institutions_directory.asp?txtRange=a
For those of you who are still considering attending the university because you live in Greece & think this wont be affecting you or you are planning on opening your own private buisness or whatever the case may be, I will state my own personal experiences attending this university:
- The school has no campus what so ever. By campus I mean, a field or area other than the actual university building where the students can play sports or "hang out" at. Basically, the Dean and the other faculty members are located in building 1. Bulding 1 is the main building which has a computer lab, and “cafeteria”. Building 2 which is about 2 blocks away from the main building holds most of the major courses (English, math, 2nd languages, psychology etc. etc.) Building 3 is across the street from building 1. It is the “Research Building” which has labs that are not safe to conduct research in. What do I mean? Well, the labs have carpet floors, plastic countertops… all of which are hazzards for the students who will be performing labs with chemicals. This means that those who are Science majors (pharmacy for example) will be very LIMITED and the labs conducted will be simple and elementary.This is ridiculous since the students pay a large amount of money JUST SO THEY CAN CONDUCT LABS!! Also the research building is shared with other companys and residents on the bottom two floors. It makes no sense.The library is in a different location as well, the secratary in the entrance doesnt like when students are using the facility for some reason, and constantly checks up on them to make sure they are not stealing any of the books from the Dinosaur Era.It can become a very distracting and annoying area to study in. Basically, the university doesnt look or feel like much of a university at all.
- Now to the Proffessors- A small majority of the professors are professional & educated and know how to conduct a lecture. In my case, the majority of the class had a particular issue with a particular professor for 100 plus reasons. After numerous complaints from the class, NOTHING WAS DONE TO FIX THE MATTER. The dean is apathetic towards complaints and the students wishes. Another comment about the proffessors- there are very few of them. Professors who were educated in a specific subject were asked by the dean to teach multiple subjects (even if they didnt know the subject well) since proffesors for those subjects were not available. So, students would spend thousands of euros to be inadequately taught by someone who just read notes from a power point slide found online.
- Extracuricular Activities- On the schools’ website you will see a list of activities the students can participate in. Out of the numerous activities listed, only boys soccer was available. The sport was conducted far away from the school (in Kifisia) since the school does not have a campus. Every thing else was falsely listed. Accidental…or False advertising? Take a wild guess. Research opportunities for science majors also were never offered nor conducted in the labs.
- MONEY- the amount of money required in order to recieve and education at this university is ABSURD AND OVER THE TOP. Depending on how many credits you take, you can be paying from 6,000 EURO a semester to 9,000 EURO. No scholarships are available either. This money is way too much. In my opinion, if you are willing to waste this kind of money here then Just go to a decent university that is accredited/recognized in England, the U.S or anywhere else. Dont waste your time/money/ effort at this university which probably will give you and invalid diploma that wont land you a job anywhere. Do not take the risk!! I warn you!
The school was “Locked” by the greek government during the summer of 2010. A LOT of students left the university for the reasons which i listed above. Do not be a fool and do not fall for the deans long, sweet & assuring speech of his unaccredited university. Do not be a victim of this scam of a school. Go somewhere where you know you are not at risk. RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. Do not go to this school which has constantly changed its name from -southeastern- to -the american university of athens- and now the new -AUA europe- . It’s a complete buisness, not a university. Be smart and be wise.
